 |
| Graphic via Politics with Jarred and Dave |
As Time Magazine points out, the GOP shutdown of the government for 16 days cost taxpayers $24 billion.
And they think THEY are the party of fiscal responsibility???
GOP Shutdown costs taxpayers $24 billion
$24 billion later…
Just hours after passing in Congress, President Obama signed legislation that reopened the government and extended the debt limit.
The GOP-dominated House passed the measure 285-144, with 87 Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The Senate passed it 81-18. In both chambers, only Republicans voted against the measure.
At the end of it all, the 16 day debacle cost the American people an estimated $26 billion and concerned jittery markets all over the world.
While concern was spread throughout the country and the world, it was disconcerting to me to see news reports and even Facebook posts by extreme right-wing believers who kept the message of “hold out, Ted Cruz, hold out!” Disconcerting because instead of fervor based on anything concrete, the clamor for anarchy was steeped more in a blind, uninformed rage against a President that some Americans have been taught to hate. Any and everything he may achieve is seen as an evil. But, if you ask these “patriots” to explain why they feel the way they do, very few have any specifics to point to. They have just “heard” it’s all bad.
I believe this country has to rein in spending. I do. But bringing the country to the brink of serious – and I mean SERIOUS – calamity isn’t “patriotism.”
Or “fervor.”
It’s just reckless.
(source)
Houston Chronicle regrets endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz
From the Houston Chronicle:
Does anyone else miss Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison? We’re not sure how much difference one person could make in the toxic, chaotic, hyperpartisan atmosphere in Washington, but if we could choose just one it would be Hutchison, whose years of service in the Senate were marked by two things sorely lacking in her successor, Ted Cruz.
When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November’s general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation – that he follow Hutchison’s example in his conduct as a senator. Obviously, he has not done so.
Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution. We feel certain she would have worked shoulder to shoulder with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in crafting a workable solution that likely would have avoided the government shutdown altogether.
But we’ll never know.
Government Shutdown – down to the wire
• The Dow Jones Industrial closed 133 points down as hope for progress in Congress bubbled and then waned Tuesday. After markets closed, Fitch Ratings put the United States on “rating watch negative,” signaling that it could downgrade the country’s current AAA rating if the debt limit is not raised.
• Key Senate leaders have resumed their on-again off-again talks after putting the negotiations on ice early Tuesday. By late Tuesday, ongoing talks between Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to be down to the dotting of I’s and the crossing of T’s. Senate rules could still allow Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz or other dissenters to slow the consideration of the bill until after the Thursday deadline.
• Republican House Speaker John Boehner and House leaders abruptly pulled a bill from consideration that would have reopened the government until December and lifted the debt ceiling until January. That measure failed to garner support from conservatives who wanted more health care-related concessions from Democrats, so Boehner nixed a Tuesday evening vote rather than face a damaging failure on the House floor. Boehner may need to put the Senate-passed legislation on the House floor and look for Democratic House votes to get it through.
• “My expectation is it does get solved but we don’t have a lot of time,” President Obama said in an interview Tuesday with WABC. “What I’m suggesting to the congressional leaders is let’s not do any posturing, let’s not try to save face, let’s not worry about politics. Do what’s right.”
Senate leaders “optimistic” about shutdown/debt limit agreement
Very polite and positive.
Fingers crossed, kids.
Audra McDonald sings Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”
Stephen Colbert’s Government Shutdown Wedding of the Century
After Colbert pronounced the couple husband and wife – “by the power vested in me by the state of New York and the entire Viacom family of entertainment networks,”
And for the first dance, the couple was serenaded by five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald singing Billy Idol’s White Wedding.
Legit performances of pop songs always get me. And when you can deliver like Audra, it’s just a comedy home run.
Republicans probably don’t want you to know they changed this rule
Late in the evening on September 30, 2013, the House Rules Committee Republicans changed the Rules of the House so that the ONLY Member allowed to call up the Senate’s clean CR for a vote was Majority Leader Eric Cantor or his designee — all but guaranteeing the government would shut down a few hours later and would stay shut down.
Previously, any Member would have had the right to bring the CR up for a vote.
Democracy has been suspended in the House of Representatives.
Things that make you go “hmm…”
More bad news for GOP in NBC/WSJ poll
Bad news for the GOP in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.
Not only has the GOP reached it’s all-time low “Favorable” rating in regard to the entire history of this poll, but President Obama’s numbers have risen as well as the approval of Obamacare:
* 70% of Americans disapprove of the way in which GOP lawmakers are doing their jobs. Republicans unfavorable number are the lowest in the history of the poll.
* 53% majority blame congressional Republicans for the current government shutdown. Less than a third (31%) blame the president.
* 38% of Americans see Obamacare favorably, up from last month’s 31%
* In terms of a generic ballot, Democrats enjoy an eight-point advantage in the congressional midterm elections (47% to 39%), as compared to a three-point advantage last month (46% to 43%).
* By a 52% to 44% margin, Americans believe the government should do more, not less, to solve problems. In June, the results were evenly split.
More at NBC News
President Obama to Boehner: Put the shutdown up for a clean vote
From USA Today: President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner held separate news conferences and made sharply worded statements about the budget impasse and the looming Oct. 17 deadline when the nation reaches its debt limit.
Obama insisted that he’s “not budging” on his insistence that congressional Republicans raise the borrowing authority and pass a bill to fund the government — both without any restrictions. Boehner rejected what he considers Obama’s call for “unconditional surrender.”
Anderson Cooper shuts down GOP congressman who accuses him of bias
CNN’s Anderson Cooper was not having it when Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho on Monday insinuated that Cooper is biased against Republicans.
Cooper asked the Republican why the House won’t allow a vote on a clean CR to “see” if it would pass. Labrador insisted there are not enough votes to pass the bill.
When Labrador practically accused Cooper of doing the bidding of the Democrats, Cooper was quick to refute the allegation.
“All of a sudden, just because you don’t like the fact that the Republicans are in control of the House of Representatives, you want to make sure that the Republicans actually pass the Democrat’s–” Labrador began before being interrupted.
“I don’t have a stake in this,” he said. “This is the way it works in journalism. When you’re not on Fox News, you get contentious interviews. When you’re not on MSNBC and a liberal, you get contentious interviews. My job is to ask you questions that are different than you think, just as my next guest, who’s a Democrat, I’m gonna ask the same kinds of questions… that’s what a journalist does.”
(source)