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A government shutdown now looks all but inevitable, and both parties are jockeying to make sure that the other one gets the blame. But I think this paragraph makes it pretty clear which party is really jonesing for a shutdown to happen:

House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown. That process includes alerting lawmakers and senior staff about which employees would not report to work if no agreement is reached.

Democrats are willing to endure a shutdown but are pretty obviously willing to compromise to avoid one. Republicans, conversely, really want this to happen. That’s been obvious from the start, and we shouldn’t allow anyone to let us to lose sight of this.

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