Conservative Blogger
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Harry Reid is holding our government hostage
“It’s my way or the highway.” That’s the message D.C. Democrats are
sending to America. “I will not negotiate,” says President Obama.
“There’s no need for conversations,” says Harry Reid. “We’ve spoken loudly and clearly, and we have the support of the president of the United States.”
The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, didn’t even bother to show up for the House vote to keep the government open.
Reid, who calls advocates of defunding the dysfunctional ObamaCare “anarchists,” took the weekend off.
Must be nice. Those of us trying to fix Washington may be
“anarchists” in the eyes of the Democrats’ Senate majority leader, but
at least we show up for work.
Talking heads have been painting hyperbolic imagery of a shutdown Armageddon for weeks.
Cars speeding off fiscal cliffs, cans getting kicked down roads of economic destruction, chaos in the streets, pure pandemonium -- all because of those Tea Party “wacko birds” – as the distinguished Republican Sen. John McCain called his colleagues – and their “dangerous game of political chicken,” according to former Republican U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.
This could have all been avoided, of course. The House has already sent three bills to the Senate that would fully fund the government.
The first continuing resolution would have permanently defunded the president’s broken health care law. The second would have delayed it for a year, while the third would have delayed just the individual mandate and included a version of the Vitter Amendment (named for Sen. David Vitter) which subjects Congress to the same ObamaCare costs and restrictions as the rest of America.
All three were rejected by an obstinate Democrat-controlled Senate, unwilling to move forward unless Harry Reid gets everything he wants.
So instead of pursuing defunding ObamaCare, House Republicans offered to simply delay it the wildly unpopular individual mandate.
According to my scoreboard, that puts the count at three Republican compromise solutions to the Democrats’ zero. House Republicans have already come to the negotiating table. They shouldn't negotiate with themselves anymore.
Republicans should wait until the president and the Senate majority leader show up to work, to negotiate common ground in good faith.
They may have to wait a while.
The Democrats seem hell bent on feeding into the slimdown scare in the public eye, rather than being cooperative and helping House Republicans to put the fire out.
Where, exactly, is that spirit of compromise and bipartisan solutions that the Democrats keep talking about these days?
In a desperate attempt to preserve the last remnants of the president’s wilting legacy, Harry Reid is holding government funding hostage.
The problem is, everyone is beginning to see the president’s poorly designed health care takeover for the train wreck that it is.
If the Senate majority leader believes that he could just take the weekend off, quietly plant the political hot potato back in the House at the last minute, and then wave his arms in melodramatic disgust on C-SPAN for all to see, he is greatly mistaken. This is not your grandfather’s shutdown showdown.
Unlike 1995, grassroots America is paying close attention, and they’re doing it in real-time. Citizen activists, armed with social media and a community of principle-driven peers, have fundamentally changed the power structure in Washington.
Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that a decentralized network of individuals nationwide could out-muscle the lobbyists and Washington’s political class to successfully pass a spending plan that fully defunds ObamaCare.
These are the same activists that helped elect the conservative heroes leading the charge on this fight, including Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
Over the last few weeks, FreedomWorks activists alone drove over 60,000 calls to Congress demanding a continuing resolution that funds every part of the government without funding ObamaCare, with no sneaky procedural strings attached.
The House did its job – three times, actually.
Now it’s time for the Senate Democrats to meet them halfway.
No matter how many ways he tries to spin it, Harry Reid is holding the hot potato. And if he’s not careful, Democrats will have to explain to a lot of angry Americans why preserving Obama’s legacy was worth shutting the government down.
“There’s no need for conversations,” says Harry Reid. “We’ve spoken loudly and clearly, and we have the support of the president of the United States.”
The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, didn’t even bother to show up for the House vote to keep the government open.
Reid, who calls advocates of defunding the dysfunctional ObamaCare “anarchists,” took the weekend off.
Those of us trying to fix Washington may be “anarchists” in the eyes of the Democrats’ Senate majority leader, but at least we show up for work.
Talking heads have been painting hyperbolic imagery of a shutdown Armageddon for weeks.
Cars speeding off fiscal cliffs, cans getting kicked down roads of economic destruction, chaos in the streets, pure pandemonium -- all because of those Tea Party “wacko birds” – as the distinguished Republican Sen. John McCain called his colleagues – and their “dangerous game of political chicken,” according to former Republican U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.
This could have all been avoided, of course. The House has already sent three bills to the Senate that would fully fund the government.
