Republican headaches around the possible impending shutdown are legion: President Donald Trump’s obstinance on his $5 billion wall, his televised pronouncement that Republicans would own the shutdown and the utter lack of will for Democrats to concede an inch of their better positioning.
Now, a new problem is cropping up. Republican lawmakers who were defeated in their elections or who are retiring are playing hooky — and it’s not at all clear that they’ll come back for votes if a deal is struck over the wall and shutdown, according to a Sunday New York Times report.
Relegated to cubicles, the lame-duck members see little incentive to show up to work. Their days are numbered and, per the Times, resentment and tension with coworkers and the job have festered by this stage of the game.
At least two dozen Republican lawmakers have skipped votes in recent weeks, according to the Times.
