Washington is reaching a consensus: the government will shut down in 10 days — and Republicans will bear the brunt of voter disgust over it.

With House GOP leadership on Wednesday again showing little progress in moving a stopgap funding bill to prevent a shutdown, officials have begun a two-pronged effort to prepare for a shutdown that seems less avoidable every day.

There is the official side of government, where the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget has been working with agencies to make contingency plans for when funding runs out. And there is the political arena, where party operatives are focused on a different goal: inflicting maximum pain on their Republican adversaries and seeking to pin them with blame for an interruption in federal services and paychecks for government workers.

While both sides will inevitably throw blame at the other, Republicans are feeling a keen sense of apprehension that their party will suffer badly should a shutdown transpire.

“We always get the blame,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior appropriator. “Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”

  • @[email protected]
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    661 year ago

    “We always get the blame,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior appropriator. “Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”

    Then stop doing this shit, Mike…it’s not rocket science.

    • SuperDuper
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      1 year ago

      “Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”

      This is a terrific selfawarewolves quote.

      “Name one time that we did X and we haven’t got the blame for doing X.”

    • @Ensign_Crab
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      91 year ago

      “Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

    • @Frozengyro
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      61 year ago

      And if it wasn’t their fault ( in the instance refusal to collaborate with the other side) they wouldn’t always get blamed.

    • Alien Nathan Edward
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      31 year ago

      We always get the blame for the things we do

      Y’all the cishet white conservative concept of responsibility is wild. The idea that the problem isn’t your actions, it’s that people notice your actions and that it’s you doing them is Narcissistic Abuse 101.