The first continuing resolution would have permanently defunded the president’s broken health care law. The second would have delayed it for a year, while the third would have delayed just the individual mandate and included a version of the Vitter Amendment (named for Sen. David Vitter) which subjects Congress to the same ObamaCare costs and restrictions as the rest of America.
All three were rejected by an obstinate Democrat-controlled Senate, unwilling to move forward unless Harry Reid gets everything he wants.
So instead of pursuing defunding ObamaCare, House Republicans offered to simply delay it the wildly unpopular individual mandate.
According to my scoreboard, that puts the count at three Republican compromise solutions to the Democrats’ zero. House Republicans have already come to the negotiating table. They shouldn't negotiate with themselves anymore.
Republicans should wait until the president and the Senate majority leader show up to work, to negotiate common ground in good faith.
They may have to wait a while.
The Democrats seem hell bent on feeding into the slimdown scare in the public eye, rather than being cooperative and helping House Republicans to put the fire out.
Where, exactly, is that spirit of compromise and bipartisan solutions that the Democrats keep talking about these days?
In a desperate attempt to preserve the last remnants of the president’s wilting legacy, Harry Reid is holding government funding hostage.
The problem is, everyone is beginning to see the president’s poorly designed health care takeover for the train wreck that it is.
If the Senate majority leader believes that he could just take the weekend off, quietly plant the political hot potato back in the House at the last minute, and then wave his arms in melodramatic disgust on C-SPAN for all to see, he is greatly mistaken. This is not your grandfather’s shutdown showdown.
Unlike 1995, grassroots America is paying close attention, and they’re doing it in real-time. Citizen activists, armed with social media and a community of principle-driven peers, have fundamentally changed the power structure in Washington.
Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that a decentralized network of individuals nationwide could out-muscle the lobbyists and Washington’s political class to successfully pass a spending plan that fully defunds ObamaCare.
These are the same activists that helped elect the conservative heroes leading the charge on this fight, including Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
Over the last few weeks, FreedomWorks activists alone drove over 60,000 calls to Congress demanding a continuing resolution that funds every part of the government without funding ObamaCare, with no sneaky procedural strings attached.
The House did its job – three times, actually.
Now it’s time for the Senate Democrats to meet them halfway.
No matter how many ways he tries to spin it, Harry Reid is holding the hot potato. And if he’s not careful, Democrats will have to explain to a lot of angry Americans why preserving Obama’s legacy was worth shutting the government down.
Leaked Emails: Boehner Worked With Reid to Save Lawmaker Subsidies
House Speaker John Boehner Monday called on colleagues to ban an
exemption lawmakers and staff receive for health insurance, but he and
his aides had worked for months with Democratic leaders to save the
subsidies, leaked documents and emails show.
The documents were provided to Politico, which revealed Tuesday morning that Boehner and aides were working closely with Democratic rivals to protect the payments.
Roll Call had earlier reported that Democrats were mulling divulging the private communications between Boehner Chief of Staff Mike Sommers and Reid Chief of Staff David Krone as proof that Boehner was trying to protect the payments.
Urgent: Do You Support Sen. Ted Cruz's Efforts to Defund Obamacare? Vote Here.
The revelations are sure to cause more friction between Boehner and more conservative members of the House of Representatives, who have been pressing for all Obamacare exemptions for Congress to be scrapped.
The documents show Boehner and his aides discussed the matter with the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, and others. Further, the documents show that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knew of the discussions.
A possible legislative solution was drafted, the documents show, and they continued to push for a solution from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Further, Boehner and Reid asked for a meeting with President Barack Obama to lobby him for help, the documents show. The meeting never happened, but a senior Boehner aide was able to speak to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough about the Speaker's wish to retain the employer subsidy.
Obamacare requires lawmakers and staff to join insurance exchanges, and the debate over whether they should continue collecting the employer contribution from the federal government has been the source of many heated discussions.
The OPM ruled that lawmakers and their staff could not receive employer payments once they went into the subsidies. The office reversed its decision, saying the employer payments could continue.
But Boehner put the issue into the government shutdown debate, attaching an amendment ending the subsidies to a House GOP funding bill.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Politico the White House should solve the problem, and that "we always made it clear that House would not pass any legislative fix."
He said Boehner was aware that Reid and the White House had been discussing the issue and that the speaker's "fix is repealing Obamacare."
Boehner's office said the leak shows how concerned Democrats are.
"Any emails from Mr. Sommers will reflect the Speaker’s position: he voted against ObamaCare, and he wants to repeal Obamacare," Steel said. "If the Senate Democrats and the White House want to make a ‘fix’ to the law, it would be their fix. The Speaker’s ‘fix’ is repeal. This is just a desperate act by Harry Reid’s staff to protect their own subsidy."
