*Government Shutdown
“So we stand ready on this side of the aisle, I say, as one of the leaders of my party, to vote now to open government. And, yes, to do what in a democracy we ought to do: sit down and discuss compromises."
Some Republicans aren’t happy with their colleagues who chose to shut down the government over the Affordable Care Act. From the New York Times:
For almost a week, House Republicans have been playing partisan games on the House Floor, refusing to allow the Senate’s clean government funding bill on the House Floor. But according to National Journal, they claim to want an end to the Republican government shutdown as quickly as possible:
With thousands of federal workers locked out of their offices, national monuments closed to visitors, children denied treatment for diseases, and veterans unable to get full access to services (the list goes on…), it’s amazing that Republicans are keeping the government shut down over the Affordable Care Act. Some highlights from a CNN interview this morning:
Passing along a few more impacts of the government shutdown that Republicans caused over the Affordable Care Act: risking military aid to Israel, and ability to enforce sanctions on Iran. Nothing else has compelled Republicans to reopen government, but maybe this will.
We know our reporter friends are tired after these past few days of the GOP shutdown, so in case you haven’t written your questions for the Republican press conference today, we thought we’d help you out. Here are a few we’d like to suggest:
We already knew that economists predicted a two week shutdown could cut economic growth by 0.3%, but here’s a new startling statistic about the impact of the Republican government shutdown:
We can’t make this stuff up. Republicans not only shut down the government, now they can’t think of why they should reopen it:
“Now that Boehner has survived several days of the shutdown, his friends say there is no point in moving a clean funding resolution.”
“My friends on this side say they want to keep the government open. We say we want to keep the government open. My friends on this side sent a bill over to the Senate that had $986 billion in funding. We agreed to $986 billion in funding. What's the problem?
“I don't think there's any doubt that the Republicans are wasting time, and not opening up the government for all the people of our country. And these [selective funding] bills take little snippets, as you point out, Martin, that they think may be politically controversial, and deal with them while at the same time leaving women, infants and children unable to access nutritional programs, closing down Head Start classrooms, laying off 70% of the people at CIA, so important for our national security and safety.