September 30, 2013
Sep 30 00:34 Where's Harry? Sep 30 09:37 Reid refuses to negotiate, shuts down gov't Sep 30 14:12 Media Alert Sep 30 14:16 Why negotiate if you're Harry Reid or President Obama?
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Where's Harry?
When the going got tough, Harry Reid took the day off :
'I'm glad now to invite to the microphone our distinguished majority leader in the Senate,' said Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, gesturing to an empty microphone as House members guffawed. 'I'm sorry, Harry's not here today. Maybe he'll show up later.'
The conventional wisdom has been that Republicans will get blamed if there's a protacted government shutdown. I've agreed with that conventional wisdom until now. It's too early to tell whether that's still the case.
Still, the Democrats' unwillingness to negotiate on anything has created an opportunity for Republicans to exploit. That's precisely what Republicans are doing. This morning on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy got in a shot against Sen. Reid and President Obama in the same sentence, saying that 'We are not shutting the government down. While the president was out playing golf [Saturday], we were here until 1 a.m. We will pass a bill that reflects this House. : I think they'll be additions that Democrats can support.'
Cathy McMorris-Rodgers added this during a press conference on the steps in front of the abandoned Senate building:
'Today we see where the Senate doors are shut,' said conference Chairwoman and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. 'Harry Reid says that a shutdown is inevitable.'
'Where's Harry' is justified. He's taken a my-way-or-the-highway approach to funding the government. Whether you're liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, it isn't reasonable to think that the Democrats don't have to negotiate with the GOP. For the better part of a month, President Obama and Sen. Reid have taken the approach that they'll dictate the terms of the continuing resolution. They've said that Republicans are anarchists and racists for attempting to kill a bill that's hurting families and businesses. Here's a partial transcript of Chris Wallace's interview with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, (R-Calif.):
WALLACE: OK, assume for the sake of this discussion --
MCCARTHY: Yes.
WALLACE: -- that they reject it. As they say they're going to reject.
What will the House do then?
MCCARTHY: I think the House will get back together and in enough time send another provision not to shut the government down, but to fund it, and it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to look at it again.
Look, when you look at what has transpired since ObamaCare has moved forward, we've created more than 840,000 jobs in this country -- more than 90 percent of them have been part-time because of ObamaCare. That creates a part-time economy, part-time opportunities. And in the end, it creates a part-time America.
That is why you find that we will fund the government and still ask for delaying the movement of ObamaCare.
The DC media is failing the American people. They're speculating whether there will be a government shutdown. With the exception of Fox, nobody's talked about whether the Affordable Care Act, aka the PPACA, is turning the U.S. into Part-Time Nation.
Hint: It has. In fact, it's indisputable. The statistics don't lie, though, admittedly, the administration has told Americans that this doesn't have anything to do with their policies. The facts speak for themselves. The Democrats' policies have directly contributed to the creation of tens of thousands of part-time jobs.
Sen. Reid's insistence on not negotiating with Republicans implies that the Democrats' spending, taxing and regulatory policies are contributing to a prospering economy. With GDP at 2.5% and real unemployment in double digits, the American people emphatically disagree. They know the economy isn't heading in the right direction.
The Democrats' insistence on not negotiating means that they own the economic trainwreck, the high unemployment and the disaster known as the Affordable Care Act, aka the PPACA. By taking Sunday off with a shutdown looming, Democrats have earned the blame for a government shutdown if it happens.
Posted Monday, September 30, 2013 12:34 AM
Comment 1 by eric z. at 30-Sep-13 08:09 AM
No comments?
Reid refuses to negotiate, shuts down gov't
Harry Reid is the ultimate spoiled brat. He's refused to negotiate with House Republicans throughout the budget process. Now he's prepared to take the final step and shut the federal government down :
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will double down on Monday afternoon and again dismiss the House's attempts to chip away at Obamacare as part of a government funding bill.
The Senate will come in session at 2 p.m. and shortly thereafter vote to table the funding bill passed by the House over the weekend that repeals a 2.3 percent levy on medical devices and delay Obamacare by a year. The Senate will send back a bill funding the government through Nov. 15, leaving the House a handful of hours to respond ahead of a midnight shutdown deadline.