ObamaCare: You Can Win With The Facts
Reid communications director Adam Jentleson, meanwhile, said his boss worked closely with Boehner and was grateful for his help.
Roll Call reported the communications could back up Democrats' claims that Boehner's decision to add an amendment revoking the contributions was a shot at vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2014, such as Kay Hagan of North Carolina or Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
The documents were provided to Politico, which revealed Tuesday morning that Boehner and aides were working closely with Democratic rivals to protect the payments.
Roll Call had earlier reported that Democrats were mulling divulging the private communications between Boehner Chief of Staff Mike Sommers and Reid Chief of Staff David Krone as proof that Boehner was trying to protect the payments.
Urgent: Do You Support Sen. Ted Cruz's Efforts to Defund Obamacare? Vote Here.
The revelations are sure to cause more friction between Boehner and more conservative members of the House of Representatives, who have been pressing for all Obamacare exemptions for Congress to be scrapped.
The documents show Boehner and his aides discussed the matter with the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, and others. Further, the documents show that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knew of the discussions.
A possible legislative solution was drafted, the documents show, and they continued to push for a solution from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Further, Boehner and Reid asked for a meeting with President Barack Obama to lobby him for help, the documents show. The meeting never happened, but a senior Boehner aide was able to speak to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough about the Speaker's wish to retain the employer subsidy.
Obamacare requires lawmakers and staff to join insurance exchanges, and the debate over whether they should continue collecting the employer contribution from the federal government has been the source of many heated discussions.
The OPM ruled that lawmakers and their staff could not receive employer payments once they went into the subsidies. The office reversed its decision, saying the employer payments could continue.
But Boehner put the issue into the government shutdown debate, attaching an amendment ending the subsidies to a House GOP funding bill.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Politico the White House should solve the problem, and that "we always made it clear that House would not pass any legislative fix."
He said Boehner was aware that Reid and the White House had been discussing the issue and that the speaker's "fix is repealing Obamacare."
Boehner's office said the leak shows how concerned Democrats are.
"Any emails from Mr. Sommers will reflect the Speaker’s position: he voted against ObamaCare, and he wants to repeal Obamacare," Steel said. "If the Senate Democrats and the White House want to make a ‘fix’ to the law, it would be their fix. The Speaker’s ‘fix’ is repeal. This is just a desperate act by Harry Reid’s staff to protect their own subsidy."
ObamaCare: You Can Win With The Facts
Reid communications director Adam Jentleson, meanwhile, said his boss worked closely with Boehner and was grateful for his help.
Roll Call reported the communications could back up Democrats' claims that Boehner's decision to add an amendment revoking the contributions was a shot at vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2014, such as Kay Hagan of North Carolina or Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
House Speaker John Boehner
Boehner is a weak cry baby, that will ended up selling out the Republicans. He has in the past and he'll do it again on this issue of Obamacare. People like him are bringing down the Republican Party. He should step down and let a real man or woman take over.
Obama just as responsible for government 'slimdown' as Republicans
President Obama, as much as House Republicans, shut down the
government. He is not willing to compromise on just about any issue,
leaving the GOP with no other options.
In 2008, Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote and commanding Democratic majorities in congress.
Faced with an economic crisis and carrying a mandate to accomplish universal access to health insurance, Obama was justified to take bold actions. However, as the leader of a democracy, he had the obligation to weight the views of the 47 percent who voted for Senator McCain and forge consensus where possible.
Yet, over Republican objections, the president abused a fund
established to aid troubled banks to bail out GM and Chrysler. To reward
autoworkers for campaign support, he confiscated private property by
awarding 55 percent of the stock to the union health care trust instead
of Chrysler’s creditors as U.S. bankruptcy law requires.
He rewarded Wall Street bankers who supported his campaign with new lending regulations that help them acquire regional banks.
Now, more than half of the nation’s deposits are concentrated among a handful of Manhattan casinos, middle class Americans can’t get decent rates on savings, and small businesses can’t get adequate credit.
Obama imposed other regulations in manufacturing and energy production that reward his constituents, punishing his opponents and slowing growth in an economy increasingly challenged to create enough well-paying jobs.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act, every major piece of social legislation was accomplished by seeking a bipartisan consensus.
Instead, Democratic leaders Pelosi and Reid wholly excluded Republicans from deliberations, and created an unpopular system that compels businesses to purchase health insurance for employees, and individuals lacking employer polices to purchase plans through government-run exchanges.
