American Politics Thread 2013: I'm a cool Rodham grandma in the USA

"The old man thought it was pretty important, BONER."

what

The power of the speaker sure as heck isn't the title "Speaker", but the perogatives of that office. The committee assignments, which he also controls, are already set. During the ongoing session the speaker can personally kill any bill by not allowing it to the floor. That's his primary formal power. Under the rules change, that power now rests with the majority leader, Cantor.

There are, of course, informal powers of the speakership that rest on having a majority of the party caucus behind him, but those powers are pretty weak with Boehner, since his caucus is so fragmented and unruly.

yeah i think the point is that rule change is not really that important, its just being blown out of proportion by the republicans dont want you to know about this one weird rule change facebook sharers, if it were real then yeah people would be talking to cantor

i love the smell of shock doctrine disaster capitalism in the morning

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he was "proud" of Boehner's handling of the crisis. Then within moments he pleaded with Democrats to bail out the GOP, which he admitted has "screwed up" and "really did go too far" in the shutdown and debt limit standoffs.

"We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand," he said. "It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better."

House GOP leaders held private meetings on Tuesday afternoon to look for a path forward that holds together their conference. They may not delay or repeal the medical device tax -- something that both Democrats and Republicans have backed -- and considered rescinding health insurance subsidies to congressional staffers (known as the Vitter amendment) and overturn Obamacare's contraception coverage mandate.

"I don't know how this is going to play out today and tomorrow," said Coons. "And given how long it takes to get things done here ... well, you do the math."

TPM asked Graham if he'd prefer default to a clean debt limit hike.

Whoops, forgot his reply.

"I think both are terrible options and it'd be silly to pick between the two," he said. "Only a dysfunctional democracy would have those two choices -- which means it may happen."

"We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand,"

I have a gun to my head. Can you call 911?

Here's the House's Hail Mary

http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20131014/BILLS-113hjres59-HAmdt2a.pdf

"And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little?"

jigga wut

lol graham what sad ass piece

1. Break the government
2. Wait for Obama to do something drastic (and unconstitutional) in a last-ditch effort to prevent his country from collapsing
3. IMPEACH!!!

That's a lot of reading, no wonder they don't want to vote.

Massive bullshit that the best we can likely do in the near future is just set this up to happen again in the only just barely slightly later than near future. I don't think the country can survive a debt ceiling and sequester debate every three or four months. Perpetual war.

According to Weigel:

Near the end, the House CR includes that language blocking Treasury from "extraordinary measures."

So the Republicans insist that even though they are caught in a trap they stupidly set for themselves, they simply MUST be allowed to do something objectionable to democrats and wouldn't the dems please swallow some small amount of shit just to be a pal and get us all out of this?

But the Dems' response is making things worse, not better!

Drum: we'll probably hit the debt ceiling next week.

sing it, sister sarah!

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/15/palin-defaulting-on-our-national-debt-is-an-impeachable-offense/

the url is correct

impeached if does, impeached if he doesn't

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4909/z2l8.jpg

“Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense,” Palin said. "Also, being a black president is an impeachable offense. So is being a Democrat. So is being named Barack Hussein Obama. So is ... oh, what the hell, let's just impeach him!"

lol xp

thanking you

http://labyrinthlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/torches_pitchforks.jpg?w=300&h=229

It will be pretty easy to hang this around Ted Cruz's neck for all time and Barack Obama never has to run for office again. Hillary Clinton has watched from the sidelines. Elizabeth Warren has actively spoken out against it. Most of the non-congressional 2016 GOP candidates seem to agree that it's a fucking ridiculous idea. I'm hoping Ted Cruz marginalizes himself right out of the "mainstream" before 2016 even gets here. I can't take more of this.

House Republicans finalized a plan Tuesday afternoon to avert debt default and re-open the shuttered government after an earlier version of it crashed and threw Congress into chaos within two days of the debt limit deadline.

"The House will vote tonight to reopen the government and avoid default," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

The proposal would raise the borrowing limit through Feb. 7, fund the federal government through Dec. 15 and rescind health insurance subsidies for members of Congress, the White House and their respective staff members.

Democrats vigorously object to the latter provision, which has strong GOP support due to misconceptions about an alleged Obamacare "exemption" for Congress. In reality, Obamacare forces all members and staff to buy insurance on the exchanges and affords them financial assistance, just as the vast majority of U.S. workers get through their employers. The Republican amendment would strip away that employer contribution.

