WATCH: Republicans at odds over who would face blame for a shutdown
Republicans differ in their view of who would pay politically for a government shutdown, with one seasoned GOP lawmaker insisting to his colleagues that a shutdown would be bad for the party.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) told The Hill that if a shutdown occurs “the Republicans will pay more … it’s always been that way in my experience here.”
Rogers, who has been in office since 2003, said he’s sharing that message with lawmakers who “haven’t been here for so long” and don’t “really understand what happens when shutdowns occur.”
“They need to go talk to Newt Gingrich,” Rogers added, referring to the former Georgia Republican Speaker of the House.
A pair of conservative lawmakers disagreed with that sentiment Thursday, noting that Republicans maintained control of both chambers despite the shutdown in the late 1990s.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said he’s talked to people outside of the establishment who question “how big a hit” the party would take if there was a shutdown.
“I know the general wisdom is, conventional wisdom is, that Republicans pay the price but not necessarily at the ballot box,” the Texas Republican said in an interview.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a fellow hard-line conservative, chuckled, pointing to former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
“I’m laughing because conventional wisdom is, and John Boehner planted this into the minds of everybody all along, that whenever there is a government shutdown, House Republicans always pay the price and I’m laughing because that’s not true,” King asserted.
Other Republicans and a number of Democratic lawmakers insist that the GOP will be hurt in November should Congress fail to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded past Friday.
Republicans, who currently control both chambers of Congress and the White House, have been wary of a shutdown since the last one in late 2013 amid efforts to repeal ObamaCare.
Watch the video above to hear the lawmakers in their own words.
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