'Refusal to compromise' a 'point of pride' for GOP as shutdown looms: historian

Hailed as the least productive Congress over the last five decades, House Republicans may not make any effort to change their reputation any time soon.

"Over the next few weeks, as Congress considers a supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and appropriations bills to avoid a partial government shutdown, Republicans will have to decide how far to go with 'just say no,'" Glenn C. Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University, writes for The Hill.

However, he emphasizes, "House Republicans are the main culprits of this congressional dysfunction. With a slim majority for their party, GOP extremists — for whom refusal to compromise has become a point of pride and doing nothing preferable to governing — have spent their time engaging in partisan political theater."

Altschuler notes:

In 2023, the Republicans chose and then deposed a Speaker; spent 26 days without a Speaker, the longest such period since 1962; and censured three House Democrats, the most since 1870. Members routinely introduced 'poison pill' riders to appropriations bills — limiting access to mail order abortion medication; prohibiting research on climate change; ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs; banning Pride Flags; and defunding the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith — that virtually guaranteed the underlying legislation would be dead on arrival in the Senate. And three House committees, Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means, continued to search for but not find evidence to justify a Biden impeachment.

Furthermore, "Aware of polls indicating that around half of GOP voters believe the U.S. should reduce its global commitments, a substantial number of House Republicans oppose additional aid to Ukraine. More important, perhaps, they (and Donald Trump) appear to prefer letting the border crisis fester rather than supporting remedies embraced by Biden.

The professor of American studies also notes:

75 percent of Americans believe politicians should not shut down the government to achieve their political or policy goals — but twice as many Republicans as Democrats say they should. Almost as many Americans indicate they would blame a shutdown on Biden and congressional Democrats as on Republicans. With so many House members in safe seats (thanks in no small measure to gerrymandering), that may be more than enough for GOP hardliners to ignore the advice of their conservative colleague Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.): 'You can’t simply will your way into policy outcomes with a narrow majority. We need people to be realists — not just blind ideologues.'

Altschuler's full op-ed is here.