Through town meetings, polls and a senate election in Massachusetts, Americans expressed opposition. Yet, Democratic leaders packaged the final legislation into a budget reconciliation bill, avoiding the need to win any GOP votes in the Senate—an unprecedented maneuver for such a major piece of legislation.
The individual mandate also raised serious constitutional challenges, but Obama proceeded to warn Chief Justice Roberts not to mess with his law at the 2012 State of the Union Address. Caving to pressure, Roberts wrote a decision whose legal reasoning few ideologically neutral legal scholars could approve.
Micromanaging one-sixth of the U.S. economy is proving to be a nightmare. Facing huge rate increases and burdensome regulations, businesses are dropping insurance coverage Obama promised ordinary Americans they would be able to keep.
In 2010, Republicans won control of the House on a platform to curb spending and repeal ACA. Obama’s 2012 reelection was hardly a mandate to implement the law without substantial changes, because Republicans again won the House on promises to repeal the law.
Congressional Republicans behaved badly—demanding wholesale repeal of the law, when they simply don’t have the votes in the Senate and Obama is still president.
However, in the more recent effort to craft a continuing resolution to keep the government funded, they have indicated significant willingness to deliver what Americans expect—compromise.
Asking the president to postpone the individual mandate one year, as he has done for the employer mandate, and requiring the Congress to obtain their health insurance on the same terms the ACA requires for ordinary Americans are quite reasonable. The president’s refusal to accept any changes in the ACA and special treatment for politicians is tyranny.
Terms Republicans have laid down for raising the debt ceiling—more development of offshore oil, rethinking financial reform and changes to other regulatory policies—are broadly consistent with the public sentiment for a focus on jobs creation.
If the debt ceiling is not raised by October 17, the United States need not default on its debt as the president threatens.
The Treasury continues to collect taxes, and the president will simply have to prioritize what bills he pays, what services he suspends, and place interest payments ahead of other items.
Realizing presidents shape the public dialogue in crises, he is pressuring House Republicans to deny their obligations to constituents lest he put on them the blame for a government shutdown and perhaps a default.
In 2008, Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote and commanding Democratic majorities in congress.
Faced with an economic crisis and carrying a mandate to accomplish universal access to health insurance, Obama was justified to take bold actions. However, as the leader of a democracy, he had the obligation to weight the views of the 47 percent who voted for Senator McCain and forge consensus where possible.
The president’s refusal to accept any changes in the ACA and special treatment for politicians is tyranny.
He rewarded Wall Street bankers who supported his campaign with new lending regulations that help them acquire regional banks.
Now, more than half of the nation’s deposits are concentrated among a handful of Manhattan casinos, middle class Americans can’t get decent rates on savings, and small businesses can’t get adequate credit.
Obama imposed other regulations in manufacturing and energy production that reward his constituents, punishing his opponents and slowing growth in an economy increasingly challenged to create enough well-paying jobs.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act, every major piece of social legislation was accomplished by seeking a bipartisan consensus.
Instead, Democratic leaders Pelosi and Reid wholly excluded Republicans from deliberations, and created an unpopular system that compels businesses to purchase health insurance for employees, and individuals lacking employer polices to purchase plans through government-run exchanges.
Through town meetings, polls and a senate election in Massachusetts, Americans expressed opposition. Yet, Democratic leaders packaged the final legislation into a budget reconciliation bill, avoiding the need to win any GOP votes in the Senate—an unprecedented maneuver for such a major piece of legislation.
The individual mandate also raised serious constitutional challenges, but Obama proceeded to warn Chief Justice Roberts not to mess with his law at the 2012 State of the Union Address. Caving to pressure, Roberts wrote a decision whose legal reasoning few ideologically neutral legal scholars could approve.
Micromanaging one-sixth of the U.S. economy is proving to be a nightmare. Facing huge rate increases and burdensome regulations, businesses are dropping insurance coverage Obama promised ordinary Americans they would be able to keep.
In 2010, Republicans won control of the House on a platform to curb spending and repeal ACA. Obama’s 2012 reelection was hardly a mandate to implement the law without substantial changes, because Republicans again won the House on promises to repeal the law.
Congressional Republicans behaved badly—demanding wholesale repeal of the law, when they simply don’t have the votes in the Senate and Obama is still president.
However, in the more recent effort to craft a continuing resolution to keep the government funded, they have indicated significant willingness to deliver what Americans expect—compromise.
