Tag: Government shutdown

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Politics

Poll: Americans Strongly oppose The Republican Engineered Shutdown

The poll taken by Quinnipiac shows that by a 3-1 margin, Americans all over this nation disagree with the government shutdown and how the Republicans have been systematically bringing this nation to its knees.

American voters oppose 72 – 22 percent Congress shutting down the federal government to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

Voters also oppose 64 – 27 percent blocking an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling as a way to stop Obamacare, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

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Politics

Republicans Shut Down The Government… Again!

The bad news is, the Republicans shut down the Government. The good news is Obamacare goes into effect today.

White House ordered federal agencies to shut down Monday night, with congressional negotiators unable to strike an agreement before the midnight deadline to keep the government open.

Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Burwell directed agency and departmental heads to execute their plans for an “orderly shutdown” of the federal government in a memo released by the administration.

The notice came shortly after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) rejected a last-ditch Republican plan to appoint conferees to negotiate a short-term continuing resolution. The final gambit came after the Senate repeatedly rejected attempts by House Republicans to link the continued funding of government to rolling back ObamaCare.

Burwell said she was ordering the action because there was no “clear indication” that Congress would strike an agreement on a continuing resolution before the end of the day Tuesday.

“We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and to restore the operation of critical public services and programs that will be impacted by a lapse in appropriations,” Burwell said in a statement.

The White House said it would continue to closely monitor developments and issue agencies further guidance as appropriate.

It seems that every time there is a Democrat in the White House, Republicans shut down the government. The last government shutdown was at the hands of Republicans when Bill Clinton was the president.

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Politics

Economists Say Shutting Down Government Will Hurt Economy

The shutdown of the US government will hit an economy struggling to sustain its post-crisis rebound, but economists say the impact will only be substantial if it lasts weeks.

There was no compromise in sight Monday that could prevent an impasse over a stopgap budget bill from forcing a partial government closure on October 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.

That would put more than 800,000 non-essential government workers on unpaid furlough, crimping their spending, and deny important services to citizens and businesses.

It would also slow the flow of funds to government contractors, another effect that would mount the longer the shutdown continues.

Consultants Macroeconomic Advisors said the shutdown would slow growth, which registered a 2.5 percent annual pace in the second quarter and is expected to remain there for the third.

A two-week shutdown would cut 0.3 percentage point off of gross domestic production, all of that in the government.

“Because we expect any shutdown to be brief, induced effects on private production and repercussions in financial markets would be modest,” they said.

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Politics

Poll: Republicans Will Be Blamed for Government Shutdown

The poll also finds that more Americans think Republicans are acting like spoiled children.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday morning, hours before funding for the government is scheduled to run out, also indicates that most Americans think Republicans in Congress are acting like spoiled children in this fiscal fight, with the public divided on whether the president is acting like a spoiled child or a responsible adult.

…..

According to the poll, which was conducted Friday through Sunday, 46% say they would blame congressional Republicans for a government shutdown, with 36% saying the president would be more responsible and 13% pointing fingers at both the GOP in Congress and Obama.

“The number who would hold congressional Republicans responsible has gone down by 5 points since early September, and the number who would blame Obama is up 3 points in that same time,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Those changes came among most demographic groups.”

The CNN poll is similar to a CBS News/New York Times survey released late last week that indicated 44% blaming congressional Republicans and 35% pointing fingers at the president. Two other polls conducted in the past week and a half, from Pew Research Center and United Technologies/National Journal, showed a much closer margin but their questions mentioned Republicans in general rather than the GOP in Congress.

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Politics

President Clinton to President Obama – Do Not Negotiate

Former President Bill Clinton is urging President Obama to stand firm and not negotiate with Republicans over the debt limit, despite the risk of default. 

“You can’t negotiate over that and I think he’s right not to,” Clinton told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

Clinton, who was in the White House when the government last shut down in 1995 and 1996, defended his negotiations with congressional Republicans over the debt limit in 1996.

“The negotiations we had were extremely minor,” Clinton said, adding that the economy was growing the “deficit was going down.”

“We didn’t give away the store and they didn’t ask us to give away the store.”

“There’s nothing to negotiate with. He shouldn’t delay the healthcare bill,” Clinton said. “It’s the law and we’re opening the enrollment on Oct.1. It’s a nonstarter.“

During an hourlong speech on Wednesday, Clinton said Republicans have a duty as elected officials to help fix the “glitches” in ObamaCare

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Politics

Republicans: “arsonist telling others not to play with matches”

Roger Simon writes: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) leaves the floor of the House in the wee hours of Sunday morning, having taken action that will probably shut down the government, and releases a statement saying, “It’s time for President Obama to rise above stubborn partisanship.”

