Republicans are to blame for the government shutdown, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday, and he believes it "certainly could have been avoided."
"Despite the rhetorical effort to paste Democrats with “Schumer’s Shutdown” and to redefine what constitutes majority control of the Senate (“60”? Really?), the fact remains that this shutdown rests at the feet of the GOP and it appears a majority of Americans agree," Steele told Politico.
"I don’t like it."
President Donald Trump ended up "negotiating against himself by taking a potential agreement off the table," Steele added, referring to a contentious Oval Office meeting on Jan. 11, when the president rejected a bipartisan plan presented to him by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Dick Durbin, D-Ill..
His refusal, said Steele, left Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to comment that he would be convinced that Senate Republicans were not "just spinning our wheels."
"That put Republicans in the position to spin their wheels right into another government shutdown," said Steele. "Pitiful."
Throughout the day Saturday, Republicans and Democrats cast blame on each other over the shutdown, triggered Friday night when the Senate voted down a continuing resolution to fund the government through next month.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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