Republican Senators are threatening to force a government shutdown unless Democrats agree to give up on the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has gotten 14 of his colleagues to sign a letter pledging to block a bill to fund government operations unless Obamacare is defunded, according to conservative activist and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson.
The list includes such prominent members as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a possible 2016 presidential candidate, and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX).
At the end of September, government funding under a March continuing resolution will run out. Without appropriations bills or another continuing resolution, the government would be forced to close.
A shutdown would likely cause 800,000 federal employees around the country to be furloughed, disrupting public services even further than sequestration cuts already have. A shutdown would also freeze many government programs like small business lending and environmental assessments for construction projects, exacerbating sequestration’s damage to the economy.
You know one of the most frequent reasons given for wanting to stop the Affordable Care Act from moving forward is that it will hurt small businesses and result in an undue burden on the states during implementation.
So..uh..their response is to completely shut down the government causing almost a million people to lose their jobs, disrupting vital services, and doing away with loans to small business?
Oh yeah, THAT makes sense.
Perhaps somebody should point out that acts of desperation like this make it crystal clear that the Republican fear is NOT that Obamacare will hurt our citizens, and businesses, but that it will do the exact opposite.
There is a legal term for this when it is done in the private sector: it is extortion, plain and simple, a third-degree felony. I hope the constituents of every one of these overgrown children kick them out on their rear ends in the next election. This is a time that calls for grown ups, not for badly-behaved two-year olds who are having temper tantrums.
ReplyDeleteThe sad and scary part is that they just keep voting them in. They are either too ignorant or, even scarier, they want these types of neanderthals running the govt.
DeleteWhoa, I mean NOT running the govt.
Yes, this is extorting, plain and simple. The thing is, these S.O.B.s have to be stopped NOW, BEFORE the next election, because otherwise they will have done their damage by then.
DeleteI fervently wish/hope, that the rest of our elected officials will see the light and vote AGAINST these traitorous racists.
Not holding my breath, though, because, after all, the Party of NO has only ONE goal: to make sure President Obama is a failure
Someone refresh my memory please.
ReplyDeleteHow many times did republicans threaten to shut down the government over the debt ceiling limit while Bush or any other republican was president?
I'm getting old and my memory is not what is used to be.
I don't even remember hearing about the debt ceiling limit while Bush was president.
No because it is just a number and pays bills already incurred by the goverment. It is nothing more than that. The GOP plans to renig on money they have spent, and get America's credit downgraded again. Nice work, GOP. You are a bunch of idiots.
DeleteI won’t forget, Rubio, and I’ll make sure no one around me forgets either. Rip them a new one, Harry.
ReplyDeleteJust went to the Federal Health exchange for AK and found that to be in compliance we can spend $189 per month for a $10,000 deductible policy that covers only 35% of expenses once deductible is met. Once again, the penalty on the federal tax filing will be much less than even $189 per month. The other policies range from $304 per month to $605+ and none has a deductible lower than $5000.
ReplyDeleteBummer. We're moving to "America" in 2018 but until then we won't be participating in Obamacare as it is in Alaska, thanks to Parnell and his shortsightedness.
How is Native American Health Care funded in Alaska?
ReplyDeleteFederally, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Indian Healthcare Services (IHS). Obamacare doesn't affect Native Healthcare so all of the Palin family except for Mrs.Sarah Palin are covered. Must be nice, huh? Todd's 1/4 Native goes a long way to providing care for all of his children and Sarah would have actually been covered for birth costs due to Todd's native heritage.
DeleteWonder if Bristol had Trig at Alaska Native Hospital in Anchorage and no one thought to look there first before he went to Seattle to have his heart repaired?
Gryph, these people are not shutting down "their" government but our government. 15 are angry so they are speaking for all Americans? I call BS on that!
ReplyDeleteAND, there should be 15 crosses erected just outside the Capitol building in DC and each of these assKlowns literally strung up by their shoes on the day of the vote. If the vote FAILS - they get let down.. If the vote to shut sown the Govt. is approved, THEY STAY hanging by their shoes until it’s defeated.
