Countdown to Government Shutdown: (less than) 48 hours

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The alleged budget compromise deal between our Accidental Governor and the GOP insane clown posse leadership sorta blew up on Saturday when leadership could not count enough heads to pass the series of a dozen bills, including the main sticking point: referring a sales tax increase to a special election ballot this November. They will try again today.

The Grover Norquist "no new taxes" pledge Republicans are proving to be more loyal to this unelected and corrupt K Street lobbyist than they are to the AZGOP or, more importantly, to the people of Arizona and their oath of office.

Oddly enough, this may be a good thing. The budget choices are between a bad budget that will decimate essential services and an even worse compromise budget that will prevent Arizona from providing for essential services for years to come. There are no good choices because the Democratic budget plan, which has been universally praised by the state's major newspapers and political commentators as a creative and positive way forward out of this morass, cannot get a fair hearing in the "GOP Only" club.

As of this morning, it appears that the Grover Norquist "no new taxes" pledge Republicans are willing to reject this compromise budget — which would also be a rejection of their governor and leadership as well — and are willing to risk a partial government shutdown to play for more time and force the Accidental Governor to bend to their will. The situation is fluid and things could change quickly if only a couple of "no new taxes" pledge Republicans in each chamber suddenly go wobbly in the knees.

In the meantime, the GOP insane clown posse leadership has begun preparing continuing resolutions to fund selected government services after July 1. Legislators seeking to avert AZ shutdown:

Key state lawmakers are crafting a plan to keep the state government operating if a proposed budget deal falls apart.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said the plan would keep state offices open for just a couple of weeks — no longer than a month.

And after that? Pearce, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, wants to start shutting down the state government a little bit at a time.

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Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who is Pearce's counterpart in the House, said the plan at this point is to not shut anything down, at least not initially.

"We would not have a massive shutdown of the state, roads clogged, parks closed on July 4th," he said.

But Pearce is not prepared for the state to limp along for too long. He said that if no deal is reached by the middle of July, some lower-priority services would disappear.

"There won't be any women and children dying in the street," Pearce said. "It will keep public safety going; it will keep vital services going."

Pearce said one reason to have that threat on the horizon is to keep the pressure on all sides to adopt a final spending plan.

My recommendation to Democrats in the legislature: if Republicans are not even willing to include you at the table in budget negotiations, then sit on your hands and do not vote. Do not give Republicans any cover for this destructive budget, nor for any continuing resolutions that would allow them to continue to play this game a little longer. Make them own this train wreck — put them to the test to see whether the GOP Caucus can produce the necessary votes to pass their disaster of a budget on their own, and to pass continuing resolutions to keep Arizona operating.

I know this goes against Democrats' moral constitution to provide funding for essential services so that innocent people do not suffer because of the actions of fools in the legislature, but this short-term inconvenience is a far better alternative than enabling the long-term damage these ideological extremist Republicans are trying to inflict upon innocent people with their disaster of a budget. Do not enable the Republicans. If they cannot pass their budget, the Accidental Governor will be forced to turn to Democrats for a way out of this morass. It is the only bargaining chip you have at this late stage of the game. And it is the only hope Arizonans have to restore some sanity and basic human decency to this process.