The House leadership seems to have coalesced around a plan that they think will win the support of at least 217 Republicans. It’s complex and difficult to understand, and I find it difficult to try considering that it isn’t going anywhere in the Senate.
It’s a two-pronged approach. On the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, the Republicans will limit the funding to December 15th. The funding level will be slightly above what the Budget Control Act of 2011 calls for. And it will defund ObamaCare.
On the debt ceiling, they will have a separate vote that will delay ObamaCare for a year, authorize the Keystone XL pipeline, and provide an outline for tax reform.
Their hope is that they can successfully pass the buck to Republican senators who will be expected to sustain a filibuster against any CR or debt ceiling hike that includes money for health care.
It really doesn’t matter whether the Senate Republicans go along with the plan or not, because the government will shut down either way and we will default on our debts either way.
The pressure on Republican senators will be intense, but they’d rather let the House take the blame for the catastrophe.
The fact that the Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is facing a primary challenge from his right makes it unlikely that he will ride to the House’s rescue this time around. If we’re hoping for adult leadership in the Senate, it will have to come from a rump of moderate Republican senators that doesn’t seem to exist.
As the old ad said: this is your brain on “conservatism”. [cut to egg frying in pan] Any questions?
So the Drunken Boner’s plan is for senate Repubs to sustain a filibuster ensuring that total fiscal paralysis is sustained? That’s the successful, best possible end game?
I’m don’t think Boner’s a high functioning alcoholic anymore…when does he simply stop coming into work and answering calls?
I see. So the plan is to let go of the steering wheel and then try to blame the Democrats for the crash.
Well, as Steve King said, “We shall see.”
Defunding Obamacare is right up there with current tea baggers continued bills to defund Acorn. Simple nonsense.
May Godwin strike me dead, but I think I see a parallel here.
Defunding ACORN is to defunding Obamacare as invading Poland is to invading Russia.
It seems a given that the government will shut down, but are we really going to default on our debt? At the last minute before default, are 40 Republican senators really going to filibuster against a “clean” debt ceiling increase (which will be the only option they have left)? And is Boehner really going to enforce the Hastert rule against same? Call me a rose-filtered optimist, but I don’t see it happening.
Last year, even a few months ago, I would have agreed.
Now? Not even the Wall Street Titans that own most of the Dems and all of the GOP can prevent a default.
The only thing I can think is that Obama will take some kind of unilateral action to prevent a default on our debt (such as the trillion dollar platinum coin). It may provoke a constitutional crisis, but I’m fairly certain that Obama would win such a fight since Republicans are as well-liked as herpes among the general public.
The debt limit may or may not be raised, but I don’t think there’s going to be a default. If they don’t raise the debt limit, it wouldn’t mean the Treasury is functionally incapable of borrowing more money, it would just mean Congress is withholding its approval.
So I would expect the president to keep paying the nation’s bills regardless of the Republicans’ dereliction of duty. Then of course they’ll call him a lawless tyrant, but that’s what they’ve been calling him anyway, so who cares? Their options are to impeach him, knowing with 100% certainty that the Senate will never convict him; or to figure out some way to get the case before the Supreme Court.
So then I guess it would be up to John Roberts to decide whether to order the president to destroy the economy on purpose for no reason. Of course it’s no fun having to rely on the Roberts court, but in the meanwhile there would still be pressure on Congress from all kinds of directions to just raise the damn debt limit and make the case moot.
They should mint the coin in copper, with John Boehner’s face on the front.
If all the House wants to do is avoid blame, why wouldn’t the Senate strip out the defund Obamacare provision and send a Senate-approved CR back to the House?
I’m no sure the abrasive rookies (Cruz, Lee, and Paul) have more than 10 other public supporters for their strategy. Reid can just bounce the hot potato CR back to the House and then what can Boehner do?
There’s a ton of people that support the nihilistic path. I live near a pile of them (bachmann-land).
I meant public supporters in the Senate.
This is what I see as the next step. There are certainly at least 6 Republicans in the Senate who don’t want to be seen as causing a shutdown by filibustering a CR. McConnell himself probably doesn’t want a shutdown, so I don’t expect him to seriously whip for a filibuster (he’ll pretend to for his primary but not really do it). And I suspect that suits Boehner fine. He clearly doesn’t want a shutdown, and this path results in a bland business-as-usual CR from the Senate sitting in front of the House. Either 20 Republicans yielding to business pressure and supporting a discharge petition or 110 deciding they don’t want the blame and supporting a vote lets Boehner off until next time.
We may see a shutdown before there’s enough pressure on the Republicans but even then this path will likely make them yield faster. A short shutdown is OK for Boehner – bad but not a disaster for the country, bad but not a disaster for the Republican Party. He’s not in a good position, but he does seem to be picking the best of bad options.
It is almost time for the Executive Branch to ignore the debt limit and take action for the good of the country.
I don’t think Obama will. He doesn’t want the political heat of a constitutionally wobbly choice, and of being second-guessed by the Republicans. He’ll follow the letter of the law, and everybody who gets money from the Federal government will put in a lawsuit claiming the debt limit is unconstitutional, so they can get paid. The lawsuits will go to the Supremes pronto and they, facing personal financial ruin and blame for the 2nd Great Depression, will throw out the debt limit as unconstitutional, one way or another. That way Obama will get what he wants, the Supremes will get blamed by the nutbar conservatives, the House Republicans will get blamed by everybody else, and he just looks fair and presidential.
I don’t see things getting this far, but if the Republicans who have taken the country hostage actually try to kill it, I think this will be the endgame.
I would turn it around – have Obama take preemptive action stating that he will ignore the debt limit and then dare Republicans to take it through the court system. No individual judge is going to want to go down in history as being responsible for destroying the world’s economy, nor, I don’t think, will Republicans have the guts to go through with such a lawsuit (I’m not even sure how standing would operate in this case). Doing nothing will throw everything into chaos, from which it will not emerge even if we were to receive a favorable court opinion long after the fact.
then, so.be.it.
The nihilist teatards DON’T CARE!!!!
And sadly I have zero hope that the public will do anything to GOP about it. After all did we not face this same looming catastrophe with the sequester? What did the public do? Nothing.
The moneybags got their airline component of the sequester fixed and said screw the rest of us. And we ARE screwed with nary a peep from the public anymore about the sequester
Same thing is gonna happen to SNAPs defunding.
The wingnuts have strapped multiple suicide bombs to this country and all people care about is Miley Cyrus’ twerking.
I weep!