That's the only way to do it. Most Republicans (especially in the Senate) propose one sensible reform, endure the usual withering criticism, then settle for much less than they asked for as a 'compromise." You have to throw so much stuff at them they can't effectively deal with it all.
Right. You don't ask for the moon. You as for the Sun, Moon, and stars, and finally settle for just the Moon.
Or they do as McConnell has done today with funding Homeland Security, throw it back to the House, which has already past the bill, and tell them to redo it to the pleasure of the dems in the Senate.
I don’t think it is just because they don’t want to be “responsible” for a government shutdown, when it fact it will be Obama, who will not sign the bill, but because they are such cowards about raising the ire of the party they wish to be accepted by, the dems, and the media whose withering scorn they go to sleeping crying over.