Republicans Could Make History With One-Party Government Shutdown
Key Points
- The government can partially close if the legislator does not pass the March 14 deadline and the legislator does not pass the bill to fund the federal government.
- Given the party’s narrow majority in the House and Senate, a handful of Republican defectors could force shutdowns.
- Some Republicans are reluctant to vote for the House’s current budget proposal, which calls for cuts to Medicaid low-income health insurance plans.
The Republican-led administration may be the first major administration in history to oversee the shutdown, while controlling the House, Senate and White House.
Congress must pass a bill to fund the federal government by March 14, and if not, many agencies will at least partially close and send employees home.
Since 1981, the government has closed 10 times, including three major shutdowns that lasted more than a week, all of which are Partisan spending deadlock. When a party controls the White House, the House, and the Senate, none of them happens.
But President Donald Trump may be the first president to have a majority in the House and Senate.
Medicaid may be a symptom
As of Tuesday afternoon, the political betting market predicts that it will be shut down in mid-March, while multiple markets will account for more than 60%. Republican efforts to pass budget bills in the House and Senate have become complicated.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, tried to pass a budget framework that included up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and cuts $2 trillion in budget over a decade. These cuts reportedly include a decrease of up to $880 billion Medicaidthe government’s health insurance plan is mainly aimed at low-income people.
Some Republican lawmakers have shown their reluctance to support Medicaid cuts that could harm their voters, putting the bill’s future in danger. Republicans have only three majority in the House, so assuming no Democrats support the two defectors, they can torpedo the two defectors and shut down the government.
Trump endorsed the bill despite pledging last week not to cut down the administration’s major safety net programs, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.