Eye Recommend --- A New Government Shutdown Threat Emerges

A NEW GOVERNMENT-SHUTDOWN THREAT EMERGES, by Steve Benen --  http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/19/19562872-a-new-government-shutdown-threat-emerges?lite

Here we go again!

"Both the House and Senate have passed budget resolutions, which would ordinarily mean the two sides would begin the process of trying to find a compromise in something called a conference committee.  But that's not happening--Republicans have spent the last few months refusing to have negotiations.

With that in mind, Congress will soon need a temporary spending measure--a 'continuing resolution'--to keep the government's lights on until something can be worked out.  Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he'll oppose any stopgap measure unless Democrats agree to a spending bill that 'defunds Obamacare.'  In other words, Rubio would prefer a government shutdown to a functioning federal health care system." 

This is the man who is supposed to save the Republican Party?  And where is the leadership that Speaker of the House John Boehner is supposed to represent?

"This argument is apparently en vogue on the far-right--Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Iowa) traveled to Iowa this week, where he said he'll also oppose funding unless the Affordable Care Act is 'fully' defunded...

...Look, there's obviously no realistic way Democrats are going to say, 'To prevent a government shutdown, we give up--it took us 100 years of work to get health care reform done, and it's making a huge difference in the lives of countless American families, but we've decided to trash the whole thing to make the GOP happy.' This just isn't going to happen.  Even the most unhinged congressional loon realizes this is unrealistic."

And yet, Republicans continue to spout this clap-trap and the far-right keeps lapping it up. 

Marketplace.org estimated that it costs $2 million a day to pay the salaries and office costs for members of the House and their staffs--and the House has now spent 39 days voting to repeal the ACA and not one hour working with Democrats and their fellow Republicans in the Senate. That's an incredible amount of money wasted on votes that are nothing but symbolic fodder for far right pundits and an enormous deficit of funds spent on compromising to keep the government running.  That's an unfathomable amount of childish pique.

The ACA is not going away.  It is not going to be repealed.  And threatening to close down the government unless you get what you want is not the way to lead. 

I've said it before:  You can't govern in reverse; there can be no progress if you continue to face backwards.  Eventually someone is simply going to move you out of the way.