Senate Democrats may be willing to gamble that the public will blame Republicans for a government shutdown. After all, the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.
But beyond the election year blame game, Democratic economist Jared Bernstein warns that a shutdown could still have longer-term political fallout that his party should consider:
“The more people believe the government is fundamentally dysfunctional, the more they’ll be OK with de-funding and shrinking it (cutting tax revenues), turning federal programs over to states (“block grants”), and generally accepting the R’s narrative of a feckless government sector that wastes your tax dollars. Why, they can’t even keep the lights on! This leaves me pretty wary of any short-term advantages from blaming the other side for the shutdown, should it occur.”