Which is like an arsonist telling others not to play with matches.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said on Saturday: “Obamacare is based on limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance and a disregard for the will of the people.”

Except Congress passed Obamacare, the president signed it, the Supreme Court upheld it, Obama campaigned on it a second time and was reelected. So in what manner was the will of the people disregarded?

And since when did the extremists in Congress care about the will of the people? Is it the will of the people that government be closed, salaries stopped, services suspended?

Slyness and game-playing rule the day. Having lost the vote on Obamacare, the extremists and those who fear them will vote to cut off the funding of government unless Obamacare is suspended. And then they will try to force the United States to default on its debt.

Not because they wish to do the will of the people, but because they wish to thwart the will of the people.

And when, in those rare moments, they decide to earn their salaries of $174,000 per year (plus expenses, plus perks, plus pensions) and actually pass a bill, what do they do? The week before last, the House voted to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program over the next 10 years.

It voted to deny people food.

In a country so well off that, according to a recent Harvard study, an estimated 40 percent of all food grown in the United States is thrown away, our House of Representatives wishes to take scraps from the mouths of the least well-off. And that is how it intends to build a great nation.

Is this the kind of government our Founders envisioned?

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Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

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Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney Says Republicans Wrong on Government Shutdown Scheme

For what it’s worth, Mitt Romney jumped into the fray on Friday offering his two cents on the Republicans proposed government shutdown coming in a few days. Said Romney, who developed a flip flopping character during the 2012 presidential election cycle…

“We’re more effective tactically not to use a shutdown of some kind to pursue the … anti-Obamacare objective. I don’t think that will be as effective.”

Romney also admitted that the proposed idea to delay the full implementation of ObamaCare by a year is “a better way” to get rid of the healthcare law.

“I think there’s a better way of getting rid of Obamacare – my own view – and that is, one, delaying it by at least a year. That was Senator (Joe) Manchin’s idea, the Democrats’ idea,” Romney said.

Manchin said Thursday that he would support delaying the individual mandate by one year. The Senate passed a continuing resolution Friday that was free of any defunding legislation, sending the bill back to the House where its fate is uncertain. The fiscal year deadline is set for Monday at midnight, at which time the federal government is due to run out of money.

Mitt Romney ran his presidential campaign on a platform of ending ObamaCare. The American people disagreed, offering his a tremendous loss for his efforts. Republicans have voted over 40 times to repeal ObamaCare, failing each time. And now, they are setting the stage to shut down the government on Monday if ObamaCare is funded.

Why are these people in office? They’re clearly not doing what a majority of the American people are demanding!

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Politics

Ex Convict Tom DeLay Tells Republicans to “Hold Firm” on Government Shutdown

Tom DeLay

Why Republicans would take advice from an ex convict who recently received his get out of jail card is beyond me. But the likes of Tom DeLay are stepping up to the plate, telling Republicans to hold firm on their threat to shut down the government.

In an interview on CNN, DeLay told host Chris Cuomo that the Republican Party would not take the blame if the Republican Party forced the government to be shut down over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.

“This notion that it hurts the Republicans is totally wrong,” he explained. “Because in 1995, we won. We won the budget cuts we wanted. We showed Bill Clinton that we’d take him off the cliff and we got welfare reform and a balance budget. And we won seats in the next election. So, I don’t know where they come up with this notion that a shutdown hurts Republicans.”

Cuomo pointed out that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) took a beating in the polls and Clinton’s popularity improved after Republicans forced the government to be shut down in the 1990s.

“What is your advice to your colleagues in Washington, D.C., looking at the debt limit situation, knowing what it can do to the country, what do you give them as advice?” the CNN host wondered.

“Hold firm, stick to your guns, stand strong — and you’ll ultimately win,” DeLay insisted.

“Even if you wind up screwing up the credit of the United States of America?” Cuomo pressed.

“It won’t end up screwing up the credit of America,” DeLay laughed. “That is all false notion. Every shut down — and there’s been many shut downs — frankly, the American people never miss the government.”

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Politics

Republican Strategist: “If There Is a Default, We Lose The House of Representatives”

Republican Strategist John Feehery and Howard Fineman went on Hardball Thursday to discuss the possibility of a government shutdown being pushed by Congressional Republicans. Republicans are prepared to shutdown the government if funding for the Obamacare law is allowed.

Hardball host Chris Matthews asked Fineman if any conservative congressperson would lose their seat in the House if Republicans succeed and the government comes to a screeching halt.

Fineman toed the timid line, saying yes, the possibility was there for some Republicans to lose, but the words of the Republican strategist John Feehery stood out.

If there is a default, we lose the House of Representatives. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.