ReplyDeleteEnd.. The Alaskan Monkey Queen can come and watch… That’s what’s in store for her too !
I think the reason Republicans are so intent on getting rid of the ACA is because they don't want to give the American people a chance to like it. The prototype in Massachusetts proved to be successful and people liked it. Republicans desperately want a ruined country by the 2014 elections and most definitely by 2016 so they can blame the Democrats and regain the White House. The Republican party does not care about what's best for America and they don't care about small business. They care about Big Business.
ReplyDeleteAs a proud and happy resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I can tell you that Romneycare is a great success here.
DeleteIt was shameful that he didn't run on the efficacy of his only positive achievement as governor.
Romneycare became, in most respects, Obamacare. So the GOP rejects, has rejected, their very own 2012 candidate and his positions.
The should be up in arms, because the more citizens learn about and appreciate AC the more they'll reject and revile the people who want to deny adequate, affordable health care to all Americans.
I hope all politicians who oppose the ACA will give up their own generous, government-provided health plans. Or provide the same coverage to everyone.
Shut down the government? How is that different from their paltry legislative efforts this session?
ReplyDeleteOne of those assholes is my former Congressman and Senator, Mark Kirk, who ran for both seats as a "Republican MODERATE", which is what his Illinois district and then state elected him as. "Moderate", my fat white butt!
ReplyDeleteHe's up in 2016 and I hope whichever Dem runs for Senate against him shows that article clearly putting him together with the TeaBagging Republicans.
This type of legislation is fine on a state level. It was never intended that the federal gov'mnt get this involved with the day to day of citizenry. It should be left to the states to decide what is best for themselves.
ReplyDeleteOK, so look at the stellar job TExas is doing...the most uninsured people in the entire nation (and it's not because they are so big.) The most uninsured CHILDREN. Pregnant women. Kids without vaccines. The ACA is NOT federally run. And it is working in states that have embraced it. Rates are coming down. People are getting insurance. The GOP fear-mongering is pitiful. If things are so bad, why have they not offered ONE way to make it better? They don't care if people are insured. They don't care if people use ERs for primary care at a huge cost to all of us. They don't care if pregnant women get pre-natal care or not. They don't care if kids get their immunizations on time. They only care that they get huge dollars from the health care industry to fund their campaigns, and this law will cost them profits. And by the way,I assume you have insurance from your employer. Lucky you. How is that leaving health care to the states? And with the GOP defunding goveernment, how can a small state enact anything other than basic services, if they are managing that? Our federal government makes laws for the good of all of us..and the GOP bloicks anything not related to enriching corporations. It really is that simple.
DeleteThey're behaving like bratty 2-year-olds who can't get their way. Except that a 2-year-old will threaten to hold their breath until you let them have whatever they want.
ReplyDeleteInstead, these 15 are threatening to burn down YOUR house!
Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War"
ReplyDeleteBelieving they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.
MoJo's full coverage of Groundswell.
Groundswell's Secret Crusade to Crush Karl Rove
PHOTOS: Meet Groundswell's Major Players
Dubbed Groundswell, this coalition convenes weekly in the offices of Judicial Watch, the conservative legal watchdog group. During these hush-hush sessions and through a Google group, the members of Groundswell—including aides to congressional Republicans—cook up battle plans for their ongoing fights against the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, progressive outfits, and the Republican establishment and "clueless" GOP congressional leaders. They devise strategies for killing immigration reform, hyping the Benghazi controversy, and countering the impression that the GOP exploits racism. And the Groundswell gang is mounting a behind-the-scenes organized effort to eradicate the outsize influence of GOP über-strategist/pundit Karl Rove within Republican and conservative ranks. (For more on Groundswell's "two front war" against Rove—a major clash on the right—click here.)