Asking the president to postpone the individual mandate one year, as he has done for the employer mandate, and requiring the Congress to obtain their health insurance on the same terms the ACA requires for ordinary Americans are quite reasonable. The president’s refusal to accept any changes in the ACA and special treatment for politicians is tyranny.
Terms Republicans have laid down for raising the debt ceiling—more development of offshore oil, rethinking financial reform and changes to other regulatory policies—are broadly consistent with the public sentiment for a focus on jobs creation.
If the debt ceiling is not raised by October 17, the United States need not default on its debt as the president threatens.
The Treasury continues to collect taxes, and the president will simply have to prioritize what bills he pays, what services he suspends, and place interest payments ahead of other items.
Realizing presidents shape the public dialogue in crises, he is pressuring House Republicans to deny their obligations to constituents lest he put on them the blame for a government shutdown and perhaps a default.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Fact Check: Obama's ObamaCare claims
WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration scrambles to roll out the health care exchanges for their Tuesday debut, it's worth a look back on the conflicting claims the White House has made on how the exchanges help, who they benefit and what they promise.
The following are some of President Obama's better-known claims, and how they stack up to the facts.
STAYING PUT?
When stumping for the health care overhaul, Obama repeatedly told people that “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” It’s even on the White House web site. So is this true? Not quite.
While the Affordable Care Act doesn’t force insured Americans to pick new plans or doctors, it also doesn’t ensure that your employer won’t decide to switch plans.
If that happens, the insured individual will have to go with what the employer decides. Similarly, if someone gets a new job, there is no guarantee that the new coverage will offer the same doctor as an in-network provider.
A shake-up of providers is likely, experts say. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says it’s hearing that many carriers will cancel policies and issue new ones because it would be administratively easier to do so than changing existing plans.
PAYING LESS?
Obama has claimed that the uninsured will pay less on the government exchanges than they would on the individual market. So is it true?
Depends.
During an Aug. 9 press conference, the president said that the 15 percent of the country’s population that’s uninsured would be able to “sign up for affordable quality health insurance at a significantly cheaper rate than what they can get right now on the individual market.” He noted they'll get additional tax credits if "even with lower premiums they still can’t afford it."
But even his own team admits to some fuzzy math on that one.
Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has acknowledged that younger people will likely pay more and older people will pay less on the insurance exchanges. The cost of premiums will also be based on geography and other determining factors like smoking.
Economist Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was a paid adviser on the Obama administration’s health care plans, goes so far as saying that a small share of the uninsured would actually pay higher premiums on the exchanges.
ALL COVERED?
When ObamaCare was initially presented to the public in 2009, it was said that the new law would provide health insurance for every man, woman and child in America. So is it true? The law will cover many more, but not everyone.
While ObamaCare is expected to extend coverage to 25 million Americans over the next 10 years, it will leave a projected 31 million people without insurance by 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Though the law requires individuals to buy health insurance, many are expected to buck that mandate and risk the possibility of a fine. Most of the 31 million will be people living below the poverty line in the 21 states that have decided against expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare.
SAVING JOBS?
Part of the president’s push with ObamaCare has been that it will create new jobs. But Obama scaled back his promise of job creation during a speech in Largo, Md., on Thursday. Instead, he said his health care overhaul wouldn’t hurt jobs.
“There's no widespread evidence that the Affordable Care Act is hurting jobs,” he said.
But critics have sharply challenged that claim.
A recent report in Investor’s Business Daily shows that as a direct result of ObamaCare, more than 300 companies have either eliminated jobs or reduced full-time jobs to part-time jobs. The administration describes this evidence as anecdotal.
But it’s not just the administration that’s been caught stretching the truth when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has repeatedly claimed that Obama let lawmakers off the hook by allowing them to opt out of using the exchanges.
“Look, the wheels are coming off this,” Cruz said during a conservative summit in Iowa on Aug. 10. “The teamsters are abandoning it. President Obama just granted all of Congress an exception. And he did it because Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats who passed this thing came begging and said, ‘Please, please, please let us out of ObamaCare.’ This thing ain’t working.”
Again, not quite.
The truth is that the new law requires lawmakers to use marketplaces set up through ObamaCare. They aren’t exempt from participating -- however, the administration did issue a change allowing Congress and their staff to continue to receive employer subsidies to pay for insurance.
Congress misses deadline, sending government into partial shutdown
Congress blew by a midnight deadline to pass a crucial spending bill,
triggering the beginning of a partial government shutdown – the first
in 17 years.
