The dirty little secret in Washington: the looming shutdown isn't an accident.

[babylonsister]

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/30/20756914-how-congress-reached-this-point?lite

How Congress reached this point
By Steve Benen
-
Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:01 AM EDT


snip//

In the early spring, both the House and Senate approved competing budget resolutions, and under the American system of government, both sides were supposed to go to a conference committee to hash out the differences. This year, Republicans refused. Consider this Washington Post piece from early May, which is all the more amazing nearly five months later.

{The shrinking deficit} might seem like good news, but it is unraveling Republican plans to force a budget deal before Congress takes its August break. Instead, the fiscal fight appears certain to bleed into the fall, when policymakers will face another multi-pronged crisis that pairs the need for a higher debt limit and the fresh risk of default with the threat of a full-scale government shutdown, which is also looming Oct. 1.

In the meantime, Republicans face a listless summer, with little appetite for compromise but no leverage to shape an agreement. Without that leverage, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday, there is no point in opening formal budget negotiations between the House and the Senate, because Democrats have no reason to consider the kind of far-reaching changes to Medicare and the U.S. tax code that Republicans see as fundamental building blocks of a deal.

This is critically important to understanding what's happening on Capitol Hill right now. If the House and Senate had gone to a conference committee back in the spring to work out their budget differences, Republicans would have been expected to compromise to reach a broader agreement -- but Republicans don't want to compromise.

So they decided to abandon the budget process they themselves had asked for so they could do precisely what they're doing now -- use extortion instead of compromise to try to get what they want.

The government may shut down in 15 hours, but it's not an accident. Indeed, it could have been easily avoided if Congress had just done what Congresses are supposed to do when the House and Senate disagree on the budget. But Republicans insisted on this confrontation, hoping that if they just threatened enough harm, maybe Democrats would put aside the election results and meet some or all of the GOP's demands.

There is a process already in place that's intended to prevent disasters like these. House Republicans deliberately rejected it because they wanted a crisis, assuming it would give them "leverage" so they wouldn't have to compromise at all.

I imagine there are quite a few Americans waking up this morning thinking, "Wait, the government is about to shut down?" What they don't appreciate is the fact that GOP lawmakers always intended for this to happen, and set this plan in motion months ago.

[Andy823]

1. K&R

Good article, and it shows just how much these people hate the president, and the country. They won't do their job, no they only want to play games, like now, in order to extract what "they" want, and to hell with what happens to this country. These "terrorists" have to be voted out of office next year, and that should be the goal of every democrat, liberal, and progressive in this country! We don't need these kind of "terrorists" destroying our country!

[pangaia]

29. You know, I've thought about this idea that

the repubs or the demos 'hate the country.' I don't think this is at a;; true.
This doesn't mean I don't agree with everything else you say.
But-- repubs have been using this phrase for. god knows how long. And now, well maybe recently . 'we' have started using the same phrase.
I don't think we should use that phrase about them because I don't think it is true. They don't hate the country. They just don't give a shit.

So lets make that the new-- phrase. A bumper sticker, perhaps.
Republicans don't hate the country. They just don't give a shit.

[olegramps]

41. What Republicans hate is any program that assists the Middle Class.

Their sole objective is to destroy the Middle Class and return them to pre-Roosevelt peons.

[MythosMaster]

48. Farther back than that...

takes us back to the Gilded Age...

[KayJay503]

36. "GOP lawmakers always intended for this to happen, and set this plan in motion months ago."

The GOP set this plan in motion in 2010. There are many video interviews after the 2010 mid-term election where GOP/Tea Partiers said that shutting down the government was their goal.

[cui bono]

2. This is important to know.

Thanks for posting.

[gopiscrap]

20. I agree

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. this should be highlighted in EVERY nightly news report and newspaper headline

but of course...it won't because all of those corporations get advertising from big insurance that is trying and flailing to get their flacks to shut down Obamacare.

Love to watch these little shit stains lose.

[november3rd]

47. The Program Directors Won't Highlight It

Most stations' and networks' big advertisers are major GOP donors. They don't want to sponsor news programs that implicate the GOP in any monkey business. That's why you get the "he said--she said" baloney.

[Rex]

4. Playing with their voters purse strings during an economic depression

oh this should go well for them. NOT. Sadly, this is going to hurt everyone across the board. The GOP is the lowest of the low...all because of the POTUS's skin color imo.

I can think of no other irrational reason. Guess they can look forward to sitting out the next few election cycles.

[IrishAyes]

8. President Obama's charming good looks definitely draws Rethug ire, but

I don't believe that's the main stick in their craw. It wouldn't matter if a Democratic president were albino; the GOP has been on a greed-maddened mission of destruction ever since FDR at least. If they truly loved this country as they falsely claim, they would have more faith in We the People to live in peace, harmony, security and plenty. As it is, they worship ONLY $ and power, so anyone not under their boot heel presents a danger to them. They're terrified if they don't grab everything in sight, someone will take away some (or all!) of what they do have. In other words, they're souless, craven cowards.

