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RINO Squishes Avoided The Shutdown
Last night, the GOP leadership once again confirmed their contempt for the values of the people who elected them. The Republicans — and all the other spineless waifs who claim to be conservatives — avoided the dreaded government shutdown by passing what people are ridiculously calling the “CRomnibus” spending bill, which funds most of the government for the remainder of the fiscal year that began on 1 October. The measure passed 219 to 206 in the House and, of course, the Senate is going to vote for it.
The bill’s passage began with the rule vote in the House that determined how it would be debated, what amendments and riders could be added, and how they could be added. This process almost failed thanks to some brave conservatives holding out for a short-term spending bill that would get the government funded until the GOP controlled both chambers of Congress and could craft a budget of their own liking. But there was horse trading going on to get the rules vote to where it needed to be to pass. Representative Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) claims that the GOP leadership secured his vote at the last minute by telling him that they would introduce a short-term spending bill once the rules vote passed. Needless to say, he was lied to.
After the rules vote, Democrats were the next hurdle for the GOP leadership to overcome. People close to the action claim that it took the White House’s involvement to garner enough Democratic votes to overcome the loss of conservatives who refused to take part in this betrayal. In the end, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) claims that “In 20 years of being on the appropriations [committee], I haven’t seen a better compromise in terms of Democratic priorities.” So to avoid a shutdown, something that the Wizards of Smart in the GOP “intelligentsia” told us was paramount, the House had to pass a spending bill which is basically an entire budget for FY2015, that gave the very people who many claim to be severely harming the country everything they wanted. Real smart.
The National GOP continues to amaze: we’ve long known that they’re the only creatures on the planet that can stand upright without any backbone; now, we also know it’s possible to craft legislation without any brains. Truly a biological feat if there ever was one.
If the National GOP had actually wanted to oppose the damage caused by the Democrats, they should have sent the Senate a very short-term spending bill designed to keep the government open until the new Congress was sworn in. Only then should they have begun work on an actual two year budget to coincide with their reelection, as intended. They could have done so without funding the president’s illegal immigration decrees and have severely crippled Obamacare. They could have done everything they claim they want to do with the budget and sent it to the president’s desk, putting the onus of deciding whether the government stays open on him. But no. They decided that they were going to give the Democrats “everything they wanted.”
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says that — now that the spending issue is over — the GOP will focus on taking on the President’s immigration demands. Well, let’s be candid: Boehner was lying and cannot not be trusted, and the same goes for the rest of the Republican leadership. The only real way to change this is stop sending them contributions and to stop voting for them. Next time you see a Republican on a ballot for federal office, just write yourself in; you’ll probably do a much better job.
Main feed. Like you said, let’s here from all the 3-D Chess Playing Moderate/sophisticates/GOP Strategists how we’ve got em on the ropes. Or that ‘we’ only control 1/3 of govt.
I’m ready for the third party. We’ll lose but if ‘this’ is winning, I’d rather not have Boehner’s cigarette laden stench of victory on me.
Wasted no time stabbing us in the back. No wonder nobody had any faith in them.
This is proof for at least the next 8 years, that there is no daylight between team D and team R. When someone tries to cajole you into voting for the lesser of the 2 evils, just say cromnibus and you win the argument about why voting makes no difference.
My eyes want to cry.
Yeah I just can’t put into words the amount of frustration and anger I have right now. The Dems had all of this year to come up with a damned FY2015 budget and they abdicated that with a CR putting them past the election and now Team GOP is going to use the final few weeks of the year to give them what the Dems refused to do the previous eleven months? AND the damned Rob Longs of the world tell us that not doing so and having a shutdown would be disastrous? What is more disastrous having the government shutdown for a few weeks until the GOP majority Congress is sworn in or caving to a bunch of Alinsky-ite Marxists who hate this damned country? Real freaking smart Long, really freaking smart. Bunch of GD cowards.
This is further validation of my decision to end my RNC membership two years ago. Opposition party? What a joke.
Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth… We were betrayed!!… GOP leadership is cowardly!
The best and most effective way the GOP majority can implement conservative priorities is to get back to a regular budgetary and appropriations order. Whether people want to accept it or not, Republicans and conservatives lose when the government shuts down. The constant use of CR’s and omnibus bills has to end. Passing a budget resolution and sending the President multiple, specific appropriations bills will allow the Congress to regain the initiative and fight specific battles on spending and policy without the risk of shutting down the government.
If passing this bill tonight allows the new Congress to get back to regular order for FY 16, I will happily make that trade.
The Bill only funds DHS until February as I understand it. So this basically delays the battle over Illegal Immigration Amnesty for two months and avoids a media firestorm during Christmas. I think this was a good move. Republicans need to use the lessons taught by Sun Tzu. They need to pick the time and place of battle rather than just reacting to what Democrats do and walking into one trap after another. Having a battle over funding of DHS minus the Illegal Immigration will be better with a Republican House and Senate acting in unison and after the Holidays. As for the rest of the budget, this new Congress is supposed to be looking at 2016 not 2015 anyway. Sorry to disagree with everyone who wanted a fight to the death with Democrats right now.
