Republicans can't govern and aren't about to try, so here's the head of the hardline "Freedom Caucus" on whether or not hard-line Republicans will attempt to block next month's continuing resolution to keep the federal budget operating (yes, there's another one coming due) and whether or not a complete defunding of Planned Parenthood would be among their demands.
“Everybody’s pretty weary right now. I know I am,” Meadows (R-N.C.) said. “And so I think anytime that you’re weary, you’ve got to be careful about two things: One, making a poor decision, and the other is making a quick decision.”
He said the HFC would make a “very methodical decision” in the days and weeks to come on the continuing resolution (CR) and that Planned Parenthood funding would be one of the things conservatives look at.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is dismissing such plans, not because he doesn’t want to defund the healthcare provider but because he still wants to do it as part of his it’s-not-dead-yet-its-still-twitching healthcare “reform” efforts. But if the hardliners have learned anything these last few years, it's that you shouldn't govern unless there are hostages worth taking.
While it seems unlikely that we'll see another government shutdown this time around—Democrats would likely partner with not-entirely-batshit-insane Republicans to keep things afloat despite the demands of the arsonists—attempting to pass a continuing resolution heaped high with far-right demands like Planned Parenthood defunding would be one of the few sure ways to turn this, too, into a Republican-on-Republican stalemate.
For now, we'll just have to wait and watch.