Posted on 09/20/2013 8:31:43 AM PDT by mandaladon
House Republicans survived a key test vote Thursday on their plan to keep the government running while trying to halt the health care law, defying a veto threat from President Obama and inching closer to a shutdown showdown with Senate Democrats. Top Republicans say their party’s strategy is unlikely to succeed and not worth shutting down the government, but some rank-and-file lawmakers said they have to draw a line now and use the leverage of the spending bill to end the president’s signature achievement.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The talking point for those who will be hearing that “the Republicans want to shut down the government” is that the Republicans passed a budget. They did their job. It isn’t THEIR fault that the Senate will not take it up and Obama will not sign it.
They passed it and now the Dems have to offer something tangible in response - which they won’t.
Plus, it tells our quivering leadership that they dare not try to send through something the rank-and-file Republicans will not accept. Tell them to go back to their Dem buddies and demand they appease the conservatives with some concessions.
Besides, there is always the “continuing resolution” which will probably be the short-term compromise.
” FFS, people, you whine and whine about the GOP having no spine, then when they vote the right way, you claim it’s meaningless cause Obama won’t go along. BIG DEAL!”
Amen Brother.
NOW you are talking! This could be fun and will be interesting theater at the very last.
I heard on the radio that 41 Senate votes are needed to avoid cloture. If that’s true, can someone explain the significance of that?
Thanks in advance!
“They keep using continuing resolutions so that they can keep using the emotional impulse-spending mentality rather than doing what the Constitution requires:”
Well that plus they get to keep using the post-stimulus spending level as their “budget baseline.” As soon as they pass a new budget, that $1T a year comes out!
Sen(s) Cruz and Lee are the leaders on this one. Screw the GOP-e leadership. :)
"Any Republican who votes for cloture is voting to fund Obamacare."
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Today, the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) called on Senate Republicans to oppose cloture on Harry Reid's attempt to fund Obamacare with a simple majority.
SCF Executive Director, Matt Hoskins, made the following statement:
"Americans won a major victory today when the House passed legislation to fund the government without funding Obamacare, but now the debate shifts to the Senate where Harry Reid and the Democrats will try to fund Obamacare. The Democrats have a plan to fund Obamacare, but Republicans can stop it if they stick together.
"Harry Reid needs 60 votes to approve his plan to fund Obamacare. If 41 Republicans stand strong and oppose cloture, they can defeat Reid's plan to fund Obamacare. However, if Republicans waffle and vote for cloture, it will grease the skids for Reid's plan to fund Obamacare. It's pretty simple — any Republican who votes for cloture is voting to fund Obamacare.
"This is a critical test for Senate Republicans and especially for Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader. It's time for Mitch McConnell to show some leadership and deliver the 41 votes needed to defeat cloture on Harry Reid's plan to fund Obamacare. Republicans like to say they are against Obamacare, but now is the time to prove it. Now is when it matters."
Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) is an independent, grassroots organization that advocates for conservative policies in Washington and helps elect true conservative leaders to the United States Senate.
Nobody will get paid unless something that originated in the House funds the federal government. The previous continuing resolution that funds the govt will run out and without a new one to replace it, there will be no funds for anything. That’s why Ted Cruz says we will see whether Obama is willing to shut down everything in order to fund Obamacare.
If I’m understanding correctly, what will probably happen is that the Senate will put in funding for Obamacare in the reconciliation process and the House will have to reject it when it comes back to them. This is round one.
But until something gets passed, the government is scheduled to have NO MONEY to work with as of the moment the current continuing resolution expires.
I agree. I’m getting pretty damn tired of all the naysayers. Even if the senate strips out the zerocare defunding we have had a moral victory in the House. Every war has battles. This battle may be the turning point. It does NOT help the morale or the cause to run around cowardly whining that we can’t win and suggesting that we shouldn’t at least try and do what we can. Thank God George Washington and his troops didn’t have that attitude. So to you naysayers ... get a backbone cause YOU are a BIG part of the problem.
