The Insane Threat To Shut Down The Government

Well, the GOP is at it again. Those crazy conservatives are threatening to shut down the government by not funding any budget that includes Obama Care (The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act). 

Led by Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, the GOP is threatening to shut down the government on Oct. 11 if the stopgap funding bill contains money for Obama care. This is nothing more than another spiteful, obstructionist tactic to thwart all things Obama.

 The president will never sign a bill defunding what is perhaps the singular greatest achievement of his presidency. Especially when he has control of the Senate. Especially when, a narrow 51 percent majority of Americans disapproves of Obamacare, only 36 percent favors repeal. President Obama is so sure that he’ll win any shutdown showdown that he's practically goading the Republicans into trying.  Every fiscal showdown has redounded against the republicans.

 This fruitless fight will actually help Obama care because it will prove that the GOP's desperate argument has no teeth or validity. The only thing that this threat achieves is to show that the GOP has officially taken leave of its senses.

After members of Congress return from their monthlong recess, Washington will brace for yet another budget battle that entails reaching an agreement to continue funding the government beyond September 30.

The debate will probably center on whether Republicans should attach a measure to defund Obamacare to the upcoming spending bill. But Democrats and some Republicans argue that taking such an approach will almost guarantee more gridlock in Congress.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-New York, for example, predicted  that Republicans would come back in September and “double down on obstruction.”

“The fact of the matter is that their chaos, their extremism is hurting the economy,” said Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “We should pass a budget in September instead of shutting down the government.”

This legislative maneuver would add to the 40 times that the House has already voted to get rid of the president’s signature health care reform, which Republicans say will damage the economy.

Cruz said last week that Washington’s top priority should be restoring economic growth.

“And nothing is hurting economic growth more than Obamacare,” he said.

But not all GOP lawmakers are signing on to the shutdown strategy. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said this past week that Cruz’s approach is “playing into the hands of the president politically and not the right thing to do.”

“Plus, it’s going to do great harm to the American people if we pursue that course." He added.

If Republicans really do decide to shut down the government, the Obama administration won’t defund Obamacare. But given how self-destructive the party has been in recent years, believing that they will actually go through with what seems like an evil comic book plot to destroy America is not a stretch. After all they are against all things Obama if for no other reason than the fact that the whole idea came from Obama. The GOP would gladly sacrifice each and every one of us to satisfy their vendetta against President Obamas. Pathetic really, given that fact that it hasn't worked before, and it will not work now. It's just the last ditch effort of a dying party gasping for air.

PR