When Republicans took control of Congress nine months ago, they promised an end to the divisions and intra-party bickering that caused the 2013 government shutdown. New Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even declared on his watch, there would be “no government shutdowns and no default on the national debt.”

But, here we are, just over two weeks from another Republican government shutdown with the GOP remaining fractured over the simplest of issues. As a new poll  shows that 71% of Americans want Congress to avoid a government shutdown, the GOP majority has yet to present a plan, or to even unify around a promise to not force the government to shut down for the second time in two years. 

Bridge Project’s latest report, “Conservatives’ Road Map To Another Republican Government Shutdown,” examines how conservatives have written their own path to another irresponsible Republican-led government shutdown.

The report delves into:

• How Republican leadership promised to stop “governing by crisis” and vowed to not shut down the government again.
• The practice of Tea Party members leading the GOP’s continued pattern of “lurch[ing] from crisis to crisis” in order to achieve their policy goals.
• The continued threats from conservatives to shut down the government unless Planned Parenthood is defunded, which would hurt American women.
• How conservative members of Congress and outside conservative groups pushed a government shutdown in 2013, despite criticism from other GOP members, similar to the playbook conservatives are running today.
• The consequences the 2013 shutdown brought for small businesses, children, and veterans’ families, which would be replicated in another Republican shutdown.