How is the 2025 government shutdown the Democrats’ fault? They don’t control Congress or the White House.
I get it — Republicans are in control of both the legislative and executive branches. And trust me, I don’t like when Democrats have that kind of power either. So, I understand where you’re coming from.
But we can’t let our feelings get in the way of clear thinking.
Here are the facts.
Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House: 219 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and 3 vacancies. That means if no Democrats vote for a bill, all but two Republicans must support it for it to pass.
In the Senate, Republicans hold a small majority, too — 53 to 47. But here’s where it gets tricky: the Senate has something called the filibuster. (I’ve talked about this a lot lately — and you can listen to learn more here.)
The filibuster isn’t in the Constitution. It’s just a Senate rule — a tradition, really — that lets the minority party keep debate going indefinitely unless 60 Senators vote to end it. In theory, it’s supposed to encourage discussion. In practice, both parties have used it to stall, obstruct, or score political points.
And that’s exactly what happened here.
When the government’s funding ran out on September 30, a continuing resolution — or CR — had to pass both chambers and be signed by President Trump to keep the government open. Republicans offered a clean CR — as they should have — meaning no new spending, no cuts, no pork, no gimmicks. Just a simple extension of current funding to keep things running while bigger fights could be debated later.
But Democrats filibustered it.
That means they blocked even the chance to vote on keeping the government open — hoping chaos would make Republicans take the blame. Sadly, that political game worked on some Americans.
So, let’s be clear: anyone who voted against that clean CR voted for a shutdown. This is always the way it’s viewed in our political narrative. If you oppose a clean CR to keep the government opened, you are voting for a shutdown. And that is exactly what Senate Democrats did more than a dozen times.
Republicans had the right approach — keep or get the government open first, then fight over policy second.
Conservative, not bitter.
Todd