One of the influential conservatives guiding the group is Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a columnist for the Daily Caller and a tea party consultant and lobbyist. Other Groundswell members include John Bolton, the former UN ambassador; Frank Gaffney, the president of the Center for Security Policy; Ken Blackwell and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council; Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch; Gayle Trotter, a fellow at the Independent Women's Forum; Catherine Engelbrecht and Anita MonCrief of True the Vote; Allen West, the former GOP House member; Sue Myrick, also a former House GOPer; Diana Banister of the influential Shirley and Banister PR firm; and Max Pappas, a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Among the conveners listed in an invitation to a May 8 meeting of Groundswell were Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network; Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who resoundingly lost a Maryland Senate race last year (and is now running for a House seat); Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society; Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor; Lori Roman, a former executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council; and Austin Ruse, the head of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. Conservative journalists and commentators participating in Groundswell have included Breitbart News reporters Matthew Boyle and Mike Flynn, Washington Examiner executive editor Mark Tapscott, and National Review contributor Michael James Barton.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/groundswell-rightwing-group-ginni-thomas
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) on Thursday didn't just reject efforts by a faction of Senate Republicans to shut down the government unless the president's health care law is defunded -- he called it the "dumbest idea" he'd ever heard of.
ReplyDeleteBurr was asked by Associated Press reporter Andrew Taylor if he was part of an effort, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), to block a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government open beyond Sept. 30 if it includes funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
The movement has the support of at least 15 Republican senators: Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Cornyn (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Inhofe (Okla.), David Vitter (La.), James Risch (Idaho), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Jeff Chiesa (N.J.), John Thune (S.D.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), and Chuck Grassley (Iowa). More than 60 House Republicans signed a letter Wednesday to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging GOP leadership to take the same stand.
"I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of," Burr said. "Listen, as long as Barack Obama is president, the Affordable Care Act is going to be law."
The North Carolina senator pointed out that he was around when Republicans were held accountable for shutting down the government in 1995.
"I think some of these guys need to understand that if you shut down the federal government, you better have a specific reason to do it that's achievable," he said. "Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government. At some point you're going to open the federal government back up, and Barack Obama's going to be president, and he won't have signed this illusion of the Affordable Care Act."
Burr isn't the only Republican to reject his colleagues' approach. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) refused to support the idea, while Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned that the American people won't allow for another round of GOP-led debt ceiling and government shutdown "shenanigans."
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a deputy majority whip in the House, was also critical of the effort, which he dubbed a "temper tantrum."
"Seems to me there's appropriate ways to deal with the law, but shutting down the government to get your way over an unrelated piece of legislation is the political equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum," Cole said during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday. "It’s just not helpful. And it is the sort of thing that creates a backlash and could cost the Republicans the majority in the House, which is after all the last line of defense against the president. And it could materially undercut the ability of the Republicans in the Senate to have the majority in 2014, which they have a decent chance to do."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn't mince his words when asked about Lee's crusade during an interview with PBS NewsHour on Wednesday.
"He’s living in a dreamland," Reid said. "So Republicans -- even Republicans won’t agree with what he’s trying to do. And he is representative of the tea party, and that shows how senseless and illogical it is."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/richard-burr-mike-lee_n_3653870.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
I sure hope, that there ARE some rational Repubs out there, and that they will prevail...
DeleteActually, my house has already burned down, but I'm expected to still pay the cable, internet, phone, electric, and maid service because it is not the maid's fault that she doesn't have a job, so I should still pay her, just to be fair... I mean, I have a maid service...so... I can afford it, right?!?
ReplyDeleteI am very sick of Nobody being willing to listen to both sides, and understand at least where the other side is coming from. Not saying you have to agree with it, but not willing to at least follow, shows more of a 2 yr old mentality. There is a huge amount of the populace that agrees with these politicians. That's why they were voted in. Is it more than half? I have no way of knowing, except to look at who was voted in, but I am not willing to dismiss someone's views, just because they don't agree. I try to at least see why they think the way they do.
I agree with the person above--this should be a state level decision, not federal.
I am getting soooooooooo tired of these shenanigans. Is there ANY way to stop these traitors/lunatics NOW, before the next election?????
ReplyDelete"Republican Senators are threatening to force a government shutdown..."
ReplyDeleteTraitors.