Since when is not shutting the government down the lodestone for all public policy? Sheesh.
This is how congress (both sides) now shuts down all debate on the massive deficit spending the bills create. Wait until the last second and submit a monster spending bill forcing any opposition to choose between blindly passing a bill they don't have time to read or shutting down the government. (and taking all the political hits that engenders). This is why we will have trillion dollar (soon to be multi-trillion dollar) yearly deficits from now on. How long can you go on spending trillions of dollars of imaginary money every year before the bottom falls out? There's a hard rain gonna fall, if not in my lifetime then certainly in my children's.