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. – Sun Tzu
When Democrats do this, they are being themselves and doing what I expect. Republicans represent me so when they do this, they are betraying me. For that, I am more angry and less forgiving. The danger is that, for many like me, the joy of winning in 2016 might be replaced with the joy if sticking it to them in return.
This is simply BS!! I would actually spell it out if this wasn’t a family oriented site. You say that they need to get back to the real budgetary process. Okay then why pull this crap out of their lower regions that funds the government for the entire FY2015? Why not just get another short-term bill to 1 March and then get the normal process rolling for the latter half of the fiscal year? Your assertion that this is a means of getting things back on track just doesn’t hold water. Use of CRs and omnibus has to end? Well newsflash, this just put us all the way to 30 September so the GOP Congress gets one fiscal year to control before the next election, and I can only imagine how the spineless wonders are going to handle that budget.
Second there is the strategy that is missed here. Get the government going until 1 March, giving you 2 full months to go through the normal budgetary process for the rest of the fiscal year. Pass that through both chambers and put in on the President’s desk. If he vetos it then you try to override it and it nothing happens then you make him explain why HE is shutting down the government. I don’t understand why this is so damned hard for you squishes to understand. “Oh but the media will hate us!” They already do!!! Freaking morons. You moderate, wine sipping, “we’re smarter than you because we are Ivy League” scum bags are some of the dumbest people on the planet.
Oh you quoted Sun Tzu so you must be the smartest chin stroker in the room. All bow down. At some point you engage the damned enemy instead of running away every time a fight brews. Coward.
Well on the plus side we now have a list of people to primary in 2016.
Normal budgetary and appropriations order is a 7 month + process. It is not something thrown together in a couple of weeks. That is the mess we have now. It is not possible to restore regular order 1/3 or 1/2 of the way through a fiscal year. Budget committees need to hold hearings and agree on a budget resolution, the resolutions need to be voted on, appropriations committees need to hold hearings and develop appropriations bills, those bills need to be voted on, conference committees need to be formed and work out difference between House and Senate bills, those conference committee bills need to be voted on and sent to the President’s desk for signature … What is BS is the idea this can all be done in the space of a couple of weeks.
Not a couple of weeks, a couple of months. The idea that this HAS to take 7 months is just complete nonsense. There are areas of the budget that can be expedited because they are rather easy and non-partisan, or should be. I am thinking of items like National Endowment for the Humanities or other low hanging fruit. Other areas could take longer, I’ll grant you that. But could it be possible that some of these budget items have already been written similar to how Obamacare came out of thin air? Or just take what the Omnibus is and break it down into pieces and push those elements forward.
The simple fact is that the every thing you are arguing against–CRs, hurriedly cobbled together bills–is exactly what this is. And more to the point it is an example of not even trying to fight these people. Just put up a fight please. You are trying to outfox people who you are scared to death of and it just creates unforced errors, like conceding the 2015 fiscal year to people who had their chance to write the budget and chose not to.
Sun Tzu also said “He who is victorious is the one who engages spineless, feckless crapweasels who run at the first sign of a fight”. Or something like that. Or maybe I pulled that quote out of my Gruber.
Just the steps needed to properly negotiate and pass a budget resolution take months, not weeks. You are expecting the necessary committees (both budget and appropriations) to deal with two fiscal years simultaneously, the remainder of FY 2015 (which should have been completed NLT September of this) and FY 2016 for which the new Congress will be responsible. Some of these committees in the House , such as Budget, will have new chairmen and all the Senate committees will have new chairmen and staffs.
The idea here is to clear the deck and allow the new Congress to do what it was elected to do properly. You can have the process done quickly or you can have it done properly but not both. I vote for properly.
I’m sorry I thought the House has been run by the GOP since 2011. Where were these committee processes you speak of last January through now? Don’t they set the schedule for the House or have they said to hell with that too? Why wasn’t all of this which you speak of already done? I know that they didn’t have a good partner in the Senate, but why wasn’t all of this done prior to? At the least this could have been done and then all you have to do is wait for the Senate to change hands. Something other than the crap sandwich we are being fed could have been done had we had the leadership that I wish we had instead of John “Cry Me a River” Boehner.
And where did this CRomnibus come from? Seems to me that it just simply materialized out of thin air after the election.
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I’m sorry I thought the House has been run by the GOP since 2011. Where were these committee processes you speak of last January through now? Don’t they set the schedule for the House or have they said to hell with that too? Why wasn’t all of this which you speak of already done? I know that they didn’t have a good partner in the Senate, but why wasn’t all of this done prior to? At the least this could have been done and then all you have to do is wait for the Senate to change hands. Something other than the crap sandwich we are being fed could have been done had we had the leadership that I wish we had instead of John “Cry Me a River” Boehner.
