Discussion: House To Allow Vote On Flint Aid In Water Bill Amid Funding Fight

Aid to Flint is a gimmie, a given and is not a bargaining chip.
The discussion does not start or stop there.

Flint is special, yes, but so is every town in America and every citizen.

If we have the ‘right’ to carry military assault weapons designed hundreds of years after the, Bill of Rights, was even a concept, then we damned for sure have the right to breathe fresh air and drink clean water. These are rights that are right, the machine guns and shit, not so much.

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Did Donald Trump give all his Minions-branded Play Doh to Louisiana already? Maybe he could be photographed “helping” again.

Pelosi is cutting deals with McConnell. Paul Ryan and Harry Reid must feel neglected.

Maybe she’s doing him a favor. I’ve had some issues with Pelosi, but she deserves some sort of medal for having to sit down in a room with Ryan and McConnell for any length of time. That’s gotta be taxing.

The agreement to provide funding for Flint was part of negotiations between House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), house Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), according to Politico.

Neglected? She is saving Ryan’s ass. Sadly, its something she has learned she has to do with every republican Speaker. And she isn’t getting much in return, either.

What this piece is leaving out is, Ryan was unable to round up the Crazy Caucus to get enough votes for a CR (and yes, its merely a CR until 12/9 because Ryan broke the budget agreement from 2015 to pass a series of appropriations bills throughout the year), so he had to go hat in hand to Pelosi.

The really disconcerting part here is…the money isn’t actually being agreed to. Ryan is merely giving her an “ironclad” promise that they will put the money in when they take up the actual appropriations bill to replace the CR.

Now…given that they had an actual written budget framework, signed by both sides, to deal with the appropriations process, and Ryan promptly broke every single promise in it and refused/was unable to pass any of the required packages…who really thinks his “ironclad” promise on budgetary matters is worth anything?

Indeed, the notion of passing an actual budget to replace the CR AFTER a Hillary victory with a lame duck Congress is laughably absurd. Kicking off a government shutdown as her welcome present is going to be the top priority of every republican in Congress, particularly in the Freedom Caucus who are the guys forcing Ryan to reach out to Pelosi in the first place for this CR.

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Foldie again, Paulie?

How magnanimous of Eddie Munster.

And how many Republicans will vote against cleaning up the water in Flint? More than you’d guess, I’ll bet, but maybe enough of them will recognize the political jeopardy they would be putting themselves in to pass the measure.

“She is saving Ryan’s ass”

NO, she is helping Flint. Your interpretation is inane.

It’s time Donald Trump paid at least some taxes to help fix the toxic drinking water that Republicans allowed to flow through our water systems.

Oh look. Calling me idiotic while offering up no actual premise or argument. Its sad to see the Trump school of debate taking root here.

First off, I never said that this isn’t intended to help Flint. Obviously it is, but like most reasonable people, I though that “$170 million for Flint” made that part pretty clear.

Now, if you can pull your head out of your ass for a few minutes, you might consider that this is part of a larger budgetary battle going on. Which is what the House does as arguably its most primary function.

Ryan hasn’t done it. And in the process of not doing it, he has renegged on the framework that was agreed to last year by Pelosi, Boehner, McConnell, Reid and President Obama. And now, in the 11th hour, he is forced to pass a CR to keep the government open in an election cycle. True to form, his Freedom Caucus balked at passing HIS CR (which is without this aid), so he was forced to make a deal with Pelosi, in which she is demanding he fund the Flint problem. He had to do this, because he lacks the necessary votes to pass HIS continuing resolution without that aid, among the republican caucus.

That’s a serious fucking problem. This CR is only for 2 months, half of which will be lame duck time. We already know, as outlined above, that Ryan doesn’t feel particularly bound by promises he makes, so a healthy amount of skepticism that he will follow through on this “ironclad” agreement is warranted. Further, because the budget discussions/negotiations to replace this CR will be with a lame duck Congress, and won’t be picked up till after the elections (so we are talking only 1 month real time, Congressional time its even less)…the inanity is on your part for not seeing the actual problem that is looming here.

So next time you want to pop off with some half assed comment, do us both a favor, and take the time to research it and back it up with some actual thought and facts.

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Once again Pelosi is saving the obdurate children in the GOP from themselves…For the good of the Nation…The tea gop do nothings have done nothing but destroy and obstruct the poor and middle class…Since elected…

Kick them to the curb in Nov!

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You have a number of people, all American citizens, dying from lead poisoning and your going to fucking “ALLOW” a vote?

Get to fucking work you bunch of rich talentless, proctologist centerfolds.

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Give it a rest. It IS possible to walk and chew gum AT THE SAME TIME.

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You were a little harsh but I think you are right. I am particularly troubled by the 2 month CR. The lame ducks in the crazy caucus will have a field day.

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Sadly poor and middle class whites are too stupid to realize that their worthies deliberately hurt them instead of the oligarchs.

Jeez Davey, did the guy hit a button?

I wonder, after all of the government shutdown empty threats and actual shutdowns that killed the GOP, why this now typical shutdown scare is any worse than any other?

How can not doing their job again be any good whatsoever for the Republican Party, especially right now, at election time? They will, eventually, fund the government, and it may hurt us again, who knows, but the threat has lost it’s punch and we continue and move on.
I know this is about the most effed up way there is to do business or run the government, my point is, what good is a threat that is basically meaningless?

They will pass a CR, most probably this week. Precisely so it won’t be an issue during the election. And absolutely no work will be done during the month of October on the actual budget and/or a longer term CR to replace this one (which is only through the first week of December).

The concern is, that with the election in the rear view mirror, and with a lame duck Congress…particularly a House that will still be republican, the chances of them “sticking it to Hillary” on the way out the door are going to be very high. Especially because “sticking it to Hillary” means doing absolutely nothing and letting the CR expire and forcing a government shutdown.

Do we really want Hillary being sworn in to lead a government that has no funding and has been in shutdown mode for over a month? Screw the first 100 day agenda, it instantly gets eaten up with trying to get the House to do its basic job and reopen the government.

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There are no Republican leaders left. The Speaker couldn’t pass for one on his best day, McConnell is a self-preservationist who will be the head of the minority in a couple months (we hope), and Ted Cruz cashed out his cred for list rental fees. The Republican caucus is a shambling corpse of resentment for the consequences of their own obstinance. I can’t think of a time there was this much disorder in the ranks since…the Great Depression?

ETA: But at least then they were a minority and couldn’t do much harm.

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