Concord, N.H. - As Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan continue to push an irresponsible plan opposed by members of both parties to kick the can down the road on priorities like funding our military and opioid treatment, Chris Sununu is positioning himself firmly behind Washington Republicans. Back in May, President Trump said that "our country needs a good shutdown," and it's clear that Trump and Republican leadership are blocking efforts to reach a deal now. From Republican Senator Dean Heller to Fox News's Shep Smith, there is agreement that it would be Washington Republicans' fault if the government shuts down, yet instead of pushing his party to come to the table, Sununu is just launching partisan attacks. NHDP Chair Ray Buckley issued the following statement: "While our all-Democratic Congressional delegation has been hard at work on a bipartisan solution, President Trump and Republicans leaders are proving they are incapable of governing despite holding all levers of power. Governor Sununu needs to stop launching partisan attacks and instead stand up to his own party and push Trump, McConnell and Ryan to finally come to the table to negotiate in good faith." Washington Post: Looming shutdown raises fundamental question: Can GOP govern?
Never before has the government experienced a furlough of federal employees when a single party controls both the White House and Congress, but that’s what will happen after midnight Friday if a spending bill fails to pass Congress... Trump has repeatedly mused about the prospects of halting federal operations, saying at one point that the government needed a “good shutdown” to teach Democrats a lesson. The budget he proposed last year was so sparse on key details that the Congressional Budget Office said it could not analyze its impact on revenue. ...there are no signs that Republicans are united behind their own budget proposals. They control just a 51-49 margin, and several Republicans have said they won’t support the spending bill. NBC News: Sen. Dean Heller Distances Himself From Trump on Arpaio, DACA and Border Wall Heller said the president's threat to shut down the government if Congress refuses to give him a down-payment on his border wall in upcoming spending bills would only hurt the GOP. “I don’t like shutting down the government,” Heller said. “There will be no excuses and nobody else’s fault but the Republican Party if this government does shut down.” The Hill: Shepard Smith on possible shutdown: 'Single party is in charge' Fox News’s Shepard Smith on Thursday said blame over a possible government shutdown lies with Republicans as long as they control both Congress and the White House. “With one party in charge of everything, a government shutdown will not happen, right?” Smith said. “I mean, never in the history — at least modern history — of the country has there been a government shutdown when a single party is in charge of Washington.”
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