NPR's Cokie Roberts Ponders How GOP Could Shut Down the Government

On December 11, the continuing resolution currently funding the federal government will expire and that seemed like the perfect opportunity for the folks at National Public Radio to speculate about a possible GOP-caused government shutdown.

Appearing on NPR’s Morning Edition on Monday, December 1 [1], Steve Inskeep and Cokie Roberts went to great lengths discussing how the Republican Party could shut down the federal government. Even though Roberts conceded that a shutdown was unlikely, the NPR correspondent did her best to repeatedly play up how the GOP wants to “to keep the option open all the time.”

The discussion began with Roberts dismissing the possibility of a government shutdown before immediately reversing course:

Sure it could. I don’t think it will but it could. There are people in the Congress, Republicans, who feel strongly that they want to show the president that they’re very displeased with his actions on immigration. And this is the way the out of power party uses its power in the Congress is on spending bills and this Congress has taken it to the fare-thee-well so they want to keep the option open all the time of shutting down the government if they don’t like something.

The NPR correspondent continued to speculate about a possible shutdown despite twice conceded that GOP leadership has taken it off the table:

So instead of passing a bill that kept the government going until the end of the fiscal year, which is next October, they did it just until December 11. So now Republicans are saying well maybe we’ll fund some of the government or maybe we’ll do it on a month-by-month basis just to show the president how upset we are. Or maybe we’ll fund everything but the Department of Homeland Security which deals with immigration.

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But, you know, Mitch McConnell said when he first realized the Republicans would take the Senate said no government shutdown but others in the party don’t want to hear that.

Rather than push back against Roberts’ shutdown speculation, Steve Inskeep added fuel to the fire and wondered if it was “possible that lawmakers could block President Obama’s nominees to Secretary of Defense and Attorney General?”

For her part, Roberts did note how Democrats were engaged in an internal fight over taxes as well as President Obama’s nominee for Undersecretary of State:

And then there’s Antonio Weiss, who is the nominee for the Undersecretary of the Treasury, and his problem is with Democrats in the Senate, mainly Elizabeth Warren who opposes the fact that he represents Wall Street.

While Roberts did give time to highlight the infighting among Senate Democrats, the NPR correspondent concluded her remarks by falsely claiming that the new Democratic leadership in the Senate would be a good balance of liberal and moderate senators:

It’s interesting on Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving Steve, late at night, a new member of the Senate leadership team, Mark Warner, balancing off Elizabeth Warren, who got one of those leadership positions, Mark Warner, much more moderate.

Roberts’ claim that Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is somehow a moderate alternative to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) seems to fly in the face of reality when comparing their voting records. Senator Warren currently has a lifetime rating of 4% from the American Conservative Union [2], whereas Senator Warren’s ACU score is only 10.8%, hardly a “moderate” voice in the U.S. Senate.

See relevant transcript below.

NPR’s Morning Edition

December 1, 2014

STEVE INSKEEP: This week’s news reminds us that in Congress everything is connected. The same 535 lawmakers vote on everything so they link one issue to another. Right now Republicans are pondering how to respond to an action by President Obama. The president took unilateral action on immigration. Republicans are looking for ways to answer that in how they act on other issues. All this happens as funding to keep the government going runs out on December 11. Cokie Roberts is here with us as she is most Mondays. Hi Cokie.

COKIE ROBERTS: Hi Steve.

INSKEEP: So could the government shut down?

ROBERTS: Sure it could. I don’t think it will but it could. There are people in the Congress, Republicans, who feel strongly that they want to show the president that they’re very displeased with his actions on immigration. And this is the way the out of power party uses its power in the Congress is on spending bills and this Congress has taken it to the fare-thee-well so they want to keep the option open all the time of shutting down the government if they don’t like something. So instead of passing a bill that kept the government going until the end of the fiscal year, which is next October, they did it just until December 11.

So now Republicans are saying well maybe we’ll fund some of the government or maybe we’ll do it on a month-by-month basis just to show the president how upset we are. Or maybe we’ll fund everything but the Department of Homeland Security which deals with immigration. Now other people in the party have said wait a minute, first of all, most of these immigration plans are paid for by fees not appropriations.

But secondly, do you really want to give short [sic] to the Department of Homeland Security when 72 percent of the voters told exit pollsters they’re worried about a terrorist threat? So that’s probably not a politically wise idea. But, you know, Mitch McConnell said when he first realized the Republicans would take the Senate said no government shutdown but others in the party don’t want to hear that.

INSKEEP: Possible that lawmakers could block President Obama’s nominees to Secretary of Defense and Attorney General?

ROBERTS: That’s entirely possible. We don’t even know who the Secretary of Defense nominee’s going to be so the chances of that happening before the new Congress are pretty slim. The Attorney General hearings are likely to turn into an immigration hearing and maybe now some questions about Ferguson, Missouri although Congress has been pretty silent on that question. And then there’s Antonio Weiss, who is the nominee for the Undersecretary of the Treasury, and his problem is with Democrats in the Senate, mainly Elizabeth Warren who opposes the fact that he represents Wall Street.

INSKEEP: Isn’t there also a divide among Democrats when it comes to taxes? There was tome tax extenders as they’re called. They’re supposed to be voted on this month.

ROBERTS: Absolutely. And that’s what we’re seeing. A big riff is showing up in the Democratic Party between the people like Elizabeth Warren and her allies who are saying, enough for the rich we have to be much more cognoscente of people who are hurting in the country. And others in the party who are saying wait a minute we have to be very clear that we are not hurting any jobs by keeping these corporate taxes high and we have to pay attention to middle class workers.

It’s interesting on Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving Steve, late at night, a new member of the Senate leadership team, Mark Warner, balancing off Elizabeth Warren, who got one of those leadership positions, Mark Warner, much more moderate.

INSKEEP: Cokie, thanks as always. That’s Cokie Roberts on this Monday morning.