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Politics

Obama to Republicans – No Government Shutdown – “pass a budget without drama”

(AP) — In a blistering warning to congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama said Monday it would be the “height of irresponsibility” for lawmakers to cause a new economic crisis just five years after the near-collapse of the nation’s financial system.

“I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can’t get 100 percent of what it wants,” Obama said, contending that the stance of some conservative lawmakers amount to just that.

Some of those Republicans say they will vote to extend current spending levels or to increase the nation’s debt ceiling only if Obama delays putting in place his health care law, a condition Obama has rejected. Others say that scheduled spending cuts should stay in place to reduce the deficit, while Obama wants the “sequestration” cuts reworked.

The president spoke at a White House event pegged to the fifth anniversary of the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, which marked the beginning of a global financial crisis. The White House used the anniversary to lay out the president’s markers for upcoming fiscal fights with Congress over funding the government and raising the nation’s debt limit.

Obama reiterated his refusal to negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling. And he called on Congress to “pass a budget without drama.”

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Barack Obama Politics Republican

Shutting Down The Government For Teaparty Bragging Rights

John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives had this to say at a news conference last week;

“Let’s all be honest, if you shut the government down, it’ll end up costing more than you save because you interrupt contracts. There are a lot of problems with the idea of shutting the government down. It is not the goal. The goal is to cut spending.”

His Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Leader Harry Reid chimed in with this;

“I’m happy to say that negotiations toward a compromise are moving forward. Not as fast as I would like, but they are moving forward.”

And even the President himself, Barack Obama made his opinion known, when he said;

“We know that a compromise is within reach. And we also know that if these budget negotiations break down, it could shut down the government and jeopardize our economic recovery.”

So if everyone is saying the same thing and the need to continue funding the government is evident, why are we facing a potential government shutdown on Friday of this week? The answer is simple… The Teaparty.

One of the self-appointed leaders of the Teaparty, Congressman Mike Pence had this to say;

“If liberals in the Senate want to play games and shut down government rather than make a down payment on fiscal discipline, I say shut it down.”

The problem is one of compromise, or lack thereof. When campaigning for the 2011 mid-term election, Republicans promised the Teaparty the moon, the stars, and even a small section of the galaxy they can rename Teabaggers-ville. Another promise was to cut the federal budget by $100 billion – another far-fetched promise, but one that fell within the teaparty’s requirement to reign in federal spending at all cost. Given these promises from Congressional Republicans, the teaparty voted in masses, putting the Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives, and gaining seats in the Senate.

Now, four months after Republicans have gained power, the teaparty is looking for Teabaggers-ville. They want what was promised to them and thus far, the Republicans haven’t paid up. Not because they don’t want to, but because they simply can’t.

When President Obama came out with his budget, it included additional spending of $41 billion. John Boehner and his fellow Republicans in congress cried foul, demanding that the president review his proposal. He did, and came back with $33 billion in cuts. But this wasn’t enough for the Boehner and the Teaparty, who voted for, and approved a House budget with at lease $61 billion in cuts.

The adults in the room couldn’t agree on a final budget, so two separate CRs (continued resolutions – temporary spending agreements) were put into place. We are now just five days before the second CR expires, and everyone involved is saying the right thing. Everyone, that is, except the Teaparty.

What happens in the event of a government shutdown? Slate reports;

Certain necessary activities would continue—anything related to defense, inpatient or emergency medical care, air traffic control, securing prisoners, or disaster assistance, for instance. But legally, federal agencies would have to wind down nonessential business. That means hundreds of thousands of employees would go on furloughs, from the Treasury to Health and Human Services to the Department of Education, to be paid whenever a continuing resolution passes. Thousands more contractors would just lose their gigs. Parks would shut down. Offices would clear out. Phones would go unanswered.

Nobody knows exactly how it would shake out, not just yet. The president has broad discretion to decide what counts as necessary and what does not, says Stan Collender, a longtime budget expert and a partner at Qorvis, a D.C. communications firm.

But everyone dreads the prospect. The last time the government shut down was during the Clinton administration. For five days in November 1995 and 21 days between December 1995 and January 1996, the lights went off. In the first shutdown, 800,000 workers stopped heading into the office. In the second, about 284,000 stayed at home, with an additional 475,000 working on “non-pay status.” These were not just pencil-pushers either. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave up on monitoring the outbreak of diseases. Workers at 609 Superfund toxic-waste sites stopped cleaning up.

Another promise the Congressional Republicans made to Americans was job creation. Based on the information presented above, it seems that shutting down the government is not the best way to create these jobs. If the Teaparty is truly for fiscal responsibility like they would haver us believe, they will ask their congressional representatives to do what’s right for the economic longevity of this nation, not shutting down the government to fulfill some empty campaign promise.

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