Dems, Republicans Share Blame for Shutdown in New Poll

Cliff Young, chair of Public Affairs for Ipsos, says that while voters blame lawmakers across both parties for the current government shutdown, Republicans are faulted slightly more for their role in the funding fight.

President Donald Trump has in the span of just four days fired thousands of government employees, transferred billions in federal funds and threatened to unilaterally cancel “Democrat programs” — all during a shutdown and without Congress’s approval.

The moves, playing out against the backdrop of a standoff over federal spending now entering its third week, mark an escalation of the administration’s efforts to use the federal budget to centralize power.

Republican congressional leaders have so far largely backed the White House’s expanded power claims, asserting that Trump has wide-ranging authority during a shutdown to pay military personnel and make other necessary moves in the absence of new federal funding.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who has kept the House out of Washington as Senate Democrats block the spending bill his chamber passed, said Wednesday that he recently spoke with Trump’s budget director, Russell Vought, about efforts to “triage federal spending” to pay priorities.

“They are forlorn,” Johnson said of Trump and Vought, who Republicans have gleefully portrayed as a sort of budgetary grim reaper, and his staff.

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