When the government shut down last year, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, walked up to a fellow conservative a few feet from the House Floor, and high fived him. Now, Republicans are so shutdown averse, even Brooks tells CNN they should do everything in their power to fight President Barack Obama's immigration executive action. Everything except shutting down the government. Brooks' change speaks volumes about Republican thinking at a time when the party is weighing a response to Obama's order amid pressure from some influential outside conservative forces are pushing Republicans to go once again down the shutdown route. "There is no reason to shut down the government over this. It would be bad for the government, bad for the country and playing into his hands in a way," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
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Some Republicans are pushing to avoid a government shutdown this year
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Obama's immigration orders have raised tensions between the President and the GOP
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Alternatives to a shutdown include hitting the budget, suing and blocking nominees
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The answer, according to many @placeholder congressional sources, is that they don't have a lot of viable avenues for beating back the president's executive order, which is expected to allow up to 5 million illegal immigrants to stay legally.
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One @placeholder senator, who asked not to be identified in order to speak freely about the strategy, told CNN that such a move would "give us time to come up with a proposal."