Shutdown!

[Howey]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021904121.html

The prospect of a government shutdown appeared more possible Saturday after the House passed a budget measure in the pre-dawn hours that cuts $61 billion - and was immediately rejected by Senate Democrats and President Obama.

The House plan, which was approved on a party-line vote at 4:40 a.m. after five days of debate, eliminates dozens of programs and offices while slashing agency budgets by as much as 40 percent. Federal funding for AmeriCorps and PBS would cease. Hundreds of millions would be cut from border security, and tens of millions would be withheld from funding for the District of Columbia.

The debate over the size and scope of the government now moves to the Senate, where leaders have already said that the House plan cuts way too deep and that they are planning a far more modest proposal. But with the Senate out of session all next week, senators have left themselves just a few days to take up a bill before March 4, when the stop-gap measure that is currently funding the government expires.

Given the tight time frame, it's unlikely the two chambers can agree on a compromise. If they don't, the government will either shut down or congressional leaders will have to agree on another temporary measure, perhaps for as little as a couple of weeks.

The last time this happened was disastrous - not only for the people who were directly or indirectly affected by it - but for the Republicans.

Why would the let this happen again and destroy recent "successes"?

[ekg]

The Reps are banking on the Obama hate to get them thru this new shutdown.. they know Obama's isn't as 'charming' as Clinton and they know that they already have a loon fringe that loathes him to the point where senators are actually saying he's not the country's leader..So they bank on being able to win the shutdown... they've spent his entire presidency marginalizing and de-legitimizing him.. and it will all pay off soon..because I think they can win the shutdown..

they shouldn't, but they will..

Clinton didn't have to deal with Drudge back then like Obama has to deal with him, not too mention Fox. With Olbermann gone there really isn't the voice at MSNBC like there was so there is simply no counter to the "It's all the Kenyan,Muslim,socialists  fault" bullshit..

anyway I still support the D's to go shutdown if they have to.. 

on a funny note, was reading the comments on something yesterday and read the funniest play on names ever!!!  Piglosi.. HA!

[lil mike]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021904121.html
 

The last time this happened was disastrous - not only for the people who were directly or indirectly affected by it - but for the Republicans.

Why would the let this happen again and destroy recent "successes"?

The "shutdown" would only happen if either the Senate couldn't pass the budget when they get it it (or it gets tangled up in conference) or the bill hit the President's desk and he vetoed it.  Either way it's on the Dems if that happens. The House has already passed the budget.

But that was the same situation in 1995.  Clinton vetoed the budget, but with help from Gingrich, he was able to spin it as a Republican thing, successfully.  It knocked the wind out of the Republican house.  Some things are the same as then.  Like the  fawning press that will play the shutdown however the administration wants, like they did in 1995.  Of course, in 1995 there wasn't much choice to Big Media.  This time around, there is.  People have more options than what the establishment wants you to hear so the public may not go along the same way that they did in 95.

The Tucson shooting?  15 years ago the polls would have reflected the media spin that it was a Tea Party-Palin hit job.  Instead the polls showed that people just didn't buy it.

So if the administration thinks that going for the shut down is a sure thing to help them... well, I don't think it's a sure thing this time.

[Howey]

The "shutdown" would only happen if either the Senate couldn't pass the budget when they get it it (or it gets tangled up in conference) or the bill hit the President's desk and he vetoed it.  Either way it's on the Dems if that happens. The House has already passed the budget.

Just like Wisconsin, the Dem's are willing to compromise to pass the budget. The Republicans are unwilling, hell refusing! to compromise at all. Just like our very own Gov. Binks who told the state Senate leader: "Just pass it".

Too many people now are beginning to see the errors of the past election cycle. They will not listen to the Republican/Teabagger excuses as to why the government shut down.

Especially the old folks dependent on their Social Security. The shit will hit the fan when their checks don't show up.

[ekg]

eh, a shutdown won't be that bad.. just listen to Presidential hopeful Huckabee..

It's not like it will be 'draconian' or anything..

former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee thinks that the government will eventually have to shut down but it won’t be that bad this time around.

“It’s a very different environment this time, he told CBS Tuesday. “I think first of all, a lot of the things that were shut down were automated –like Social Security checks and Veterans checks — so it’s not going to be as draconian, if it does happen.”

“I think it could happen. And maybe it has to,” he explained. “Because sometime, either now or later, the government’s going to shut down, either from bankruptcy in the future, or from a targeted effect to try to get someone’s attention that we’re overspending and not managing at all.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/02/huckabee-government-shutdown-wouldnt-be-that-bad/

and there you go.. maybe it has to.... from a targeted effect..  sounds like that's the plan..

the biggest question I have is, will we actually see Bachman,Palin,Hannity,Rush,Demint and the Tea party cheering and happy tweeting? or do they know enough to keep that kind of thing under wraps?

[Howey]

Reid comes up with a compromise bill to keep the government running for 30 days. A bill that actually follows the guidelines of the GOP (spending less than Obama's budget).

