GOP Moderates Organize Against Another Shutdown

The Dec. 13 deadline to negotiate a budget plan is fast approaching, and Ted Cruz hasn't ruled out another government shutdown to continue his Defund Obamacare campaign. But moderate Republicans in both houses are promising to speak up during this round of budget talks. The loudest among them is Rep. Peter King, but Sen. Susan Collins and Reps. Charlie Dent and Patrick Meehan have also suggested that they're not going to take it anymore.

"We have to be more outspoken upfront," King told Politico. Dent, who represents a moderate district in Pennsylvania, agreed: "I can assure you that the next time around, people are going to have their eyes wide open. I believe there will be a lot of folks speaking up. Aggressively, in fact."

Collins went on PBS NewsHour at the end of last week to call for an end to damaging partisan bickering: "The American people are clearly frustrated and fed up with the partisan gridlock and the excessive partisanship that they're seeing in Washington." The shutdown strategy was "never going to be successful, and it was a fantasy to think that it was." Collins was one of seven Republican senators who worked with Democrats to end the shutdown. 

Read more on The Atlantic Wire.