Lawmaker Signals Fellow Dems Would 'Shut Down Gov't to Save It' in the Face of 'Elon Musk and His DOGE Frat Bros'
Source: MEDIAite
Mar 9th, 2025, 9:09 pm
MSNBCs Jonathan Capehart on Sunday wondered aloud whether Democrats will be willing to shut down the government to save it when the deadline comes up on Friday, as a vote on the GOPs proposed continuing resolution, or CR, stopgap measure coming this week. His guest, Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Brendan Boyle, signaled that they are willing to do just that. Capehart spoke with Boyle on the latest edition of The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart on MNSBC ahead of the CR going before the House Rules Committee on Monday and a possible floor vote on the measure Tuesday.
Democrats have expressed their unwillingness to cooperate with the stopgap intended to keep the government running on the grounds of their disagreement with how President Donald Trump and Republicans are utilizing the budget, and frequently cite Elon Musk and DOGE as reason to balk, as Boyle, a member of the Ways and Means committee, did in his interview with Capehart. In introducing the Congressman, Capehart made a point of noting the 99-page length of the C.R. in addition to foreshadowing the argument that Republicans are not up to any good.
Boyle began his remarks by saying that any shutdown of government will be because Republicans want one, and he ended his remarks by saying he would not vote to prevent said shutdown. In between, he explained that he cant in good conscience support keeping the government open because Trump and Republicans, as well as Musk and his DOGE frat bros cant be trusted with the government budget, anyway.
How can I be expected to cast a vote this Friday when I know that the very next day, on Saturday, Elon Musk and his DOGE frat bros could show up and shut down the agency that I just voted to fund? he asked rhetorically. Until that all of that is resolved, I certainly couldnt be a yes vote in good conscience.
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/msnbcs-capehart-asks-if-dems-are-willing-to-shut-down-govt-to-save-it-and-dem-rep-signals-yes-because-of-elon-musk-and-his-doge-frat-bros/
Boyle is a Philly Rep. (PA-2).
The issue won't be the House because I expect the GOP has the votes (and/or will threaten the lives of the teabaggers to get the votes). It's the Senate, where 7 (D)s/(I)s would need to vote with Republicans to pass a (bad) C.R.

Walleye
(39,622 posts)What is there to decide about. Side with the Republicans, or side with the Democrats thats it.
LiberalArkie
(17,947 posts)Bring America back to when it was great and respected around the world.
BlueKota
(4,191 posts)Historic NY
(38,829 posts)screw them . Democrats should just vote present
Blues Heron
(6,757 posts)Alice B.
(480 posts)BumRushDaShow
(150,860 posts)The idiocy of their ripping through systems to produce massive error-ridden "reports" like crap about 300 year old SS recipients or producing a program that purges the famous WWII plane "Enola Gay" because they are removing EVERYTHING that has the word "gay" in it due to their obsessive and careless disregard for reality, is a case in point.
It's probably not unlike this when they can't get an intelligible enough report for Muskrat -
dutch777
(4,236 posts)Marthe48
(20,449 posts)Can we start it back up without felon, rocket flopper, and rwnj?
A girl can dream
SomewhereInTheMiddle
(499 posts)BumRushDaShow
(150,860 posts)But DOGE has yet to follow ANY law (they have already violated multiple including the Antideficiency Act, Impoundment Control Act, Civil Service Reform Act, and Article I Sec. 9 of the Constitution among others including the current C.R. that the government is operating on - Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025).
They will unilaterally declare themselves "essential".
ancianita
(40,290 posts)Last edited Mon Mar 10, 2025, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)
A probable scenario is that either way, -- whether the government is shut down or not -- Democratic Senators' votes could err on the side of believing that DOGE will still access government data, accounts, etc...
At least, if govt is kept up and running, it's more likely that personnel will still report DOGE to a) those who could still file lawsuits, b) media, and c) to the People. But if govt is shut down, no one will be there to report DOGE's stealth robberies of govt data/money to any entity -- Just DOGE to the felon himself.
The best case scenario that really isn't one, seems to be to keep to what we're doing now, BUT on one condition: to get the resolution passed, Dems MUST get a rewriting of billionaire tax cuts to one third the original amount.
https://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators_phone_list.pdf
Martin68
(25,449 posts)two evils. It is probably the best way to block the Trump agenda.