"After listening to Members at Conference this morning," Steel said, "House Republican Leaders will bring a plan to the floor which will end the ObamaCare subsidies for elected officials and staff in Washington, DC, and pressure Senate Democrats to accept more sensible dates for the CR and the debt limit."

The new House GOP plan excludes provisions in an emerging Senate deal aimed at placating both parties, such as a union-backed delay in an Obamacare reinsurance fee and income verification for those seeking subsidies to buy insurance on the law's marketplaces.

It remains unclear if a debt limit hike can pass Congress by the Thursday debt limit deadline, given the differences between the two chambers. But passage through the House stands to speed up any bill in the Senate, which could consider the measure "privileged" and bypass potential efforts by conservative senators to stall and delay.

House Republicans immediately began the process of fast-tracking the bill to the floor. If all goes as planned, a vote is scheduled for Tuesday night.

Shortly after the proposal was unveiled, Heritage Action, the deep-pocketed group that carries significant sway with conservatives, came out against it and announced that it would downgrade lawmakers who vote for it. The move could be significant because Heritage Action has helped scuttle many House GOP bills by turning arch-conservative members against them. Unless Democrats supply votes, the new measure may be in trouble.

"Americans are clamoring for a way out of Obamacare, not another Washington-style punt," the conservative group said in a statement.

how can Michael Steel want to rob his staffers of healthcare, he seemed like such a bro in all those photos

man how'd he lose the tan

http://images.politico.com/global/click/090923_steele_steel_522.jpg

I mean I've heard of whitewashing but man this is ridiculous

"We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand. It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better." --Lindsey Graham

There was a transition period

http://thedailyshow.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/tds/videos/season_15/15047/ds_15047_02_v6.jpg

I love how in the final analysis the GOP is reduced to begging to get, of all things, less healthcare for themselves AND the ability to threaten to go through this whole process again in a couple months. great goals you guys have, heckuva job brownie etc.

"our demands are that we are allowed to shoot ourselves in the foot. also, some more bullets"

These guys are such dumb fucks. Two weeks later and the ACA portal still can't work, making the most superficial case for the horror of this law, yet they're getting nothing now.

and at this point once they resolve it the media might just shrug off the website thing as old news

Hail Mary dead in the water at this rate

https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/390233153559748608

https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/390235324778954752

Costa on NRO:

My sources tell me House Republicans will likely postpone tonight’s vote on their plan to end the fiscal impasse. “The votes aren’t there,” says a leadership aide. “We’ve been amending the bill all day, but we’ve been unable to get people around this strategy.”

This development leaves Speaker John Boehner with few options as Thursday’s debt-ceiling deadline nears, and it throws the action back toward the Senate, which has been working on a bipartisan package.

so were I John Boehner my strategy -- to be kind -- would be to vote on the Senate plan without a Hastert rule so that congressman can return unblemished to the rabid dogs in their districts.

I suspect we'll see just that soon enough.

yeah I kinda don't know what Boehner's holding out for here, unless he really thinks he's about to lose his job in which case lol YA BURNT ASSHOLE

Why should these fuckers give a shit what anyone, or any poll, says? The irony is that the nuts are safe. It's the slightly less nutty that are less safe, because if they cross the nuts, they could very well earn nut primary challengers. Advantage: nuts. There is little Republican political advantage to being reasonable here, afaict.

Like, who the hell would replace Boehner, and how would his replacement be any different vis a vis (did I use that correctly?) the Tea Party crazies? Unless a Tea Party crazy became speaker, which could, sure, lead to long term Dem gains, once they break absolutely everything and poop on the pieces.

well suck it up Boehner, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one, ie, you you fucking imbecile)

the only leverage I could see is that if they fuck up the party nationally enough then they'd be in the safe district of a minority party, which would still be really fun for them but they wouldn't get to pass laws and the lobbying money might be less xp

presumably Cantor wants Boehner's job. not sure about Ryan. Amash wants it but I doubt he has the support.

I'm not saying it would be better.

xp

I mean let's game this out - Boehner passes some compromise w/out the support of his caucus, loses the Speakership, Cantor or some other figure more appealing to the Tea Party takes over, and then presumably all legislation grinds to a halt due to their intransigence, and maybe they try this default/shutdown stunt again at the next possible opportunity, in which case things REALLY go downhill...? could happen.

and maybe that's Boehner's concern but I sort of doubt it.

i've resisted saying this for a while but i would be happier w/ speaker cantor than speaker boehner

ryan's never really shown interest in leadership in the past, think he prefers being the 'brains' of the party

o mordy you make it too easy