With decades of experience in Congress, one would think Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would’ve had the common sense to understand shutdowns never work. Schumer was alive and well in 2013 when Republicans attempted a shutdown of their own. This was a move Schumer criticized, claiming, “We could say, ‘we’re shutting down the government, we’re not going to raise the debt ceiling, until you pass immigration reform.’ It would be governmental chaos.”
Back in 2013, the failure of Congress to agree on a budget resolution and Obamacare before Oct. 1 led to a shutdown that damaged Republican support in the polls. Anyone can see what happened thanks to the generic congressional ballot average of polls on RealClearPolitics.
On Oct. 1, the Democrats led with a margin of 4 percent, but by Oct. 16 when the shutdown ended they were leading by a margin of 5.5 percent. Support for Democrats shot up from 42.7 percent to 46.8 percent, whereas with Republicans it only increased from 38.7 percent to 41.3 percent.
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2018/01/23/daca-battle-reveals-dangerous-implications-of-government-without-checks-and-balances/
The shutdown ended in a clear victory for Democrats, but the Republicans won the 2014 midterms after the Obama administration’s humiliating catastrophe with the Obamacare rollout.
Despite recent history, Democrats thought they would somehow be successful in spearheading a government shutdown over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy. Covering approximately 800,000 people, many Democrats believed they could use DACA as justification for the shutdown. Primarily pushed by the anti-President Donald Trump movement called “The Resistance,” Schumer went ahead with it.
The plan began to unravel immediately. On Friday, CNN released a poll finding 56 percent of Americans wanted to avoid the shutdown. Only 34 percent choose to continue DACA. Democratic voters were divided on the issue, with 49 percent believing saving DACA was more important and 42 percent preferring preventing the shutdown.
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2017/11/02/sweeping-tax-cut-could-lead-to-republican-victory-in-2018-2020/
Clashes in the media began over the weekend, whether on television or through social media. With the majority on their side, it was clear the Republicans had the high ground. Trump managed to frame the shutdown as a battle between Republicans, who backed paying the members of the military and funding border security, and Democrats, who seemed to only be prioritizing illegal immigrants. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also pounced, specifically arguing Democrats were hurting 8.9 million recipients of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan.
Schumer finally realized the inexorable difficulties and threw in the towel Monday. Rather than address DACA when its March deadline approached, the Democrats in the Senate showed colossal imbecility by placing the entire federal government at stake.
The shutdown drama split the Democratic Party wide open. Some of the moderate senators who are up for re-election this year, such as North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, can come out of the debacle claiming victory for their efforts to end the shutdown and negotiate with Republicans. Others — specifically, ambitious Democrats who have 2020 in mind — are expressing outrage over Schumer’s surrender. California Sen. Kamala Harris quickly criticized him for not doing more on DACA. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders joined her by voting against reopening the government.
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2017/11/13/virginia-gubernatorial-election-proves-republican-party-from-d-c-to-wisconsin-needs-to-up-its-policy-game/
The biggest winners coming out of the shutdown battle were the Republicans. Senators in battleground states can return to their constituents showing how to govern while Democrats obstruct. Republican challengers, including Sen. Leah Vukmir, District 5, and Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson here in Wisconsin, can say Sen. Tammy Baldwin should not keep her job because of her incompetent vote to shut down the government.
Going into 2018, it’s clear a Democratic wave is building. Patty Schachtner’s Wisconsin State Senate victory in the Republican-leaning tenth district against Rep. Adam Jarchow is indicative of that. But momentum should not be taken for granted and it can erode just as easily as it is built. The last time a Republican became president in 2000, the Democrats actually lost seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives two years later. In these midterms, Republicans can now use the government shutdown to show they are better at governing than the Democrats.
John Graber ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and political science.
