So, Jay Carney (White House spokesman) tweeted “FACT: If House Republicans force a government # shutdown, it could cost our economy $10 billion per week.”
I guess he forgot that if the Democrats (House and Senate and White House) get their way, they’ll continue to run deficits in the amount of $20 billion per week.
^Will my Cuz’in Jamal still get his welfare check if the gubmint shuts down? He needs his menthals and OE. Think of the children if the hood riots!
Starve the beast. Let’s see what happens. Sure, there will be collateral damage but I doubt it will be anywhere near as bad as what they say. Did anybody but the furloughed employees notice the sequester?
I still don’t understand what “shutting down government” means - just shutting down gov’t services like welfare? Shouldn’t that actually save money?
No, the welfare recipients should still get their checks. So will the president and all the congresspeople.
It’s just offices like the office that issues passports that will shut down. Or gun permits. Or housing loans. Or small business loans. Or trash collection in DC.
If “Jamal” gets paid, the strippers get paid. If the strippers get paid KORS gets paid. If KORS gets paid, supyogov gets paid, and if whatsyogovt gets paid, dem strippers get paid. I help others help me.
The deficit has been reducing. . .
Sometimes I don’t know if you play a part like CvM or actually believe some of these things lol
That country is so screwed.
I love US politics. So much more exciting than anything they come up with on this side of the lake.
Can’t wait for 2016!
I learned today that Canada and Australia both have provisions whereby failing to pass a budget gets you an immediate dissolution of the parliament and a federal election. Apparently this is just a normal part of the Westminster system whereby the Prime Minister has to maintain the “confidence” of the house. Seems like the US could use something like that.
I don’t know if the “country is so screwed” is really accurate though. Syria, yeah, they screwed.
Yeah, I don’t disagree. It would give them an incentive to actually do their jobs so they can keep them. Canada also has a fun quirk where the prime minister can call an election whevener he wants. It took the current PM 3 elections (I think?) to finally get his party to be the majority.
Gov shuts down and equity futures rise. I’d say stay shut down!
I completely forgot about the sequester until they brought it up in the news yesterday, which tells you how much it is affecting me.
You’re absolutely correct, rawdog. In Obama’s first year in office, the deficit was $30 billion per week. He’s finally got it down to only $20 billion per week.
Thanks to STL for bringing that up in another thread.
The reason for the shutdown is kind of ridiculous:
Obamacare has been voted on by both houses and signed by the president. It is a law.
Obamacare’s constitutionality was challenged. The Supreme Court found that is was not unconstitutional.
Republicans decide to refuse a vote on the debt ceiling until the POTUS compromises with them on Obamacare.
Why on earth would Obama compromise with them on Obamacare of all things? It is a law, it has be judged constitutional. There is no compromise at this point. That time has passed. It’s not even a matter of negotiating from a position of weakness or strength. The battle is over, move on.
There is a lot of fat in the budget and the US needs to get its debt under control. If the Republicans used some aggressive combination of government budget cuts and tax reform as their reason for holding the debt ceiling hostage I would actually have respect for it. But Obamacare? Again? Just stop.
FWIW, the House approved a bill late last night that would have kept the government funded; would have left Obamacare untouched; and would have required members of Congress, the Obama administration, and their staffs to give up their healthcare subsidies (i.e. buy healthcare from the exchanges just like the currently uninsured will have to do). The Senate voted it down.
I also watched the Daily Show last night.
^ higgy there a link to that? I’m not doubting, just curious. I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
“Do as I say, not as I do.” - Repubs and Democrats
Edit: Despite what Higgy says, it appears the Post’s take was that it did affect Obamacare, by delaying implementation of the “individual mandate”. Easy mistake, lots of spin in the news these days:
"Like the previous plans, the new one sought to undermine the Affordable Care Act, this time by delaying enforcement of the “individual mandate,” a cornerstone of the law that requires all Americans to obtain health insurance.
The new measure also sought to strip lawmakers and their aides of long-standing government health benefits."
My bad, the final House bill left in the 1 year delay in Obamacare. Could have sworn the report on CNN this morning was that they had taken that out.
“In their final exchange, in the waning hours before Monday’s deadline, the House passed by a 228-201 vote a short-term spending measure that would have funded agencies through mid-December while delaying for one year the law’s requirement that most individuals carry health insurance or pay a penalty. It also would have limited government subsidies for lawmakers’ own health-care premiums and those of their staffs. The Senate rejected it shortly afterward, 54-46.”
I think the House should take out the Obamacare delay and see what the Senate does with a bill that removes the subsidies. That could be a huge PR victory for the GOP either way.