Shutdown

[Gob]

Your system is fucking loopy...

The US government is bracing for a possible shutdown, as Republicans and Democrats in Congress remain deadlocked on a budget to continue its funding.

Agencies have begun making contingency plans ahead of the 1 October deadline to pass a new funding resolution.

The Senate has passed a bill to fund the government until 15 November.

But House Republicans have said they refuse to approve the bill without a provision to strip funding from President Barack Obama's health law.

The Senate is controlled by Mr Obama's Democratic party, while the Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives.

As a result, lawmakers are at a stalemate as the deadline approaches.

Government agencies have been selecting workers considered essential should funds stop flowing.

The looming shutdown is one of two fiscal crises facing the US government. On 17 October, the US treasury department's authority to borrow money to fund its debt obligations expires unless Congress approves a rise in the so-called debt ceiling.

On Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama urged House Republicans to pass the Senate's stopgap budget bill and to extend the debt limit, and demanded they not threaten to "burn the house down because you haven't gotten 100% of your way".

Mr Obama said if the nation were to default on its debt, it would have a "profound destabilising effect" on the world economy.

"Voting for the treasury to pay its bills is not a concession to me," he said. "No-one gets to hurt our economy... just because there are a couple of laws [they] don't like."

He described the healthcare law as "a done deal" and said the Republican-backed repeal effort was "not going to happen".

Mr Obama said the Senate had "acted responsibly" in passing the budget measure and that now it was up to Republicans in the House of Representatives "to do the same".

If the government does shut down on 1 October, as many as a third of its 2.1 million employees are expected to stop work - with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is resolved.

National parks and the Smithsonian museums in the nation's capital would close, pension and veterans' benefit cheques would be delayed, and visa and passport applications would be stymied.

Programmes deemed essential, such as air traffic control and food inspections, would continue.

The defence department has advised employees that uniformed members of the military will continue on "normal duty status", but "large numbers" of civilian workers will be told to stay home.

Last week, the US House of Representatives a bill that would maintain the US government's funding levels through 15 November but strip funding from Mr Obama's health law, known as Obamacare.

On Friday the Senate passed a version of the bill with the defunding provision removed 54-44, largely on party lines.

"The Senate has acted and we've done it with bipartisan co-operation. We've passed the only bill that can avert a government shutdown Monday night," Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid said.

The House is now expected to take up that bill at the weekend. Unless the two chambers can come to a consensus and pass a bill for Mr Obama to sign, the federal government will close on 1 October.

Analysts say House Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team are pushing for the chamber to approve the Senate-passed bill and move on to the debt limit fight next week.

But more conservative members of his restive Republican caucus object, hoping to use the threat of a shutdown as leverage to force a halt to Mr Obama's health law.

That law passed in 2010, was subsequently ruled constitutional by the US Supreme Court, and was a central issue in the 2012 presidential election won by Mr Obama.

After the Senate vote on Friday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz and two other conservative senators denounced the result and vowed to press on with their effort to get rid of Obamacare.

"This will not end here," Senator Marco Rubio told reporters.

Meanwhile, wrangling over the debt limit extension continues, with the Republicans seeking to win a series of major policy concessions by tying them to an increase.

On Thursday, the number-two Republican in the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, said the party would introduce a bill extending the debt ceiling for a year - but also delaying for a year major provisions of Mr Obama's health law.

While Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown in 2011, the high-stakes political wrangling has become especially chaotic.

Analysts point to infighting in the Republican Party caucuses in both the House and Senate.

Republican Senator John McCain told CBS News on Friday he had never seen such dysfunction in Congress in his three decades as a senator.

"We are dividing the Republican Party rather than attacking Democrats," he said.

[Gob]

US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has warned that his Democratic-led chamber will reject a House Republican bill to avert a government shutdown.

The White House says President Barack Obama would also veto the bill.

The Senate passed its own bill to fund government until 15 November - ahead of the 1 October shutdown deadline.

But House Republicans are refusing to support the measure without a provision to remove funding from President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

In a statement, Senator Reid said that "after weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one".

He added that Republican efforts to pass the House bill - that would delay the healthcare law for a year and repeal a tax on medical devices - were pointless.

[Lord Jim]

House Republicans gathered behind closed doors today in the basement of the Capitol for a rare Saturday strategy session. Booming applause and at least one lawmaker shouting, "Let's Roll," seemed to underscore the party's unified front.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-vo ... d=20409419

I wonder if anyone present at this gathering appreciated the irony of the use of the phrase, "Let's roll"...

"Let's roll" of course, is a phrase made famous by a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001...

He said it right before he and several others took over the plane and deliberately crashed it into the ground...

[Rick]

I guess they were insinuating that if their plan failed they would be the first to the scene of the wreck

[liberty]

I don’t want to see a US government shutdown, there are people in our country that we need to take care of, such as in nursing homes, and I believe that there is a simple way to avoid it: Simply pass a bill that covers the none controversial stuff and then later deal with the controversial.

[Crackpot]

you do realize that is exactly what the CR is don't you? a "Continuing Resolution" to continue funding the govt while everything gets worked out?

[liberty]

you do realize that is exactly what the CR is don't you? a "Continuing Resolution" to continue funding the govt while everything gets worked out?

The problem is that that the CR contains Obama Care and the Republicans will not accept OC therefore we have a deadlock. The way to get around that would be for each party to strip out a funding provision they consider controversial and pass the rest; that would get us pass this dead lock. They could then deal with the controversial later.


