I knew they had planned to but had trouble finding reportage on whether they did. Well, they did, so spread the word:
The House approved three targeted spending resolutions to the Senate on Wednesday, daring Senate Democrats to vote against measures to immediately fund the District of Columbia, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Park Service.
The bills are part of the House Republican plan to pass spending bills in areas where there is bipartisan agreement in order to spare some pieces of the government from the shutdown.
It appears that it is more important to Democrats to maintain the bad headlines than it is to Get Things Done.
But while Democrats support these priorities, they mostly opposed attempts to pass them in the House. Democrats said Republicans were using the bills as part of a political strategy to mitigate the effects of the shutdown when they should instead pass a Senate spending resolution that funds the entire government.
“The majority is making itself clear,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). “Any time they see a bad headline, they’re going to bring a bill to the floor to make it go away.”
Yup. Another way to put it is, if we see a program that is popular and deserves funding, we will vote for it.
God, I love this tactic.
Why does Louise Slaughter hate national parks and cancer patients?
Look at how they’ll lie to combat this strategy:
Most Democrats opposed this bill as well, and said it amounts to playing needy groups off each other.
“Every day the Republican leadership tries to find a new way to pit one desperate group of Americans against another,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). “Today Republicans are pitting kids with cancer against kids who are hungry because of the shutdown.”
But the House passed the NIH bill nonetheless, in a 254-171 vote that saw 25 Democrats join with all Republicans except one.
Kids are hungry because non-essential government employees are on vacation (and will no doubt be paid in full for their days of nonwork)?
Hungry???
Please.
Tell us how kids are hungry because of the slowdown, and we’ll pass a bill to end that too! And you’ll vote against it, George Miller. Won’t you?
Yes, you will.
So you may pound sand.