Republicans scramble for ideas to reopen government after pressure tactics fail

[Bluetus]

13. Democrats should declare an impasse and refuse any further negotiations until

the House comes back to work.

We can easily win the optics of that position. And as a result, Adelita Grijalva will be seated and we can get the bill requiring the DoJ to publish the Epstein files. And that puts Trump in a box because then it will be possible to link the government shutdown with the Epstein files, to get a twofer any time the media asks why the shutdown is still happening.

Our position would be, simply:

Republicans had 10 months to negotiate an acceptable budget. Democrats stood ready to negotiate every single day this year, but the Republicans never had a single meeting, not a single discussion, not even a single email or PowerPoint slide with the Democrats to seek common ground. Instead they met in secret and rammed through their own bill, then they left town and have never come back to work since September.

That bill they rammed through the House eliminates all funding for ACA health care premium support needed by 22 million Americans. The Democrats in the Senate could not accept this. The House Republicans are AWOL, because if they come back, then they must seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva who was elected to the House months ago. And as soon as that happens, there will be a discharge petition that will force the DoJ to release the full Epstein files.

So, as a matter of fact, this shutdown continues because Trump is fighting like hell to keep those files from coming out.