Free Republic

Today John Boehner proposed a one-week CR to keep government open for a week and to secure defense funding through the end of the year. However, a few minutes ago, the White House stated categorically that it would veto the one-week CR if it passes the Senate in an e-mail blast, underscoring in original: The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1363, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes. As the President stated on April 5, 2011, if negotiations are making significant progress, the Administration would support...

Americans may not like wars in the Middle East but they love the men and women who serve in them. If this story is true, and right now it seems to be, then I think Democrats have just destroyed any hope they had of benefiting politically from a government shutdown. Here’s Ace who is reacting to a story at Big Government: Apparently, it is within the executive’s power to define “essential” and “non-essential” personnel during a shutdown; non-essential personnel can be furloughed (or at least not paid until the shutdown is over). But it seems Obama is taking the position...

Rather than accept a few billion in budget cuts (read rounding error), President Obama has signaled his willingness to shut down the federal government. (Yah!) For those keeping score at home, any government shutdown that happens is on Obama’s plate. He is the President. All on him. The worst part of this whole debate is the Obama Administration’s decision to hold military pay hostage to the budget debate. For the last few decades, government shutdowns have been guided by an OMB directive issued during the Reagan Administration. Under this directive, military personnel would continue to receive the paychecks while politicians...