I was watching The West Wing Clips this weekend and got to the Shutdown over the budget. No more CRs, pass a budget.
These Republicans are incompetent. They get 6-8 week extensions and then do nothing with them. No more hostages, half of this shit hasnât been funded in months anyway.
No. Shut it down. Protect DACA first.
âNobody knew that governing - especially the part about screwing over so many working class, people in need, people of color and immigrants - could be so hard (well, a huge tax cut for corporations and the top 1% was fairly easy).â
DACA protections expire completely per Trump executive order in 4 weeks. Waiting six weeks to do something, when so many Republicans want to do nothing at all, is unacceptable. No DACA - no stopgap continuing resolution, no budget, no money.
It is me or is this all beginning to feel like âGroundhog DayââŚ?
The American people want DACA. Does that count for anything?
The one past last month was for 3 weeks. The one passed in December was for 4 weeks. The one passed in November was for 4 weeks.
Which of course, raises the question, why? Usually (like every time before Ryan) that short term CRs have been used, its to give Congress time to finalize negotiations on a longer term bill. That has not happened a single time in this scenario. This has been Ryan kicking the can down the road because he doesnât want to do the work.
Thatâs a rhetorical question, right?
How about Democrats say ânoâ and not specifically why. You keep coming up with suggestions and weâll tell you when we see something that we like.
Yes, but they were smart enough to finally go home after 10 years of futility.
How about Groundhog Week or Month?
He doesnât care about the work, he cares about the personal and political consequences of doing the work. He knows that something longterm will necessarily involve angering the Freedom Fries Caucus (or is it the Hunger Games Caucus, I can never remember) and lose him the speakerâs position.
Republicans have to keep the war machine and killings going no matter anything else. Jesus keep sending people to their death to kill others.
No.
Nah. Democrats fund the government or they donât. No more of this shadow-cuts bullshit.
I once imagined starting a business, making millions, becoming a pillar of society, joining Rotary. Then a businessman took over the country and started running it like a business.
No thanks. I mean, some of the things you have to do! Like never, ever having to write an actual budget to get financing, or coming up with only short-term âpaydayâ loans to prop up the business. (FIVE since just September!)
Like hiring people off the street with no qualifications at all, I mean, this is my livelyhood here! I need the BEST people working for me.
Like belittling, attacking and publicly humiliating the people who work for you. I could never do that.
Like cutting my revenue but increasing spending. That sounds like a scam to me.
Like promising your people for seven years that you had a healthcare plan that was going to be SO great. Only you didnât have a plan and had to hide out in secret meetings and cobble something together in a couple of weeks that nobody liked.
If I acted like this my business would never survive. So please, stay in your business and stay out of politics. Let qualified people run things again.
I know the response this will enjoy- and I donât care.
So start the clock on âSchumer and the Rubber Spine Brigadeâ caving in the next budget showdown.
Who needs to fund the government once our massive death machine is guaranteed to march merrily along?
Priorities, people.
Neither did his. Thatâs why he was reduced to being a paid clown employee of someone else.
But thatâs the thing (and a large part of why I think those rumors started circulating that he would resign/retire this year), Ryan IS going to have to deal with this issue. The HFC is demanding it. They want the caps lifted on Pentagon spending and caps lowered on domestic spending. They donât have the votes to achieve that specifically, but they can probably garner the vote to stop doing CRs, and force Ryan to actually âdo the workâ.
IMO, this is key for two reasons. 1) I mentioned elsewhere, but this is the main reason why DACA is DOA in the House. No such bill is ever going to even see the floor. Ryan simply cannot afford to fight with the HFC on anything else, and they WILL fight him on any DACA bill. 2) There is no easy out for Ryan that keeps him on as Speaker. Either he caves to the HFC, which results in a shutdown at some point, because their demands are too much for the Senate, and probably even most House republicans in an election year, or he refuses to negotiate a long term deal, which results in the HFC ousting him, or he quits.
This bill, which dies in the Senate even if it did get out of the House, is his attempt at threading that needle. Lift the caps on the Pentagon for this year, keep everything else the same on a month by month basis. He hopes it placates enough HFCers that it buys him time through the midterms.
The other interesting observation here is that Ryan is in this quandaryâŚonly dealing with republicans. He has totally disregarded anything that Dems wantâŚthey arenât at the table or involved in any of his calculus. Which is again, as it has been for the past 10 years, absolutely absurd. Ryan (and Boehner before him) could easily dismiss the HFC and cut a deal that makes non-HFC republicans happy and enough Democrats happy to easily pass. But, they take the âHastert Ruleâ as such complete gospel, that they never even consider those paths.