What I have against OC is that I don’t see how giving companies a monopoly would reduce cost unless the government is prepared to regulate the companies very tightly.

[dgs49]

I wish the debt ceiling thing would go away. The financial obligations are already written into the law so the Federal Government has to honor them. If they have to borrow money to do it, so what?

The fact that spending is out of control is another issue, but this periodic fighting about raising the debt ceiling is nothing but an irritation. Note above the Harry Reid says, "his Democratic-led chamber will reject a House Republican bill to avert a government shutdown," and the media will report that as Republican intransigence threatening a shutdown.

Divided government is a bitch, isn't it? The good thing is, nothing gets done.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Shut it down. Bills will still be paid. Defence, soc sec, liabilities will all be covered. Non essential employees will have to stay home. I would hate to be in that category and feel for them as I know unemployment. But IMHO, gov is too big and spends way too much money, money it does not have.

[Econoline]

To lighten up the topic a little...



Sorry, the topic put that song in my head and I just couldn't resist. (For oldr and anyone else who can't watch videos at work: that was the Beach Boys in concert in 1964.)

[Sue U]

That's funny, at another site, they were reminded of a different song entirely:

Cruz’s redefinition of “compromise” is only the latest in a whole string of Republican innovations in logic, including the claim that Democrats will be responsible for shutting down the government, that Green Eggs and Ham is a book about saying “no” until you get your way, and that shutting down the government to stop Obamacare is just like crashing Flight 93 to stop terrorism. For some reason, his call for Democrats to just be reasonable about this reminds us of a song:



[RawStory]

Read more at Wonkette

For those of you who can't/don't want to watch the video, the chorus pretty much sums it up:

All we want to do is eat your brain
We're not unreasonable
I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brain
We're at an impasse here
Maybe we can compromise

[Grim Reaper]

The fact that spending is out of control is another issue, but this periodic fighting about raising the debt ceiling is nothing but an irritation. Note above the Harry Reid says, "his Democratic-led chamber will reject a House Republican bill to avert a government shutdown," and the media will report that as Republican intransigence threatening a shutdown.

Probably because the Republican plan generally involves cutting services for the poor, making it harder for women to get abortions, and cutting taxes for the rich.

[Crackpot]

you do realize that is exactly what the CR is don't you? a "Continuing Resolution" to continue funding the govt while everything gets worked out?

The problem is that that the CR contains Obama Care and the Republicans will not accept OC therefore we have a deadlock. The way to get around that would be for each party to strip out a funding provision they consider controversial and pass the rest; that would get us pass this dead lock. They could then deal with the controversial later.


What I have against OC is that I don’t see how giving companies a monopoly would reduce cost unless the government is prepared to regulate the companies very tightly.

You mean letting one party selectively choose which laws it will fund and which laws it will not?

[Econoline]

Shut it down. Bills will still be paid. Defence, soc sec, liabilities will all be covered. Non essential employees will have to stay home. I would hate to be in that category and feel for them as I know unemployment. But IMHO, gov is too big and spends way too much money, money it does not have.

BTW...Employees whose jobs relate to national security—like military personnel—will still have to report to work, as will those who perform essential services like air traffic control, border patrol, law enforcement, banking oversight, and disaster assistance. But they won't be paid until after the shutdown is over. So they'll have to work; they just won't be able to pay their bills.

[Rick]

Whelp, they've started sending us home.

So far I haven't received a call, I'm keeping my eyes crossed

[rubato]

The other effect of the shutdown will be to hurt the economy further while it is still not recovered.



Yrs,
Rubato

[Econoline]

No, no, no...dgs, Jim and Long Run once explained how unemployment in the public sector doesn't hurt the economy because government employees aren't really employed anyway...

[Crackpot]

You went a little far there Econo

[Lord Jim]

No, no, no...dgs, Jim and Long Run once explained how unemployment in the public sector doesn't hurt the economy because government employees aren't really employed anyway...

I can hardly wait for you to come up with the quote where I said anything remotely resembling that....

[oldr_n_wsr]

Shut it down. Bills will still be paid. Defence, soc sec, liabilities will all be covered. Non essential employees will have to stay home. I would hate to be in that category and feel for them as I know unemployment. But IMHO, gov is too big and spends way too much money, money it does not have.

BTW...Employees whose jobs relate to national security—like military personnel—will still have to report to work, as will those who perform essential services like air traffic control, border patrol, law enforcement, banking oversight, and disaster assistance. But they won't be paid until after the shutdown is over. So they'll have to work; they just won't be able to pay their bills.

First I have to question the graph. On one axis it says Government Spending and on the other Goverment Growing. While they may be linked they are not the same. One can spend more on things already in place. That's just more government spending without growing. Also one can grow by creating new departments, hiring more people etc. which may or may not lead to more spending. So to me the graph just means the gov spent more money as it does not tell me what the money went towards.
And I don't care who spent the money when, the fed gov is too big IMO and spend too much money. We are 17 Trillion in debt and going to raise that ceiling and go further into debt. Mine and your kids and grandkids are going to be saddled with that and get nothing in return. That's money already owed. Republicans and Democrats are both to blame pretty much equally. None of those in any house (exec, house, senate) have our and the nations interest at heart. The only thing that matters to them is how they are getting theirs and how they position themselves for re-election.
As Timster says
Spit