Lawmakers missed the deadline after being unable to resolve their stand-off over ObamaCare, despite a volley of 11th-hour counterproposals from the House. Each time, Senate Democrats refused to consider any changes to ObamaCare as part of the budget bill.
House Republicans, for their part, refused to back off their demand that the budget bill include some measures to rein in the health care law – a large part of which, the so-called insurance “exchanges,” goes into effect on Tuesday.
As House Republicans endorsed one more counterproposal in the early morning hours, lawmakers spent the final minutes before midnight trying to assign blame to the other side of the aisle. Republicans are no doubt wary of the blowback their party felt during the Clinton-era shutdown, while Democrats were almost eager to pile the blame on the GOP.
“This is an unnecessary blow to America,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said.
House Speaker John Boehner claimed that Republicans are the ones trying to keep the government open but “the Senate has continued to reject our offers.”
Ahead of the deadline, the White House budget office ordered agency heads to execute an “orderly shutdown” of their operations due to lack of funds. Americans will begin to feel the effects of a shutdown by Tuesday morning, as national parks close, federal home loan officers scale back their caseload, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers face furlough.
The question now is how long the stand-off will last. Congress is fast-approaching another deadline, in mid-October, to raise the debt limit or face a U.S. government default. Lawmakers presumably want to resolve the status of the government swiftly in order to shift to that debate.
Throughout the day Monday, lawmakers engaged in a day-long bout of legislative hot potato.
The House repeatedly passed different versions of a bill that would fund the government while paring down the federal health care overhaul. Each time, the Senate said no and sent it back.
As a last-ditch effort, House Republicans early Tuesday morning endorsed taking their disagreement to what’s known as a conference committee – a bicameral committee where lawmakers from both chambers would meet to resolve the differences between the warring pieces of legislation.
The latest House bill, which the Senate shot down late Monday, would delay the law's individual mandate while prohibiting lawmakers, their staff and top administration officials from getting government subsidies for their health care.
The House voted again to endorse that approach early Tuesday and send the bill to conference committee.
“It means we're the reasonable, responsible actors trying to keep the process alive as the clock ticks past midnight, despite Washington Democrats refusal - thus far - to negotiate,” a GOP leadership aide said.
Reid, though, said the Senate would not agree to the approach unless and until the House approves a “clean” budget bill.
The rhetoric got more heated as the deadline neared.
“They’ve lost their minds,” Reid said of Republicans, in rejecting the latest proposal.
“Senate Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they’d rather shut down the federal government than accept even the most reasonable changes to ObamaCare,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell countered.
Amid the drama, President Obama said he was holding out hope that Congress would come together "in the 11th hour."
Such a deal did not come to pass.
A prior Republican effort to include a provision defunding ObamaCare in the budget bill failed. House Republicans then voted, early Sunday, to add amendments delaying the health care law by one year and repealing an unpopular medical device tax.
The Senate, in a 54-46 vote, rejected those proposals on Monday afternoon.
At this stage, congressional leaders are hard at work trying to assign blame.
Democrats have already labeled this a "Republican government shutdown." But Republicans on Sunday hammered Reid and his colleagues for not coming back to work immediately after the House passed a bill Sunday morning. Bailey Comment: "Big deal, who really cares about this government shutdown except all of the leeches sucking off the tax payers".
Lawmakers missed the deadline after being unable to resolve their stand-off over ObamaCare, despite a volley of 11th-hour counterproposals from the House. Each time, Senate Democrats refused to consider any changes to ObamaCare as part of the budget bill.
House Republicans, for their part, refused to back off their demand that the budget bill include some measures to rein in the health care law – a large part of which, the so-called insurance “exchanges,” goes into effect on Tuesday.
As House Republicans endorsed one more counterproposal in the early morning hours, lawmakers spent the final minutes before midnight trying to assign blame to the other side of the aisle. Republicans are no doubt wary of the blowback their party felt during the Clinton-era shutdown, while Democrats were almost eager to pile the blame on the GOP.
“This is an unnecessary blow to America,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said.
House Speaker John Boehner claimed that Republicans are the ones trying to keep the government open but “the Senate has continued to reject our offers.”
Ahead of the deadline, the White House budget office ordered agency heads to execute an “orderly shutdown” of their operations due to lack of funds. Americans will begin to feel the effects of a shutdown by Tuesday morning, as national parks close, federal home loan officers scale back their caseload, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers face furlough.
The question now is how long the stand-off will last. Congress is fast-approaching another deadline, in mid-October, to raise the debt limit or face a U.S. government default. Lawmakers presumably want to resolve the status of the government swiftly in order to shift to that debate.
