The federal government is shut down – and so is the U.S. House

WASHINGTON – What does a vote counter do when there are no votes to count?

As U.S. House majority whip, it’s Rep. Tom Emmer’s job to count votes and persuade – or even strongarm – recalcitrant Republicans to support GOP initiatives in a closely divided chamber. 

But now there are no votes to count.

Emmer joined a GOP House leadership press conference Wednesday to continue to blame Democrats for a federal government shutdown that is in its eighth day.

The 6th District Republican said the shutdown has occurred “all because Democrats would rather hold the American people hostage to appease their radical base.”

But it’s totally the GOP’s decision to put all House business on ice.  

Emmer is among a small group of House Republicans who are still in Washington, D.C., because House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has canceled all House votes for a second week.

Johnson indicated the House’s work is done until Senate Democrats end their filibuster of his bill to reopen government.

Before leaving town, House Republicans passed a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund the federal government at current levels until Nov. 21. Democrats oppose the measure because it does not have concessions the party wants – a rollback of Medicaid cuts and an extension of enhanced premium subsidies for those who purchase insurance  

Meanwhile, unlike the House, the U.S. Senate has been at work – mostly rejecting Johnson’s stopgap bill in a series of votes. But the chamber has also accomplished other things.

For instance, late Tuesday the Senate voted along party lines, 51-47, to confirm Daniel Rosen as Minnesota’s newest U.S. attorney. Rosen’s confirmation was part of a batch of 107 Trump nominees whose confirmations had been stalled until Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., changed Senate rules to expedite confirmations.

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