It seems that the way forward to avoiding a government shutdown is clear.
"The way is now seemingly clear to avoid a government shutdown: The House passeda “clean” Continuing Resolution that it paired with defunding the Affordable Care Act; the Senate will presumably delete the Obamacare provision and send the clean CR back to the House; and the House will then pass it with mostly Democratic votes, with any sighs of relief drown out by Tea Party cries of “sell out!”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/20/have-democrats-already-lost-on-the-budget/
That sounds about right to me. Still, many liberals don't see such a great deal as it locks in the sequester cuts at least for a few months of the new 2014 budget year.
"But, wait — what’s a “clean” CR, anyway? Typically, what that means is that both parties agree to keep the status quo in place for now. “Clean” means no policy changes. And so this clean CR, designed to keep the government operating for the first 10 weeks or so of the fiscal year, locks in sequestration for that long. Liberals noticing that have concluded that conservatives, the Obamacare sideshow aside, havealready won, that they might win even more, and that perhaps Barack Obama is pretty much okay with sequestration, anyway."
So in this theory the GOP gets what it wanted all along. By making absurdly extravagant demands that would never be satisfied they still got what they really wanted. It's like the old saying 'Aim for the Sun and you get the moon. Aim for the moon you won't even get the stars.'
It's a weird saying as the stars are at least geographically much further away than the moon but the point is clear maybe the GOP strategy is to make such unreasonable and extreme demands that it will get what it wants on anything not entirely insane and unreasonable on its face. I doubt that. If they new when to say yes maybe that would be true. In 2011 during the debt ceiling fiasco Democrats like Nancy Pelosi were asking for ending the tax cuts for those who make over $1 million. The GOP 'stuck to its guns' and when Boehner made that same offer at the end of the 2012 Democrats like me were scornful-whereas we thought $1 million was a great offer back in 2011.
So presuming there was some percentage in making wild eyed unreasonable demands-as you move the overall terms of the debate futher Right, it still hasn't worked as the GOP never knows when to declare victory. The Wall Street Journal had the details on the 2012 Fiscal Cliff deal:
""This all-or-nothing posture also usually results in worse policy. The most recent example was the failure of Mr. Boehner's fiscal cliff "Plan B" in December 2012, which was the best the GOP could do because Mr. Obama had the whip hand of automatic tax increases. The fallback deal that was sealed in the Senate raised taxes by more and is now complicating the prospects for tax reform."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/09/now-even-house-gops-friends-beg-them-to.html
Some Dems who think that this deal-where the House bill is passed is sent back to the House minus the defunding of Obamacare think we should go to enormous lengths to push more:
"Some House Democrats privately express the view — to reporters and to the White House — that it might be better to let the government shut down rather than extend sequester-level spending for a few months. Such a destabilizing event could do enough damage to the GOP brand to shatter Republicans’ lock on a House majority in next year’s election, they hope, without seriously harming the economy.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/republicans-budget-obama-97093.html#ixzz2fThODlZD
"The way is now seemingly clear to avoid a government shutdown: The House passeda “clean” Continuing Resolution that it paired with defunding the Affordable Care Act; the Senate will presumably delete the Obamacare provision and send the clean CR back to the House; and the House will then pass it with mostly Democratic votes, with any sighs of relief drown out by Tea Party cries of “sell out!”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/20/have-democrats-already-lost-on-the-budget/
That sounds about right to me. Still, many liberals don't see such a great deal as it locks in the sequester cuts at least for a few months of the new 2014 budget year.
"But, wait — what’s a “clean” CR, anyway? Typically, what that means is that both parties agree to keep the status quo in place for now. “Clean” means no policy changes. And so this clean CR, designed to keep the government operating for the first 10 weeks or so of the fiscal year, locks in sequestration for that long. Liberals noticing that have concluded that conservatives, the Obamacare sideshow aside, havealready won, that they might win even more, and that perhaps Barack Obama is pretty much okay with sequestration, anyway."
So in this theory the GOP gets what it wanted all along. By making absurdly extravagant demands that would never be satisfied they still got what they really wanted. It's like the old saying 'Aim for the Sun and you get the moon. Aim for the moon you won't even get the stars.'
It's a weird saying as the stars are at least geographically much further away than the moon but the point is clear maybe the GOP strategy is to make such unreasonable and extreme demands that it will get what it wants on anything not entirely insane and unreasonable on its face. I doubt that. If they new when to say yes maybe that would be true. In 2011 during the debt ceiling fiasco Democrats like Nancy Pelosi were asking for ending the tax cuts for those who make over $1 million. The GOP 'stuck to its guns' and when Boehner made that same offer at the end of the 2012 Democrats like me were scornful-whereas we thought $1 million was a great offer back in 2011.
So presuming there was some percentage in making wild eyed unreasonable demands-as you move the overall terms of the debate futher Right, it still hasn't worked as the GOP never knows when to declare victory. The Wall Street Journal had the details on the 2012 Fiscal Cliff deal:
""This all-or-nothing posture also usually results in worse policy. The most recent example was the failure of Mr. Boehner's fiscal cliff "Plan B" in December 2012, which was the best the GOP could do because Mr. Obama had the whip hand of automatic tax increases. The fallback deal that was sealed in the Senate raised taxes by more and is now complicating the prospects for tax reform."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/09/now-even-house-gops-friends-beg-them-to.html
Some Dems who think that this deal-where the House bill is passed is sent back to the House minus the defunding of Obamacare think we should go to enormous lengths to push more:
"Some House Democrats privately express the view — to reporters and to the White House — that it might be better to let the government shut down rather than extend sequester-level spending for a few months. Such a destabilizing event could do enough damage to the GOP brand to shatter Republicans’ lock on a House majority in next year’s election, they hope, without seriously harming the economy.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/republicans-budget-obama-97093.html#ixzz2fThODlZD
Yet if it wasn't hurting the economy how would this damage the GOP? You can go too far I think-yes the GOP will likely get the blame for any government shutdown-or at least most-still I don't know that we should actively seek one.. I certainly want an end to the sequester. I don't know that this will do it. I think you have to accept that this is a long game and I think eventually we will win.
P.S. The idea of forcing a short government shutdown that will cause no pain is actually a very dangerous idea-then the Right can quote Rush Limbaugh: See, I told you so. That's what's happened during the sequester. While it has caused pain and pain continues to be felt many people in their everyday life don't notice this and so the GOP can say See? We don't need government.
Thanks for sharing this update online.
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