Can Republicans Find a Way to Avoid a Shutdown?

Rick Klein: “This is the era of manufactured crises, as President Obama is fond of pointing out. It is also, apparently, the era of manufactured crises without exit strategies. Two months in the new year surely felt like plenty of time back when Republicans agreed to set a Department of Homeland Security funding deadline to force a showdown over immigration. But the end of February has come fast, with no change in the political dynamics or vote results or rhetoric. There’s been wide commentary on how Republicans knew they were given the keys to Capitol Hill on a provisional basis – that they needed to show they can govern, not just hold a majority. Well, here’s such a time.”

First Read: “Republicans claim that Senate Democrats are the ones obstructing things, because they are filibustering a DHS funding bill that contains riders rolling back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Yet as we learned during the last government shutdown, the side that’s using government spending to demand changes to existing law or directives is going to be side that gets blamed if the government (or just part of it) shuts down.”

Morning Line: “By the way, this funding crisis probably isn’t the last one we’ll see this year. There are more within view — in coming months, the U.S. will again hit its debt ceiling and the Highway Trust Fund will go into the red if Congress doesn’t act.”