If they've read any history at all, they have now caused enough destruction to earn the devastating end that history will eventually grant them. As for me, I say it can't come a moment too soon. They're the most contemptible bunch of wretches to darken the sun in ages.

[Rex]

12. I would have never believed it either, but after we went ahead and elected

the POTUS I watched people let their inner racist out and from some people that I would have never thought racist. I had to re-evaluate just how racist this country is...since I formerly believed it was in decline. I hold no such belief now. The past two terms has really opened my eyes.

I live in south Texas and that does have a lot to do with it, but the out and out racism is off the charts...at least in my 42 years of life. People I respected, I've lost all respect for because they wouldn't vote for a black man. Flat out refused to the point of stomping their foot and crying.

[IrishAyes]

18. It's the same across the country, anywhere with rednecks

Here in the Midwest, during the worst of the recession, I've had people in this poverty pocket refuse good money to do big jobs around my house, including one giant dead tree removal quoted at $2K - and I'm not paranoid. They told me to my face, with a great air of superiority, that they wouldn't do anything for an Obama supporter. I was literally ordered out of a local store at top volume even though I wasn't wearing Obama gear at the time. Oh well, I had only gone there to suggest to one of the employees (the owners' daughter) that she might want to pay what she owed me rather than face me in small claims court. It's not like it was a place I need or want to shop.

BTW, I damn well got my $ too. The next time I showed up at rush hour and asked the woman in front of God and everybody whether she preferred to pay up or go to court. The owner dad angrily paid me in cash and then threatened to sue ME if I ever darkened his door again. I left laughing. They don't know I once worked as a process server in L.A. where it can really get dangerous. But I do recognize an achilles' heel with ease, and I can generally reach my goal. People don't like their opponent showing up at high noon with the greatest # of witnesses possible. It's the safest and most effective hour for a petitioner to show up.

Yes, I'm a little old lady now. But I haven't forgotten how to have fun.

[Auntie Bush]

30. Good for you

from another little old lady.

[Rex]

37. Good for you!

I hear ya, these poor souls run around saying Marxist Obama and then in the same breath Fascist Obama then whatever Foxnews says to them for the next days thoughts.

The worst around here is pulling up a political sign or two out of yards, (maybe tactical doggy doo in the AM) thought most of those are actually neighbor mad at neighbor over local offices. Got some downright feuds that get nasty.

Of course with them, the POTUS is on par with Iran and the Commies still under the beds (you know some of them had to never got caught).

[olegramps]

42. Amen!

[Cha]

5. Of course they did. :(

thanks babylonsistah

[G_j]

6. well..well

that IS interesting!

[spanone]

7. k&r...

[Mc Mike]

9. Steve B. is a great writer, and very prolific.

Thanks for posting. bab.

[DallasNE]

10. Extortion Is The Only Card The Republicans Have To Play

They can't use a business case to support their goals because none exists. If there was a business case to delay the implementation of Obamacare you can be sure the insurance companies would be all over the airwave calling for a delay. They will, in fact, be hurt by a delay because it will delay their anticipated revenue stream. They have also staffed up for an October 1st roll-out but those people are no longer needed and will be let go only to attempt to staff up again next year but without any certainty that Republicans would not again throw a monkey wrench into the works. It is being too kind to say that what the Republicans are attempting to pull off here is idiotic. And, frankly, I don't even understand the political case for this gambit. It is a classic lose-lose situation for Republicans.

[2naSalit]

31. Actually

the Oct 1 roll out will happen no matter what the clowns in the temper tantrum squad do as the funding for the ACA is not in the discretionary budget, that funding is guaranteed and set in motion, the shut down has no affect on that. It's here as of midnight... no ifs, ands or buts. So those people the insurance companies have assembled aren't being sent home because there is nothing short of an apocalypse that will stop it now.

There is no case except for the childish desperation of a small faction who want it all and are now resorting to political terrorism to get their way like the spoiled rotten shits that they are.

[SunSeeker]

11. K & R

[Cali_Democrat]

13. And there it is in a nutshell

There is already a process to resolve differences between the two chambers of Congress.

Republicans blocked this process months ago.

[graywarrior]

14. It's turned into a massive fundraising opportunity

[Blue State Bandit]

15. This synopsis is all net... from way outside the paint.

They're like bank robbers holding hostages, and throwing out the phone sent in by the negotiator.

[pnwmom]

16. Thanks. This is a great post. n/t

[Faryn Balyncd]

17. It it foolishness to "negotiate" with gangsters.

[Ilsa]

19. I think they'll use it to make money

in the stock market. First they sell. Then they short some stuff. Then they buy up. What a deal, to be able to predict market movements like this!

