The Blame Game

It's looking more likely that this latest impasse cannot end without a government shutdown. Yesterday, House Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) threw down the gauntlet, declaring that the American people would hold Democrats accountable for such a result.

In fact, Republican intransigence is the driving force behind the likelihood of a shutdown. Previous resolutions cut $10 billion from the budget, and the Democratic leadership has offered a total of $30 billion in cuts through the end of the year. This is roughly what Republican budget chairman Paul Ryan suggested at the start of the debate, before a Tea Party upheaval forced the House Republicans to pass a bill with both $61 billion in spending reductions and a series of controversial budget riders gutting funding for Planned Parenthood, health care reform, and the EPA.


Republicans now insist this budget must be the bare minimum for negotiations moving forward. They have also pointedly refused to consider savings in other parts of the budget, including defense spending or wasteful corporate tax subsidies.

Republicans have, of course, claimed again and again that they have no desire for a shutdown, and that it will be the fault of the Democrats if one occurs. The record, however, says otherwise.

Whatever Eric Cantor may think, recent polls say it's the Republicans that the public would hold accountable for a shutdown. As the video evidence demonstrates, there's good reason for Americans to believe that.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/29/gop-wants-shutdown/