Politico calls the House Republican vote “to pass a one-year delay of Obamacare in exchange for funding the government … a plan that drastically increases the chances of a government shutdown this Tuesday.” Same pap from the Washington Post: “House Republican leaders proposed a new plan to the GOP rank-and-file Saturday afternoon: Make a new gesture of defiance toward President Obama’s health-care law, even if it increases the chances of a government shutdown Monday night.” The Republicans, according to the Post, for “political reasons” have come up with “new, more confrontational GOP plan.” Similarly, USA Today writes
Congress is moving the nation closer to a government shutdown on Tuesday after House Republicans announced Saturday they will advance a stopgap spending measure that will delay implementation of President Obama’s health care law for one year….
The proposal faces certain defeat in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will not support any bill that dismantles the Affordable Care Act. Obama also said he would veto any such bill in the unlikely event it reaches his desk.
In a Saturday statement, Reid called Boehner’s decision “pointless” and reiterated that the Senate will reject the GOP’s latest version of the stopgap bill.
So, the Republican House is about to pass a bill that would fund the government except for Obamacare, whose implementation would be delayed one year, and the Democratic Senate promises to reject a bill that funds everything except for Obamacare (for one year), and the Democratic president promises to veto such a bill if it somehow passed the Senate.
I asked before, but no one has yet explained to me why it would be exclusively the Republicans’ fault if the government is forced to shut down temporarily for lack of funds. Why is the GOP plan “confrontational” but not the Democrats’ unwillingness to accept it?The Democrats have already decided on their own — without the benefit of legislation that most observers believe necessary — to delay implementing Obamacare’s requirements for businesses, but they would rather close the government down rather than accept a one year delay for everyone else? And this somehow makes Republicans blackmailing terrorists?
Go figure.
