Could Conservatives in Congress shut down the Government to stop Biden Virus Mandate?

THAT IS what Politico is reporting….

Some of us have increasing reporting that the pandemic has cease to be a health issue for Republicans and IS now a political issue to go after the President….

Playing to countries virus fatigue ….

Some Republicans seem to be willing to play hardball against mandates….

(Or just making noise for supporters back home?)

Government shutdowns are a mess and don’t necessarily gain points for lawmakers who support them…

Republican US Senate Minority leader McConnell is saying there will be NO shutdown….

Stay tuned….

Conservatives on both sides of the Capitol are privately plotting to force a government shutdown Friday in an effort to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate on the private sector, multiple GOP sources told Playbook.

Capitalizing on a last-minute scramble to fund the government, a group of Senate conservatives is planning to object to quick consideration of a stopgap measure to extend funding into early 2022 unless Democratic leaders agree to deny money to enforce the mandate. Because of the tight schedule — and Senate rules that require unanimous consent to move quickly — the senators believe they’ll be able to drag out the process well past midnight Friday, when funding officially expires.

“I’m sure we would all like to simplify the process for resolving the CR, but I can’t facilitate that without addressing the vaccine mandates,” Sen. MIKE LEE (R-Utah) told Playbook in a statement. “Given that federal courts across the country have raised serious issues with these mandates, it’s not unreasonable for my Democratic colleagues to delay enforcement of the mandates for at least the length of the continuing resolution.”

It is unclear how many Senate conservatives are publicly willing to follow through on the shutdown threat. But 15 signed a letter spearheaded by Sen. ROGER MARSHALL (R-Kan.) in early November vowing to “use all means at our disposal” — including invoking Senate procedures to gum up the works — to block passage of a continuing resolution that doesn’t stop implementation of a vaccine mandate. Technically, all they need is one senator to object in order to push past Friday’s midnight deadline, and several are already discussing this issue.

THE GROUP HAS BACKUP FROM THE HOUSE: In a meeting Tuesday night, the House Freedom Caucus voted to pressure Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY to take a harder line on the so-called continuing resolution unless Democrats strip out funding to enforce the mandate, according to sources familiar with what happened. Last time the House passed a funding stopgap, 34 House Republicans backed the bill and GOP leaders did not whip against it. But the group plans to demand that GOP lawmakers stand firm in supporting their Senate colleagues….

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MCCONNELL DOWNPLAYS SHUTDOWN THREAT: Senate Minority LeaderMITCH McCONNELL predicted Tuesday that “we won’t shut down,” arguing that “nobody should be concerned about a government shutdown.” The Kentucky Republican — who has never been a fan of shutdown tactics — could try to make the case to conservatives that such a move would backfire on their cause. The issue came up at the Senate GOP lunch Tuesday, we’re told, and is expected to dominate another Republican lunch meeting today being run by Lee’s conservative Senate Steering Committee.

Since Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress,some conservatives think that they can get Democrats to cave out of fear of being blamed. Other Republicans acknowledged to us that this is probably wishful thinking, especially because the party making the demands in past shutdowns shouldered the bulk of the blowback.

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