Why John Boehner Won't Hold a Vote to Reopen the Government

John Boehner could get out of this mess today. As House speaker, he can bring any bill he pleases to the floor. Like any bill, a continuing resolution to fund the government without gutting Obamacare would need 218 votes to pass. This morning Bloomberg News reports that at least 13 Republicans would vote for such a bill in defiance of the party’s right wing. Add Boehner and the House’s 201 Democrats, and the nation is just two votes shy of reopening the Lincoln Memorial.

Boehner is not doing this because we’re not watching a fight between Democrats and Republicans. It’s not even, really, a fight between the Tea Party caucus and the rest of the Republican party. The government shutdown is the real consequence of three decades spent trying to answer a metaphysical question: What is a party? John Boehner is stuck with an understanding of party discipline that may no longer be relevant—or even good for the Republican Party.