[quakerboy]

21. If this is a secret

then I'd hate to see how blatant something that was not secret would have to be. Anyone paying even a little tiny bit of attention at all knows this.

[babylonsister]

22. Bully for you. Just heard independents are split

on who to blame this mess on. Apparently not everyone is aware as you are.

[quakerboy]

33. Lotta people dont pay any attention at all.

Just watched a video clip where some guy was interviewing a whole bunch of people who didnt have a clue who Joe Biden was.

Doesn't make Joe Biden job status a secret. Just means they are horrifically uninformed.

[Jakes Progress]

23. The sequester and the shutdown were the goal.

Those that call the shots for the bottom feeders that make up most of the republican party office holders are getting exactly what they wanted. They don't give a damn about the Affordable Care Act. it is just the excuse they use to get the strangulation of government that they wanted all along.

There are monsters running the country.

[TroglodyteScholar]

24. Should be required reading... rec n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

25. SSDD

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. K&R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. Why doesn't Obama give them what they want?

You know,....President Romney.

[cntrygrl]

28. Frightened

My sister and I are on opposite isles as far as politics go. She is a staunch republican whereas I'm on the Dem side. There are two subjects that are taboo to us (or at least it should be) which always wind up with, "Okay, lets just agree to disagree and let it go."

She constantly sends out emails to all in her addy book before she researches for the truth. I reply with various links but she refuses to read them.

I don't mind if she has different feelings but to mass mail that crap is really disturbing. Many folks like her are followers, IMHO, and that is what bothers me the most.

[Tigress DEM]

38. Got into a fight with my son... Told him he has a right to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Said if his facts are wrong then his opinion is based on bs and is therefore bs.

He was trying to tell me that since 50% of blacks he's met are "whatever the stereotype was" that it means there is some truth to what Limpbaugh says. We happen to live in the inner city, so the concentration of problems is higher and skews just about any formula you want to apply. So I told him that Rush uses all this fear of the worst scenarios to paint that picture broadly where it becomes a huge panorama vs a limited fact in scope of other issues.

HIS F-I-L is a disgruntled DEM blaming Obama and my husband's brother is a staunch Libertarian these days. Works for the Post Office, but says the PO is to blame for it's own problems.

LOVE my family. Not so found of their crazy moments.


S'ok, they get some of mine now and then I just lose it and SOAP BOX big time.

[1StrongBlackMan]

40. Recommendation ...

when you reply to the emails, click "Reply All" ... she might not read the refuting links but there might be one or two on list serve that will.

[cntrygrl]

51. Doing that

1StrongBlackMan, I had started doing that. Her husband was super repub and all their friends are. Although she has all the time in the world to search for the facts I'm sorry to say she would rather stick with what her friends hold as truth. She's delusional and you can't talk reason even when provided with links to sites offering truth. So I throw my hands up and roll my eyes and chalk it up to hardheadedness. We both suffer with it. Our father passed it on to us. LOL

[blkmusclmachine]

32. BREAKING: Obama Appoints Another Romney Advisor to Social Security Catfood Commission:

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/30/obama-picks-romney-aide-who-knocked-his-social-security-plan-for-social-security-board/

[yourout]

35. Do you have to post this in EVERY thread?

Enough already.

[drynberg]

34. HERE'S AN IDEA

If these haters are so into hate, including the voters and kin that put these overpaid asshats in Congress, they should be shown the friggin' door without any nice "bye, bye", just shut the door in their faces and vote in better representatives.

[Uncle Joe]

39. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

[Dustlawyer]

43. They wanted this just like the Sequester! It was a price they are more than willing to pay to stamp

out those "Socialist" Meals on Wheels and the like which are tearing down the me first attitudes of good, selfish, shortsighted, Republicans. Republicants have made this country all it can be, for the 1% who deserve all of our tax money!

[Berlum]

44. k and r

thanks for posting

[Thav]

45. And they plan on continuing this ad naseum

because they cannot get everything they want and refuse to compromise to get anything done. Their modus operandi now is to wait until things become crises before doing anything about it so they can get the maximum effect.

Unfortunately, the maximum effect is making the US look like morons and crashing the national economy in the process. But hey, scorched earth tactics work in politics, right?

[riderinthestorm]

46. K&R nt

[grahamhgreen]

49. From a marketing standpoint, they're also trying to tarnish the rollout of Obamacare,

Note how it's secondary news to the shutdown.

Without the shutdown the news all week would be focused on Obamacare.

[cheapdate]

50. The situation is so transparent.

It's hard to make sense of the "mainstream conservative" perspective, but there is an undeniable consistency in their perverse, twisted, point of view.