The Democrats that vote for tabling the House's continuing resolution will be voting to shut government down. There's no justification for not repealing the medical device tax. There's no justification for telling corporations that they get a special break from complying with the Affordable Care Act while forcing families to buy a product they've decided not to buy.
With its actions, the Democratic Party has identified itself as the Special Interest Party. Likewise, they've identified themselves as the party that doesn't listen to the American people. Finally, the Democratic Party has identified themselves as the party that owns this sluggish economy.
By tabling this bill, Democrats voting for tabling will be saying that their policies will put America on the right path. That's arrogant. Their policies have led to robust part-time job growth . The Democrats' poliicies have led to the creation of Part-Time Nation, where company after company is cutting their employees' hours to avoid the ACA's penalties.
Elimination of the medical device tax has broad bipartisan support in Congress and a nonbinding vote earlier this year on repealing the tax drew the support of 79 senators. But senators will not vote specifically on the tax Monday, because the upper chamber is expected to take a single vote to dismiss all the House's changes.
God forbid that Sen. Reid let the Senate vote to repeal a tax that they've voted to repeal before. There's no polite way of putting this so I'll just say it. Sen. Reid is a tyrant. He's the picture of spoiled brat government. He's refused to negotiate a continuing resolution that puts the American people first. He's refused to budge from the Democrats' initial position.
The only thing that approaches Sen. Reid's arrogant behavior is the Capitol Hill press corps indifference to reporting on the CR from the perspective of the American people. They've slanted their stories so that they've just paid attention to Washington inside baseball. Instead of asking who's got momentum or talking about conventional wisdom, shouldn't the Capitol Hill press corps ask both parties how their CR benefits the American people? That's before them talking about how Sen. Reid's obstinant behavior is pushing the federal government into a shutdown.
Posted Monday, September 30, 2013 9:37 AM
No comments.
Media Alert
I'll be appearing on Ox in the Afternoon at 2:20 on KNSI. That's AM 1450 or 103.3 FM. We'll be talking shutdown developments.
Posted Monday, September 30, 2013 2:12 PM
No comments.
Why negotiate if you're Harry Reid or President Obama?
John Nolte's article explains why President Obama and Harry Reid won't negotiate with Republicans:
Now we also know why Obama felt so secure golfing during this weekend's shutdown crisis, instead of rolling up his sleeves like a leader to make a deal. Why not? He knows he the media won't blame him for anything, including shutting down the government.
It's one thing to philosophically oppose the Republicans' CR. It's another to run interference for President Obama, Sen. Reid or Nancy Pelosi.
The DC media elites didn't report that President Obama went golfing Saturday rather than negotiating with Republicans:
As the House moved Saturday toward passing legislation that will likely result in a government shutdown, President Obama excused himself to play his customary Saturday golf, a round that set a record for most golf outings in a year since he became president.
Time Magazine's Mark Halperin let the cat out of the bag why President Obama isn't worried:
Halperin explained that, "The White House does not have much incentive. They think the trends are going to go in their direction at the end of the week, or early next week at the latest; because again, the press is largely sympathetic to their arguments on this."
The Sunday morning talk show hosts didn't mention that Harry Reid didn't call the Senate into session Sunday. Instead, they questioned Sen. Cruz, though he outsmarted them at each turn :
SENATOR TED CRUZ: Oh, look. The American people overwhelming reject Obamacare. They understand it's not working. The only people who aren't listening to the argument are the career politicians in Washington. It's Harry Reid, who wants to use brute political force.
'Right now, we have a system where the rich and powerful, those with connections to the Obama administration, they get spared some of the burdens of Obamacare. But those who are struggling: single moms and young people and people who are just trying to make it, they don't get
While the David Gregorys of the world ask DC insider baseball questions, Sen. Cruz kept returning to the irrefutable fact that this administration has implemented a two-tiered set of rules on the Affordable Care Act, aka the ACA. One set of rules applies to big corporations and politicians. That's the generous set of rules. The harshest rules, however, apply to those who don't write the laws or have lobbyists protecting them.
Posted Monday, September 30, 2013 2:16 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 01-Oct-13 07:45 AM
That's why I've suggested that the House GOP pass a CR that includes full funding for Obamacare, on one condition: that the administration has 60 days to implement the law exactly as passed, no exceptions or exemptions or delays, and if they do not, all funding stops.
