Quick Fact: The U.S. House - Where Accomplishing Nothing Earns You An Extra Day Off

This is an addendum to yesterday's post -- Deja Vu Governing: Another Fiscal Year Ends, Another Budget Crisis Looms -- http://whateyethynk-politics.blogspot.com/2013/09/deja-vu-governing-another-fiscal-year.html

As expected, House Republicans rejected Speaker Boehner's proposal to send a two part spending bill to the Senate. The first part, aimed at reducing the deficit, would have continued funding the country at current sequester levels, a proposal that may or may not have passed the Senate.  The second part was yet another attempt to repeal the ACA, which the Senate would have assuredly rejected.  The Speaker's proposal was a back door chance to keep the country running without requiring Republicans to actually work with Democrats on a real budget.  But Tea Party conservative members of the House refused to approve any spending bill--no matter its origin--if defunding the ACA was not part of the main bill.  An amendment that could be considered separately, as Mr. Boehner proposed, was deemed a compromise and thus totally unacceptable.  

We are seeing a Republican party divided against itself.   One faction refuses to consider anything but the complete elimination of the ACA while the other insists that any budget must focus on deficit reduction. No one will acknowledge that the deficit has already dropped from $1.1 trillion in September 2012 to its current level of $755.8 billion.  No one will acknowledge that any bill defunding the ACA has zero chance of passing in the Senate.

So, after having just returned to Washington following a four week hiatus, with time running out and no solution in sight, the House decided they needed a break and adjourned early today. Those four and a half post-vacation work days must have been exhausting.  And did I mention that they have scheduled another entire week off beginning September 23rd?  This leaves five days to get our budget conundrum worked out...or less depending on how tired the House is next Friday afternoon.

Mr. Boehner, giving no indication that he knows what to do next and unable to rally his troops into any kind of cohesiveness, decided to blame the problem on the White House.  "It's time for the president's party to show the courage to work with us to solve this problem."

Only a coward, when he finds himself sinking in a quagmire of his own creation, would blame it on someone else.