Suicidal Republicans shut down gov't & hold world hostage w/ Debt Limit, all cuz they hate Obamacare

This isn't like before, you know. This isn't even Obama vs. Republicans really - its about Republicans completely falling apart internally and not even having the basic organization structure & competence any more. They're like a mafia where everyone is snitching or the Oakland Raiders:

If the House of Representatives voted on a “clean” budget bill — one that opened up the closed federal offices but did not attempt to defund the Obama health care program — that bill would pass, and the shutdown would be over. Nearly all Democrats would vote for it, as would enough Republicans to end the shutdown and its related damage.

So far House Speaker John Boehner has refused to let this vote occur. His Tea Party contingent knows how the vote would go and therefore does not want it to happen; and such is Boehner’s fear of them, and fear for his job as Speaker, that he will not let it take place.

These two points are why the normal D.C.-poohbah moanings about the need for compromise do not apply. The Democratic administration, and a sufficient number of Republicans, already agree and are ready enough to compromise to solve this problem. If the normal machinery of democracy were allowed to work, the manufactured crisis would be over. The only reason the senseless damage is being done is that hostage-takers have terrorized members of their own party

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/the-two-basic-facts-that-should-be-in-every-shutdown-story/280179/



John Boehner isn't even trying to pretend his House of Representatives is a sane place anymore.
The House GOP's debt limit bill -- obtained by the National Review -- isn't a serious governing document. It's not even a plausible opening bid. It's a cry for help.

In return for a one-year suspension of the debt ceiling, House Republicans are demanding a yearlong delay of Obamacare, Rep. Paul Ryan’s tax reform plan, the Keystone XL pipeline, more offshore oil drilling, more drilling on federally protected lands, rewriting of ash coal regulations, a suspension of the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions, more power over the regulatory process in general, reform of the federal employee retirement program, an overhaul of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, more power over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget, repeal of the Social Services Block Grant, more means-testing in Medicare, repeal of the Public Health trust fund, and more.

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ahem.


.........I know ? don't like to read around here, so let's post that again?

In return for a one-year suspension of the debt ceiling, House Republicans are demanding a yearlong delay of Obamacare, Rep. Paul Ryan’s tax reform plan, the Keystone XL pipeline, more offshore oil drilling, more drilling on federally protected lands, rewriting of ash coal regulations, a suspension of the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions, more power over the regulatory process in general, reform of the federal employee retirement program, an overhaul of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, more power over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget, repeal of the Social Services Block Grant, more means-testing in Medicare, repeal of the Public Health trust fund, and more.

It's tempting to think that this is Boehner teaching his conference a lesson. They told him what they wanted, and he's going to let them have it -- good and hard. House Republicans are walking into the debt-ceiling negotiations with an opening bid that makes them look ridiculous. This looks like an Onion parody of what the House's debt-ceiling demands might be. It's a wonder it's not written in comic sans.

But this is really the conference teaching Boehner a lesson. He had so little support to raise the debt ceiling at all -- and so little trust from his members that he had a strategy to maximize their leverage -- that this is the bill he had to present. At this point, Boehner either can't stop them, or he's too exhausted to try.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/26/wonkbook-the-houses-debt-ceiling-bill-is-wow/


At the National Institutes of Health, nearly three-quarters of the staff was furloughed. One result: director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said.

Other victims:

1) More than 2 million federal workers will see their paychecks delayed — and 800,000 of them might never get repaid. Tens of thousands of air-traffic controllers, prison guards and border-patrol agents will be required to serve without pay.

2) Millions of veterans may not receive benefits if the shutdown lasts more than two weeks.

3) The CDC will halt its flu program just as flu season gets underway. (The CDC will, however, continue its overseas malaria and AIDS programs, as those are funded independently.)

4) Some food-safety operations would cease.

5) Nutritional programs for women, infants and children could be disrupted after a week. During the shutdown, the Department of Agriculture will stop supporting the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which helps pregnant women and new moms buy healthy food and provides nutritional information and health care referrals to those who need it. The program aids some 9 million Americans. That won't hit immediately. The USDA estimates that most states have funds and authority to continue their programs for "a week or so," but they'll "likely be unable to sustain operations for a longer period.

6) Financing for small businesses could be hampered. The Small Business Administration has provided guarantees for some $106 billion in loans to more than 193,000 small businesses over the last four years. It also runs programs to help small firms win government contracts, help veteran-owned businesses, and boost international trade. All that would cease in a shutdown.

7) The tourist trade would take a hit. The National Park Service will close more than 400 national parks, museums and sites across the country, including Yosemite National Park in California, Grand Canyon park, Alcatraz in San Francisco, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. Day visitors will have to leave immediately. Campers will have two days to pack up and get out.

8) Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Labor Department office that performs the crucial function of monitoring workplaces, would have to stop inspections that don't involve immediate dangers or deaths

9) 19,000 children won't be attending head start funded-preschooling and day care today. For some parents, this is the only government-subsidized program that keeps their kids safe while they work at their minimum wage jobs.

10) Everyone, because Republican shutdown will cost the economy $300 million a day

And remember: the debt ceiling expires October 17. We can limp along with a gov't shutdown, but if the U.S defaults.....yeah........? could ? around and be living dat Last of Us/Walking Dead life lolsmh.

"Default would risk not only economic calamity but the potential of an electoral one for the otherwise unassailable Republican majority. But history is replete with disastrous miscalculations. They’re often made by weak, short-sighted leaders facing pressure to demonstrate toughness from internal opponents. That is to say, Boehner is exactly the kind of leader who would blunder into a calamity like a debt default."