My understanding is quite a bit of it was done in the House but not the Senate and what was done in the House was done so on the basis of the Murray-Ryan budget compromise. I would prefer that not be the basis going forward so we are left with starting from scratch again, new budget resolution, new appropriations, …
Regardless of what te House may have done, I thought the idea behind waiting for the new Congress was to allow the new GOP majority Senate to have a role. Would you expect them to simply rubber stamp whatever came out of the House or for them to hold hearings and have proposals of their own?
I thought I would also respond to you here. I think you make a lot of great points, and I am not arguing that we had to pass this bill to avoid a shutdown. In fact, I was on Ted Cruz’s side last year.
So then, at least in regard to the House, this could be done in a few months?!! The Senate’s role could begin immediately after being sworn in. Seems to me that the budgetary process was half way finished. And to throw more cold water on your “this takes time” defense, the current CRomnibus only gets DHS to February, meaning they will have to do exactly what I am talking about doing for the entire budget for one department, meaning it could be done for other big ticket areas of the government, oh say like Obamacare. The more that comes out about what happened last night and the past couple of days, the more holes form in your defense of what has happened.
I used to share your optimism but the behavior of the GOP leadership over this CR has finally disabused me of it. This latest fiasco also included a ton of goodies for the porksters as well as for the leadership’s paymasters in the corporate world. I say this as someone who spent most of his career working for large companies – I enjoyed the experience and these companies contribute a lot to the well-being of everyone but if you think that politically they are interested in anything other than their immediate short-term interest you are delusional. The CEOs of large companies are not philosopher-kings and will turn on the GOP in a minute when it suits their needs. And it’s even worse with the financial services and high-tech industries. Most of them are progressives who only deal with the GOP when they need it to protect their own money.
Yes, perhaps budgeting will get back on a proper schedule but if you think the substance of what is in the budget will improve forgetaboutit. Next summer and fall the excuse will be “we’re coming into the 2016 election cycle, we can’t afford to be confrontational”. There’s nothing new about this. Remember the GOP leadership from the first six years of the Bush Administration? They spent like drunken sailors.
And by the way the GOP leadership will do nothing effective about Obama’s immigration moves apart from some purely symbolic gestures meant to distract us because, in truth, they support the President.
At this point we all need to CTFD and wait until June 2016 or so to see what kind of track record the GOP leadership establishes.
I’m not optimistic it’ll be a good one, but I’m taking a wait and see approach.
The House can do nothing on its own. If you wait until the new Congress, new bills have to be passed in the House as well as the Senate. Those bills would still need to go through conference committees and then to the President for signature.
Funding DHS for the rest of the year does not require a new budget resolution, I believe the idea is to fund the agency on the basis of the operative budget while attaching riders dealing with the president’s executive action.
I am afraid you simply do not understand the process you are complaining about.
Such as?
We shall see.
Perhaps you remember the Bush years differently than I.
Again, we shall see.
The Republicans appear to run on ‘principles’ and rule as Quislings, what a shock. No wonder the principled population is apathetic, what, or who do, they look to for leadership? Certainly not the likes of John Boehner.
Okay so they have to pass new bills. Well just pass the ones that they already passed in the House over the course of 2014. If they passed once in the House, they would do so again. I agree with you that the Senate would have to start from scratch, but the process there is slightly different from the House. It is not a Herculean task. You think I don’t know the process but I know it all too well. All of this Bull you are pulling out of your nether regions is a microcosm of the GOP leadership. Excuse after excuse after excuse after damned excuse as to why they will not confront the radical Left in the Democrat Party. It is a loser mentality.
You have a lot of faith in these guys I see. Are you more interested in beating Dems in elections or in restoring the country back to at least a semblance of a republic? Oh and the first term of GWBush saw non-defense spending increase 33% over Clinton’s last budget, so they may not have been drunken sailors but they had a pretty good buzz going. Medicare Part D stands out in my mind in case you have forgotten.
I do not believe you do understand the process, if you did you would not be insisting it can be completed in a matter of weeks. What you call an excuse, I see as a reason and a reasonable one at that. You seem to want to fight more than you want to accomplish something. Fighting for the sake of fighting is pointless.
I am realistic. I do not believe we can accomplish anything with regard to restoring the country without winning elections. I do not believe you win elections by fighting battles you cannot win and which alienate a large segment of the population.
I remember the Bush years as those in which the size of government relative to the economy was smaller than those of his 3 immediate predecessors, same with taxation. I also recall the budget deficit for the last year of GOP control only being about what the wars were costing. I am a fan of Medicare Part D, it is a market oriented program that has saved the Treasury money by allowing Medicare recipients to deal with illness through relatively inexpensive drugs compared to covered procedures.
Who is saying weeks? You are insisting that I said something that I did not. The new Congress starts in the first week of January right? I have said that they could have CR’d until 1 March. By my measure that is just shy of two months. This can be done in a couple of months especially since the House already has the bills, just pass them and the Senate’s process for producing a budget is different from how the house does it. Not to mention both chambers would be on the same side, ostensibly, so there shouldn’t be all that much deviation from the two budgets.