Boehner 3.0 is a move backwards – stop the insanity!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a press conference this morning, President Obama said "The time for putting party first is over. The time for compromise on behalf of the American people is now.”

The TanMan, the Weeper of the House John Boehner, was not listening. He was busy caving in to the hostage demands of his Tea Party mutineers in order to get the final votes he needs to pass a symbolic bill to save face. "Winning!" Boehner's bill will immediately be tabled or killed in the Senate and will never become law. This is insanity.

Steve Benen reports at the Political Animal – Boehner 3.0:

House Republican leaders [are] shaping their latest bill, which isn’t bipartisan, doesn’t have the support of both parties, and is crafted to cater to just one faction.

On Capitol Hill, the House GOP leaders offered party members a reworked plan Friday morning designed to appeal to the tea party-allied conservatives, and several previously skeptical lawmakers said they would now support it. Members who exited a House Republican Conference meeting said the new proposal would not change the first step of their original two-stage plan to raise the debt limit but would call for Congress to send to the states a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution as a prerequisite for the second stage of the debt-ceiling increase to take effect early next year. [a debt limit hostage "trigger']

In other words, Boehner is moving backwards, bringing back provisions from the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” measure that was defeated last week.

In this third version of the Speaker’s budget plan, Republicans would get about $1 trillion in cuts and approve a temporary increase in the debt ceiling. Then, both the House and the Senate would be required to approve — with two-thirds majorities in both chambers, of course — a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. If not, the nation would default. [the hostage "trigger"]

Boehner didn’t really want to add this provision, but he apparently felt it necessary to persuade some of the GOP radicals to come on board. In this case, the Republican leadership had to go out of its way to craft a bill that couldn’t possibly gain Democratic support, simply to allow Boehner to save face and pass something.

With these ridiculous changes, Boehner 3.0 — in effect, a watered down version of the already-rejected CC&B — can now pass the House and die a quick death in the Senate. In effect, the Speaker has decided to use a constitutional amendment as a “bill sweetener” for unhinged conservatives who claim to revere the Constitution. (sic)

This is insanity. This is no way to govern a country. Call your members of Congress and let them know that if he or she votes for the Tea Party hostage demands that not only will they not get your vote or your money, but you will actively work for their defeat. Stop the insanity!