What does the GOP say? Nope!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/22/948442/-House-GOP-refuses-Reid-proposal-to-keep-government-open-during-negotiations

Cantor's complaint is that Reid's proposal wouldn't result in immediate cuts. True, but in freezing spending, it does represent a cut from President Obama's budget request, which is the same baseline Republicans use when they claim $100 billion in cuts. But the more important point is that the whole idea of Reid's proposal is to give the House and Senate time to negotiate a final spending bill without shutting down the government.

In rejecting Reid's offer, Cantor is saying Republicans won't sit down at the table with Democrats unless Democrats cave before negotiations begin. That's an absurd position to take. And if Republicans don't show some flexibility—and show it fast—come March 4 they will be responsible for shutting down the federal government.

Same-ol', Same-ol' "Just pass it" bullshit.
.

[lil mike]

Reid comes up with a compromise bill to keep the government running for 30 days. A bill that actually follows the guidelines of the GOP (spending less than Obama's budget).

What does the GOP say? Nope!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/22/948442/-House-GOP-refuses-Reid-proposal-to-keep-government-open-during-negotiations

Same-ol', Same-ol' "Just pass it" bullshit.
.

I would have said no too.  It's just a continuing resolution with no cuts.  It's a stall  tactic.  If the dems don't want to vote for it in the senate, let them take a road trip.  It seems to be all the rage when you can't vote present!

[Howey]

I would have said no too.  It's just a continuing resolution with no cuts.  It's a stall  tactic.  If the dems don't want to vote for it in the senate, let them take a road trip.  It seems to be all the rage when you can't vote present!

Which is it? A "continuing resolution" or a "stall tactic". My understanding is these "continuing resolutions" have been par for the course in decades of negotiation. Except, of course, 1995. And we all know what a debacle that was for the Republicans.

Was it a "stall tactic" in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005? Or was it a "continuing resolution"?

[ekg]

Which is it? A "continuing resolution" or a "stall tactic". My understanding is these "continuing resolutions" have been par for the course in decades of negotiation. Except, of course, 1995. And we all know what a debacle that was for the Republicans.

Was it a "stall tactic" in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005? Or was it a "continuing resolution"?

der, it was just good  politics...fiscal, ya know..

[lil mike]

Which is it? A "continuing resolution" or a "stall tactic". My understanding is these "continuing resolutions" have been par for the course in decades of negotiation. Except, of course, 1995. And we all know what a debacle that was for the Republicans.

Was it a "stall tactic" in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005? Or was it a "continuing resolution"?

I assume you are aware that the budget we are talking about is the 2011 fiscal year which began September 1, 2010.  So we have been under various continuing resolutions for almost 6 months; half the fiscal year!  So yes when you are half way through the year for the budget you have not even passed yet, it's a stall tactic.

[betteroffhere]

i thought this was gonna be about the show Two and a Half Men....


boy was i wrong...


carry on...

[Howey]

i thought this was gonna be about the show Two and a Half Men....


boy was i wrong...


carry on...

hah!

[Howey]

The Republicans capitulate...I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022506943.html

The threat of a government shutdown receded Friday, as Senate Democrats tentatively embraced a Republican plan to immediately cut $4 billion in federal spending by targeting programs that President Obama has already marked for elimination.

[lil mike]

The Republicans capitulate...I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022506943.html
 

The Republicans capitulate?  And then you quote this:  The threat of a government shutdown receded Friday, as Senate Democrats tentatively embraced a Republican plan to immediately cut $4 billion in federal spending by targeting programs that President Obama has already marked for elimination.



So the Republicans had already said they wouldn't accept a continuing resolution that didn't have cuts, Reid said a continuing resolution with no cuts only, and the "compromise" is a brief continuing resolution... with cuts.

Now to me, this looks like a Republican win and the dems capitulated.  So are you just spinning like crazy or have you really twisted this around in your head as a Republican defeat?  I honestly can't tell.

[Howey]

The Republicans capitulate?  And then you quote this:  The threat of a government shutdown receded Friday, as Senate Democrats tentatively embraced a Republican plan to immediately cut $4 billion in federal spending by targeting programs that President Obama has already marked for elimination.



So the Republicans had already said they wouldn't accept a continuing resolution that didn't have cuts, Reid said a continuing resolution with no cuts only, and the "compromise" is a brief continuing resolution... with cuts.

Now to me, this looks like a Republican win and the dems capitulated.  So are you just spinning like crazy or have you really twisted this around in your head as a Republican defeat?  I honestly can't tell.

I knew you'd like that! This is the funny part:

a Republican plan to immediately cut $4 billion in federal spending by targeting programs that President Obama has already marked for elimination

Harry Reid: “The plan Republicans are floating today sounds like a modified version of what Democrats were talking about. We’re glad they think it’s a good idea, but we should keep our focus on what we need to do to cut spending and keep our economy growing in the long term,”

Charles Schumer: "They feared a government shutdown, and so they are adopting some of our suggestions on what to cut."

The programs cut included some Obama didn't want or see necessary any more, duplications, and so on....