Democrats in Washington have softened their early opposition to the Republicans’ tiered approach to government spending, signaling a new openness to supporting the House GOP bill and averting a government shutdown at week’s end.
In a Monday letter to House Democrats, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his top deputies suggested that Democrats may support the Republicans’ short-term funding bill to keep the government open into early next year — a sharp change of tone that could pave the way for easy passage when the bill hits the chamber floor on Tuesday.
Joined by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Jeffries stopped short of saying party leaders are ready to endorse the GOP proposal, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which was introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over the weekend.
But he also didn’t rule it out.
It’s pretty easy to explain to voters that the Democrats are on board for a CR with no cuts, despite the laddered structure, and if the bill is changed after that then they might not be on board for whatever change.
No swing voter is going to be fooled by the actions described in your middle paragraph, which is why it won’t happen.
And your last point…of course Republicans will TRY to make Democrats take tough votes, but funding the government 100% IS the popular position. Republicans changing things to push the bill further right makes it a difficult vote for Republicans.