Eye Recommend --- Boehner Says He'd Allow Homeland Security Shutdown

BOEHNER SAYS HE'D ALLOW HOMELAND SECURITY SHUTDOWN, by Jeremy W. Peters --
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/us/politics/john-boehner-says-hed-allow-homeland-security-shutdown.html?_r=0

Because the security of the United States is only important when the GOP says it is; and right now, as always, demonstrating their enmity for this President trumps all.

"The House speaker, John A. Boehner, said Sunday that he was 'certainly' prepared to allow funding for the Department of Homeland Security to lapse, raising the possibility that one of the government's largest and most vital agencies could shut down at the end of the month. 

Coming just two months after Republicans gained full control of Congress, a shutdown would be a major political problem as the party tries to honor a vow to govern responsibly and cooperatively.

It would contradict a pledge from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, who said the day after his party won decisively at the polls in November, 'There will be no government shutdowns.'  And it would exacerbate a rift that has been growing between Republicans in the House and the Senate."

 It is impossible to run Congress on empty campaign promises, no matter how well they read as sound bytes--not that this matters to Republicans in either chamber. 

"The House has done its job; we've spoken," Mr. Boehner said on Fox News Sunday...

...Pressed on whether he would, in effect, allow the department to shut down if the Senate does not come up with a funding bill of its own, the speaker said: "Certainly. The House has acted."

See, there's the problem, Mr. Speaker: you've "spoken," but, once again, you haven't listened. You've "acted," and then turned your back on the issue as though you think your word, your action is the be all and end all of our democracy. 

Even Senators from your own party have said this is not the bill to pick a fight over.  As written--with all President Obama's executive action on immigration reversed and with the Dream Act obliterated--your bill has no chance of ever becoming law.  The President has promised to veto it, and you will never muster the votes needed to override that veto. 

You are simply affecting a pose you believe will demonstrate the strength of your leadership--strength which history has proven, over and over again, you do not possess.  

"(Even) John McCain of Arizona (has) questioned the wisdom of the House's unyielding position, raising doubts that the bill would get even 51 Republican votes in the Senate. 

A statement issued by a spokesman for Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said on Sunday that all of her caucus would vote for a 'clean' Homeland Security bill--one that contained no immigration-related amendments--and urged the speaker to bring such a measure to a vote...

...The statement released by the spokesman, Drew Hammill...called Mr. Boehner's remarks 'a sad reflection of the fact that the Tea Party continues to hold the gavel as they insist on their futile anti-immigrant grandstanding.'

Lawmakers are gone from Washington until next week, meaning that they have just four days in the Capitol in which to reach a deal before the department's funding runs out on Feb. 27."

For a party that needs to win the immigrant vote if they have any hope of taking the White House in 2016, this may be their dumbest move yet.

But this is all a game of "Meh" to the GOP, a game they are playing with the well-being of 280,000 DHS employees who will be expected to care for their families without benefit of a paycheck, a game they are playing with the safety of 319 million Americans.

It's a hell of a way to run a country.