Most recent showdowns on Capitol Hill follow a similar trajectory.
In 2011, for example, both parties agreed that national default must be avoided, until some Republicans declared, “Maybe default wouldn’t be so bad.” In 2012, both parties hoped to avoid damaging sequestration cuts, until some Republicans declared, “Maybe the sequester wouldn’t be so bad.” In 2014, both parties said they wanted to avoid a government shutdown, until some Republicans declared, “Maybe a shutdown wouldn’t be so bad.”
The pattern never seems to change.
Top Republicans are increasingly unworried about missing the Department of Homeland Security’s funding deadline.The Feb. 27 deadline was supposed to mark the next stage in Congress’ fight on President Barack Obama’s immigration policies, but now, leading Republicans say the fallout would be limited if Congress fails to act. In private conversations and in meetings around the Capitol and on the House floor, top House GOP figures say most of DHS’s 280,000 employees will stay on the job even without a new funding bill because they are considered essential employees — though their paychecks would stop coming in the meantime.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told Politico that Congress shouldn’t ignore the looming deadline, but if lawmakers blow past it, it’s “not the end of the world.”
If you haven’t been following this, lawmakers are dealing with another manufactured crisis: Democrats want to fund the Department of Homeland Security at agreed upon spending levels, and Republicans also want to fund the Department of Homeland Security at agreed upon spending levels — but only if they can destroy President Obama’s immigration policy, eliminate protections for undocumented immigrants, and make millions of immigrants eligible for deportation.
There’s not a lot of middle ground between these two points — there’s obviously no way Democrats will agree to the Republicans’ terms — and if Congress doesn’t figure something out, current DHS funding will be exhausted by the end of February.
Apparently, the increasingly common response from Republicans is, “So what?”
In the upper chamber, Senate Republicans leaders have already said they have no intention of allowing a partial government shutdown to happen, though some of their own members — most notably Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — have said they don’t care if lawmakers miss the Feb. 27 deadline.
In case anyone’s tempted to think the Republican posturing is harmless, consider the interview Rachel did last week with DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. Rachel noted that Congress is holding up funding for the cabinet agency, and asked, “Does that have a material consequence for your department yet or are you worried it will in the future?” He replied:
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."