Throughout the day Monday, lawmakers engaged in a day-long bout of legislative hot potato.
The House repeatedly passed different versions of a bill that would fund the government while paring down the federal health care overhaul. Each time, the Senate said no and sent it back.
As a last-ditch effort, House Republicans early Tuesday morning endorsed taking their disagreement to what’s known as a conference committee – a bicameral committee where lawmakers from both chambers would meet to resolve the differences between the warring pieces of legislation.
The latest House bill, which the Senate shot down late Monday, would delay the law's individual mandate while prohibiting lawmakers, their staff and top administration officials from getting government subsidies for their health care.
The House voted again to endorse that approach early Tuesday and send the bill to conference committee.
“It means we're the reasonable, responsible actors trying to keep the process alive as the clock ticks past midnight, despite Washington Democrats refusal - thus far - to negotiate,” a GOP leadership aide said.
Reid, though, said the Senate would not agree to the approach unless and until the House approves a “clean” budget bill.
The rhetoric got more heated as the deadline neared.
“They’ve lost their minds,” Reid said of Republicans, in rejecting the latest proposal.
“Senate Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they’d rather shut down the federal government than accept even the most reasonable changes to ObamaCare,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell countered.
Amid the drama, President Obama said he was holding out hope that Congress would come together "in the 11th hour."
Such a deal did not come to pass.
A prior Republican effort to include a provision defunding ObamaCare in the budget bill failed. House Republicans then voted, early Sunday, to add amendments delaying the health care law by one year and repealing an unpopular medical device tax.
The Senate, in a 54-46 vote, rejected those proposals on Monday afternoon.
At this stage, congressional leaders are hard at work trying to assign blame.
Democrats have already labeled this a "Republican government shutdown." But Republicans on Sunday hammered Reid and his colleagues for not coming back to work immediately after the House passed a bill Sunday morning. Bailey Comment: "Big deal, who really cares about this government shutdown except all of the leeches sucking off the tax payers".
Monday, September 30, 2013
Reid vows to reject House spending bill
With what would be the first government shutdown in 17 years due to
take effect at midnight Tuesday, the Senate will return to business
Monday afternoon to consider the Republican House’s weekend
spending-bill offer, which the chamber's ranking Democrat has vowed to
reject.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had made his feelings on the the bill, which includes an amendment providing for a one-year delay in the implementation of ObamaCare, known even before the House approved the measure early Sunday morning. Throughout the day Sunday, House Republican leaders chided Reid and others in the Democrat-led chamber for not hustling back to Capitol Hill to negotiate a compromise.
“O Senate, where art thou,” said Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, riffing on the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou.”
In a package of weekend votes, the House also agreed to an amendment to repeal the health care law’s medical-device tax and voted in favor of a bill to pay the military on time should a shutdown occur.
Just hours after House Republicans announced their plan Saturday afternoon, the White House vowed President Obama would veto it and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear it was unacceptable.
“To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax," Reid said. "After weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one."
On Sunday, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson called the House votes “empty political stunts” and said, “Tomorrow, the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures.”
The Senate is scheduled to convene at 2 p.m. Monday and Reid is expected to move quickly against the House legislation. Reid is not subject to a filibuster while doing so, and the bill is likely to be voted down with the support of the Senate's Democratic majority. The House is due to convene at 10 a.m. Monday, but it is believed that GOP leaders will wait on Senate action before sending any alternate proposals to the upper chamber.
Blackburn made her comments along with other members of the House Republican Conference at an informal press conference on the steps of Capitol Hill.
“That the senators are not here … is all that everyone needs to know,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Tim Griffin. “Democrats want to shutdown the government. … That’s a scorched earth policy.”
Grifffin and others tried to recast the blame for a possible shutdown on Democrats who have argued Republicans’ insistence on tying a spending bill to ObamaCare is intended to force a shutdown.
“Today we see where the Senate doors are shut,” said conference Chairwoman and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. “Harry Reid says that a shutdown is inevitable.”
House Speaker John Boehner was among the first to put the burden of responsibility back on the Senate.
“Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown,” the Ohio Republican said after the weekend votes. “Let’s get this done.”
The government would technically run out of money Monday night should Congress fail to pass a spending bill -- resulting in a partial government shutdown that would begin with hundreds of thousands of government workers likely being sent home from work without pay.
The government would still keep open operations and agencies that protect “life and limb,” but national parks would likely close right away and other non-essential programs would also be temporarily shut down.