We have to help Cruz and Lee inject a spine into the cowardly GOP, and the Dems who will next year be standing for re-election.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Call your representatives today to defund Obamacare. Today is the day.
Even if you are in a Dem district.
You lose in the media anyway. Might as well go down swinging and letting Americans know what is going on.
Even if they decide not to get a backbone, they can at least stop being yokes!
To the Senate: OK, folks, you’ve read the polls, you’ve seen the vote in the House. Time to put your names on this albatross. Too bad all of you aren’t up for re-election in ‘14.
I’m not hysterical. I’m saying that this is the way that Obama’s balls are in a vice. The burden is on them to fund the government, not the other way around. The default setting is for the government to shut down. It is THEY who need something to be passed. If this gets vetoed, fine. It’s Obama’s big ponzi schemes that end if he vetoes it. It’s his fancy vacations. It’s his 8 billion to Morsi to kill innocent Egyptians so that Hamas can be installed close to Israel. It’s his wife’s staff of 50 (or however many). It’s his dog not getting a private plane ride to the vacations. It’s Nancy Pelosi not getting to fly her and her family in a private plane with booze. It’s his gay pride events in federal offices.
He’s the one who suffers because HE is the one who wants all the money. That’s what I’m saying to those who say it’s no use to defund anything because Obama will just veto it. I say fine, let him veto it; it just means the taxpayers’ cow stops giving him ANY free milk. And it’s way past time for this. Enough of this friends-with-benefits crap. I’m tired of them treating taxpayers as if they’re a whore who doesn’t charge anything. Time to shut off the spigot and put them soundly where they belong: as beggars asking us to believe in the government enough to pay for it to continue.
.-—I’m not hysterical.-—
Sorry, that wasn’t directed at you. I was speaking generally.
I don’t see the government being shut down, but let’s go with that scenario just for the fun of it.
The first “negative consequence” will be the Dems and media using scare tactics, such as “the men and women of the armed forces will not get their paychecks”, or something similar.
The House should have at the ready, standalone funding bills, for each specific part of the government they want funded (rather than a catchall omnibus spending bill). So, pass a bill and send to the Senate a bill to fund the armed forces. Then, pass a bill and send to the Senate a bill to fund (fill in the blank...whatever is deemed constitutionally necessary and authorized).
Whatever it is the people want funded (eg Social Security pensions come to mind although some on this site may disagree) is passed as a standalone bill and sent to the Senate. Members can compromise on things like the level of funding, but any attempts by the Senate to add additional spending should be rejected outright.
I could be wrong about that though...
Today Congressman Scott Rigell (VA-2) voted against H.J.RES. 59 because it fails to replace the sequester and address Washington’s continued reliance on stopgap funding mechanisms known as Continuing Resolutions (CRs). Earlier this week Rigell asked House leadership to allow for a rule change that would require the House to pass all 12 appropriations bills before adjourning for any recess longer than five days. Today’s CR passed the House 230-189 and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
“This CR fails to address the sequester that is negatively impacting those who wear our nation’s uniform and is the result of Congress’ inability to pass the 12 appropriations bills necessary to properly fund the government on time. What is needed is a comprehensive solution to our nation’s fiscal challenges, including a replacement for sequestration,” said Rigell.
Rigell noted that he appreciated leadership’s effort to defund the health care law as part of the appropriations process and agrees it should be defunded. He has voted in the past to repeal the law, advocating instead for a more patient-focused solution that reins-in medical costs, including H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act, of which he is a cosponsor. He is also a co-sponsor of H.R. 2682, the Defund Obamacare Act of 2013, introduced by Representative Tom Graves (GA-14).
OK, no problem.
If 51% of the people support a government shut-down, that’s a bigger mandate than the living and dead people who voted for Obama.
When the brakes go out and you’re about to go over a cliff, turning off the car and hitting the emergency brake are the only options. And it sure seems like the country is beginning to realize that a madman is at the wheel, hell-bent on taking us over the cliff of no return. Better to grind the car to a complete halt than to allow him to keep going.
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