Washington Democrats and liberal mainstream media journalists have been wearing out their tongues for a week predicting House Republicans will force a government shutdown just as they did in 1995, with the same disastrous results for the GOP. They are framing the issue this way because they want a government shutdown, thinking it will blunt the drive by House Republicans to cut federal spending, which voters demanded last November. Unfortunately, many Republicans have bought into the fallacy that the only way to achieve their goal is through a political stalemate that forces a suspension of government services. In fact, this is not an “either/or” proposition, as congressional Republicans can show this week by taking two steps. First, House GOP leaders should introduce an alternative continuing resolution that ensures no slowdown in essential services, including the delivery of Social Security checks and Medicare payments for medical treatment, keeping the military at full strength and funding agencies charged with maintaining the public safety. House Speaker John Boehner should make clear that this alternative continuing resolution will be approved if Senate Democrats and/or President Obama refuse to accept the $61 billion in spending cuts approved last week by the lower chamber. Just as Cato the Elder ended his every Roman Senate speech by demanding that “Carthage must die,” Boehner should constantly demand that Democrats stop obstructing the defunding of Obamacare, White House “czars,” EPA’s regulatory cap-and-trade, and other much-needed spending cuts.
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