3: Number of Opportunities House Democrats Offered Republicans Today to Keep the Government Open While Negotiations Continue

…we do not want government to shut down, that we have made every compromise. In fact, we had cut $41 billion from the President's budget at the end of last year. The President and Senator Reid have gone much farther than that in meeting the Republicans more than halfway…

In fact, just today, Democrats offered three opportunities for Republicans to keep the government open for one week while budget negotiations continue:

The first opportunity was a previous question by Rep. McGovern providing for a common-sense, simple 1 week extension of funding for government operations with no controversial policy riders attached to it so that negotiations can continue without the immediate threat of a government shutdown. Republicans voted down the previous question by a vote of 238-185.

Whip Hoyer offered a second opportunity by offering a unanimous consent agreement to pass a common-sense, simple 1 week extension of funding for government operations with no controversial policy riders attached to it so that negotiations can continue without the immediate threat of a government shutdown. Republicans rejected this request.

The third opportunity was offered by Whip Hoyer providing for a common-sense, simple 1 week extension of funding for government operations with no controversial policy riders attached to it so that negotiations can continue without the immediate threat of a government shutdown but it was ruled of order by the Chair. Whip Hoyer appealed the ruling of the Chair so he could offer the extension. Republicans voted to table the appeal by a vote of 236-187.

Any one of these three bills could have passed the Senate and be signed by the President before midnight tomorrow.

In addition, Democrats believe elected officials should not receive their taxpayer-funded paycheck if they can't do their jobs and keep public services up and running. The Senate has already passed legislation to prevent Members of Congress from being paid, but last Friday Republicans in the House voted down a Democratic Motion to Recommit that if Republicans force a government shutdown, Members of Congress and the President would not get paid by a vote of 188-237.

Democrats are also committed to supporting our troops, veterans, and their families--they should not have to pay any price for a Republican forced shutdown. Today, Rep. Owens offered a Motion to Recommit to ensure that our troops will get paid. Republicans, with the exception of Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), voted down the motion 191-236.

Instead of passing these measures, House Republicans passed a "futile one-week spending measure" which has no chance of passing the Senate and the President has said he would veto it:

The Administration will continue to work with the Congress to arrive at a compromise that will fund the Government for the remainder of the fiscal year in a way that does not undermine future growth and job creation and that averts a costly Government shutdown. It is critical that the Congress send a final bill to the President's desk that provides certainty to our men and women in military uniform, their families, small businesses, homeowners, taxpayers, and all Americans. H.R. 1363 simply delays that critical final outcome.

If presented with this bill, the President will veto it.

Two new polls (Gallup and WSJ/NBC) found that large majorities of Democrats and independents support a compromise on the budget while Republicans support a government shutdown instead of finding common ground.

Washington Post's Ezra Klein writes, "the problem for Republicans is that what their base wants them to do is not what independents want them to do."

From the WSJ/NBC poll: 66 percent of Independents want Republican leaders to compromise; only 38 percent of Republicans want their leaders to compromise.

Even Sen. Coburn (R-OK), one of the most conservative members of Congress, has recommended to his Republican colleagues in the House to drop the riders and move on:

The one thing I've learned in my years here is there's one reason to talk about something, if you want to talk about it, to create a political climate. There's another, the common sense way is what can I really get done? What's the realities of the situation? And my recommendation to my friends in the House is, you know, it's highly unlikely that many riders are going to get passed with a Democrat president and a Democrat Senate, so why don't you take the spending and let's get on to the budget.

Democrats do not want to shut down the government, and have met Republicans more than halfway. It is time for Republicans to stop playing political games.