Republicans have already revealed their strategy in the GOP shutdown: take America hostage by shutting down the federal government, and then criticize President Obama and Congressional Democrats for not “negotiating” major concessions, including defunding the Affordable Care Act, in return for Republicans reopening the government. Republicans skillfully repeat this word “negotiate,” but their definition of the term is absurdly narrow. In this context, Republicans only mean that President Obama should negotiate away popular Democratic principles and new laws while he has the GOP shutdown gun pointed at his head.Democrats need to push back on offense and control the frame against this ludicrous Republican talking point. The Democrats need to point out that, under any reasonable definition, Democrats have negotiated and/or been open to negotiation with the Republicans from the very beginning. This includes:
Negotiation over the Affordable Care Act
The Democrats engaged in years of discussions and negotiations with Republicans over the Affordable Care Act, which at the time was known generically as “healthcare reform.” Remember the “Gang of Six” senators? In fact, many Democratic and progressive voters rightfully criticized President Obama and Congressional Democrats for negotiating too much, including giving away the “Public Option” which so many Democrats wanted. As a result of these negotiations, the Republicans watered down the Affordable Care Act, and then voted against it anyway, in bad faith.
Negotiation over the Budget
Having lost the fight over defunding the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have now pivoted to saying that the “negotiation” President Obama and the Democrats have failed to conduct is negotiation over the federal budget. Of course, this is a lie too. The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed a budget last March. The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of a budget at the same time. The next phase is for each house of Congress to appoint budget conferees (literally negotiators) to meet and hash out the final budget. However, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have refused to appoint these negotiators. Democratic Senator Patty Murray, Chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, is on record as asking her Republican colleagues 19 times to appoint the conferees and/or negotiate a budget, to no avail. Thus, Republicans cannot be permitted to say that they suddenly have found religion on “negotiating” with Democrats, only after they took hostages by shutting down the federal government and threatening to let the U.S. default on its debt ceiling as well.
Moreover, President Obama made it clear at his press conference yesterday (see video above) that he is open to discussions and negotiations with the Republicans on any subject, but that such negotiations cannot take place under the “hostage” conditions and “extortion” of the GOP shutdown. That seems like a reasonable place from which to argue that the Republicans’ current “negotiation” definition is absurd and will not be entertained.
