In this week’s address, President Obama said that Republicans in the House of Representatives chose to shut down the government over a health care law they don’t like. He urged the Congress to pass a budget that funds our government, with no partisan strings attached.
The President made clear he will work with anyone of either party on ways to grow this economy, create new jobs, and get our fiscal house in order for the long haul – but not under the shadow of these threats to our economy.
A new attack ad is out and it compares Republican House Speaker John Boehner to a crying baby.
Although the ad is meant to be funny, it has some truth to it. John Boehner known, at least in my circle of friends, as the Washington cryer.
They all voted with joy to shut down the government – a move that amounted to yet another failed stunt to get rid of Obamacare. Their government shutdown move immediately caused 800,000 workers to be sent home without pay. But Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) told WTVD in Raleigh, N.C. that she won’t be giving up pay during the government shutdown because, well… as she puts it, “I need my paycheck. That’s the bottom line.”
Watch the hypocrisy below.
Yet another Republican who cannot figure out what they are trying to get from shutting down the government. We previously heard Marlin Stuzman of Indiana say he doesn’t know what Republicans want. And now Peter King of New York is joining that chorus.
If these Republicans don’t know what they want, why are they insisting on keeping hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed and causing even more damage to the economy?
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It’s all an effort to end the Republican government shutdown.
House Democratic leaders will begin circulating a discharge petition Friday in hopes of forcing a vote on a “clean” spending bill.
GOP leaders have so far refused to stage a vote on the Senate-passed continuing resolution (CR), insisting that the measure also include conservative provisions scaling back President Obama’s healthcare law.
But with more than 20 centrist Republicans indicating support for a clean CR, the Democrats are hoping they can attract the 218 signatures required to force such of vote.
The Democrats’ gambit is a long-shot, however, as there’s no indication that those centrist Republicans would poke their leadership even further by signing the discharge petition.
Indeed, those Republicans have sided with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on a series of votes this week to fund the government with piecemeal bills – a strategy rejected by Obama and the Democrats.
Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) launched their discharge-petition effort Friday after an afternoon meeting in the Capitol, where the Democratic Caucus huddled with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to discuss the party’s shutdown strategy.
“It is very unfortunate that the majority of the House has not been allowed to freely cast its vote to reopen the government,” Miller said. “But one thing [that’s] becoming clearer is that, as the shutdown drags on, a growing number of Republican members of Congress want the opportunity to work with Democrats to end this crisis.”
Under their petition strategy, Miller said, the House could vote on a clean CR on Oct. 14, at the earliest.
Imagine that. A Republican finally told the truth about why they shut down the government, bringing our economy to a halt.
Apparently – and this is from their own mouth – they don’t want to be “disrespected,” and they will keep the government and the economy down until they get… “something.”
The Republican, Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana admits he has no idea what that “something” is, but the government will stay down until that “something” shows itself.
For many of us, to remember the last time Republicans shut down the federal government is to think of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. Specifically, the far-right Georgian admitted in November 1995 that he closed the government in part because President Clinton hurt his feelings on Air Force One — the president didn’t chat with Gingrich during an overseas flight and then made the Speaker exit at the rear of the plane.
It was a moment that captured the entire fiasco quite beautifully. A petulant, out-of-control Republican leader shut down the government largely to spite the president who made him feel bad.
We don’t yet know if a similar moment will come to define this Republican shutdown, but I’d like to nominate this gem as an early contender.
“We’re not going to be disrespected,” conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., added. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
Go ahead, Republicans, tell us another one about how the shutdown is Democrats’ fault.
President Obama had something to say about this.
New York City councilwoman Letitia James, from Brooklyn and with strong ties to labor unions, has won a Democratic primary runoff for public advocate on Tuesday. This victory makes her all but certain to become the first African-American woman to hold citywide office.
Since there is no Republican candidate, Ms. James will almost definitely be elected to succeed Bill de Blasio, the public advocate and Democratic nominee for mayor.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Ms. James, 54, defeated Daniel L. Squadron, 33, a state senator from Brooklyn and Manhattan, by winning 59.4% of the vote. Squadron won 40.6% of the vote.
Tuesday at her campaign headquarters, councilwoman’s James gave her acceptance speech, stating:
“I am humbled to join you tonight and announce that we have won this campaign and we are on to the Office of New York City Public Advocate. I ran for Public Advocate because all my life I have seen New Yorkers persevere and I’ve seen the role that government can play in helping uplift working people. As someone who comes from humble beginnings, I’ve experienced it myself. My father was a janitor and my mother cleaned offices. The opportunities I was given and the family, faith, and community that stood behind me, helped me make it. And today, you elected me the first woman of color to hold city-wide office in OUR city.”
LITTLE KNOWN FACTOID: The public advocate is first in line to succeed the mayor if that office suddenly becomes vacant. One of three citywide positions, the office serves as a watchdog on municipal government and has the power to review city agencies and issue reports. Ms. James would be the fourth Democrat to serve in the office since it was created in the early 1990s.
President Obama’s already shortened trip to Asia was canceled Thursday, the White House calling it a casualty of the government shutdown.
Obama had been scheduled to leave Washington Saturday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Indonesia, and the East Asia Summit in Brunei.
“The President made this decision based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown, and his determination to continue pressing his case that Republicans should immediately allow a vote to reopen the government,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney in a statement. “Secretary [Of State John] Kerry will lead delegations to both countries in place of the President.”
The White House announced last month that Obama would take a four-nation, seven-day tour that also was to include stops in Malaysia and the Philippines. Earlier this week, the White House had canceled those two legs of the trip because of the shutdown of parts of the federal government, which began Tuesday morning.
The highlight of the trip was to have been Obama’s participation in the APEC meeting. But several published reports had said Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin also might use the trip for a one-on-one discussion on the situation in Syria.
The White House said Obama personally called the leaders of Indonesia and Brunei to deliver the news. Carney said Obama hoped to return to Southeast Asia “at a later date.”
It takes real balls to orchestrate a government shutdown, then blame the people who are implementing your shutdown. That was exactly the case on Wednesday, when a Texas Republican, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, appeared at The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Neugebauer was shocked! Shocked I say, that a park service ranger did her job and tried to implement the shutdown at the Memorial. According the rules governing the shutdown, non-essential government employees must be furloughed, and some of these so-called non-essential workers are employed to keep the Memorial opened.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Neugebauer said, his face filled with scorn for the unsuspecting ranger. The ranger answered that she wasn’t ashamed, but Neugubauer insisted, she should be!
On Twitter, the Republicans are calling this “more campaigning.” But whatever they think it is, President Obama is darn good at it. Today in Maryland, the President took his show on the road and informed the American people of the recent Republican government shutdown, and the simple process Republicans should take to bring the government back.
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A dental hygienist from Connecticut was the female driver who tried to ram her car into a White House barricade and was shot dead near the US Capitol after a high-speed chase through Washington streets Thursday afternoon, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Sources said Miriam Carey, who formerly lived in Brooklyn, was licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut and had a permit to work as a hygienist in Connecticut prisons.
At least a dozen gunshots were fired when she tried to flee cops, who had trapped her two blocks from the Capitol. She was believed to have been hit several times.
A child believed to be a girl about 2 or 3 years old was found unhurt in her black Infiniti sedan, which had Connecticut license plates.
Authorities had no immediate explanation of the woman’s motive. But Capitol Police chief Kim Dine told reporters there was no reason to believe it was an act of terrorism “or anything other than an isolated incident.”
ABC News said the 34-year-old woman had a history of mental health issues. A task force of FBI and Secret Service agents was executing a search warrant at her Connecticut home, CNN said.
