WASHINGTON – As a partial shutdown of the federal government looms, both Democrats and Republicans are working to exploit the budget crisis to raise campaign money.
The showdown coincides with the end of third-quarter fundraising period and political candidates, parties and outside groups have made it a theme of their frantic, last-minute pitches for cash.
Democrats, who view a shutdown as one of the best opportunities to retain control of the Senate in 2014 and possibly make gains in the GOP-controlled House, portrayed Republicans as recklessly endangering government operations by using a stopgap spending bill to delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans, meanwhile, are urging donors to give them more money to help roll back the health-care law and elect more conservatives to Congress who are willing to challenge President Obama.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has outraised its Republican counterpart this year, set a goal Sunday afternoon of collecting 25,000 online donations. Hours later, the group boasted it had collected 5,500 contributions online and pleaded for more cash to offer a “show of support for President Obama at this critical moment.”
Organizing for Action, a non-profit group created this year to advance Obama’s second-term agenda, has issued multiple e-mail appeals in recent days, asking supporters to send money or add their names to missives that urge House Speaker John Boehner to approve a spending plan that does not attack the health care law.
Conservatives, too, are using the fight to rally their base.
In a fundraising pitch for the Republican National Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the 2010 health-care law a “gross overreach by the federal government that the American people didn’t want then, don’t want now and do not want to see continue.” He said vulnerable Democratic senators have a choice when it comes to the budget shutdown: “Stand with their constituents or stand with President Obama.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., meanwhile, used the stalemate over the health-care law to seek donations for his Reclaim America leadership PAC. If conservatives are to make their “goal of repealing Obamacare a reality, we need the right leaders in the Senate,” he wrote.
He then asked his supporters to give him money to help aid Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton’s Senate campaign. Cotton, a Republican, hopes to oust Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.
At least seven lawmakers also have political fundraisers scheduled this week, according to invitations compiled by the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, which tracks campaign activity.
Common Cause, a liberal group, on Monday called on lawmakers to suspend their fundraising if a shutdown occurs.
“It’s unthinkable that in the midst of a shutdown, which may deprive up to 1 million federal employees of their paychecks, members of the House and Senate would pursue a political payday,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, the group’s senior vice president for strategy and programs.
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