There have been 17 government shutdowns, the most recent lasting from Dec. 16, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996 -- the longest in U.S. history.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy said Sunday morning the chamber has several last-minute options to avoid a government shutdown should the Senate reject the most recent House plan.
The California Republican insisted the proposal can indeed pass in the Senate but acknowledged having an alternative plan.
“You assume they won’t vote for it. Let’s have that debate,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” But “we have other options for the Senate to look at.”
Earlier this month, the Senate rejected a House spending bill to defund ObamaCare, despite a filibuster-style effort by Tea Party-backed, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.
McCarthy declined to tell Fox News whether one of the proposals would be passing a so-called “clean” spending bill, or continuing resolution, which would keep open the government for a few days until Congress agrees on a longer-term plan. But he insisted the House will not be responsible for a shutdown and that it will offer a proposal with Democratic support.
“We are not shutting the government down,” he said. “While the president was out playing golf [Saturday], we were here until 1 a.m. We will pass a bill that reflects this House. … I think there'll be additions that Democrats can support.”
Right now, the House bill covers government spending through Dec. 15, while the Senate bill goes through Nov. 15.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had made his feelings on the the bill, which includes an amendment providing for a one-year delay in the implementation of ObamaCare, known even before the House approved the measure early Sunday morning. Throughout the day Sunday, House Republican leaders chided Reid and others in the Democrat-led chamber for not hustling back to Capitol Hill to negotiate a compromise.
“O Senate, where art thou,” said Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, riffing on the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou.”
In a package of weekend votes, the House also agreed to an amendment to repeal the health care law’s medical-device tax and voted in favor of a bill to pay the military on time should a shutdown occur.
Just hours after House Republicans announced their plan Saturday afternoon, the White House vowed President Obama would veto it and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear it was unacceptable.
“To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax," Reid said. "After weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one."
On Sunday, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson called the House votes “empty political stunts” and said, “Tomorrow, the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures.”
The Senate is scheduled to convene at 2 p.m. Monday and Reid is expected to move quickly against the House legislation. Reid is not subject to a filibuster while doing so, and the bill is likely to be voted down with the support of the Senate's Democratic majority. The House is due to convene at 10 a.m. Monday, but it is believed that GOP leaders will wait on Senate action before sending any alternate proposals to the upper chamber.
Blackburn made her comments along with other members of the House Republican Conference at an informal press conference on the steps of Capitol Hill.
“That the senators are not here … is all that everyone needs to know,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Tim Griffin. “Democrats want to shutdown the government. … That’s a scorched earth policy.”
Grifffin and others tried to recast the blame for a possible shutdown on Democrats who have argued Republicans’ insistence on tying a spending bill to ObamaCare is intended to force a shutdown.
“Today we see where the Senate doors are shut,” said conference Chairwoman and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. “Harry Reid says that a shutdown is inevitable.”
House Speaker John Boehner was among the first to put the burden of responsibility back on the Senate.
“Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown,” the Ohio Republican said after the weekend votes. “Let’s get this done.”
The government would technically run out of money Monday night should Congress fail to pass a spending bill -- resulting in a partial government shutdown that would begin with hundreds of thousands of government workers likely being sent home from work without pay.
The government would still keep open operations and agencies that protect “life and limb,” but national parks would likely close right away and other non-essential programs would also be temporarily shut down.
There have been 17 government shutdowns, the most recent lasting from Dec. 16, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996 -- the longest in U.S. history.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy said Sunday morning the chamber has several last-minute options to avoid a government shutdown should the Senate reject the most recent House plan.
The California Republican insisted the proposal can indeed pass in the Senate but acknowledged having an alternative plan.
“You assume they won’t vote for it. Let’s have that debate,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” But “we have other options for the Senate to look at.”
Earlier this month, the Senate rejected a House spending bill to defund ObamaCare, despite a filibuster-style effort by Tea Party-backed, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.
McCarthy declined to tell Fox News whether one of the proposals would be passing a so-called “clean” spending bill, or continuing resolution, which would keep open the government for a few days until Congress agrees on a longer-term plan. But he insisted the House will not be responsible for a shutdown and that it will offer a proposal with Democratic support.
“We are not shutting the government down,” he said. “While the president was out playing golf [Saturday], we were here until 1 a.m. We will pass a bill that reflects this House. … I think there'll be additions that Democrats can support.”
Right now, the House bill covers government spending through Dec. 15, while the Senate bill goes through Nov. 15.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...
