government shutdown

A looming government shutdown over a border wall and defunding Planned Parenthood

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Mark your calendars for April 29. The current funding of the federal government expires on April 28, and Congress is set for a two-week recess just before that deadline.

The Tea-Publican “Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” fresh off their “Obamacare repeal” clusterfuck last week, now have a month to figure out how to avoid yet another GOP government shutdown.

Good luck with that.

Remember, the Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, vowed: No more government shutdowns while he runs the Senate. But the Turtle Man does not run the House, where the GOP’s alleged boy genius, “the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin” and Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan — the architect of the “Obamacare repeal” clusterfuck last week — is in charge. Boy genius just realized last week that “doing big things is hard.” No shit Sherlock. Ryan proved that he cannot herd cats in his own caucus, i.e., the GOP House Freedom Caucus. This is not likely to turn out well.

The New York Times reports, Congress Is Headed to Another Government Funding Showdown:

Ten legislative days before funding would run out, Congress is heading toward another government shutdown showdown. Democrats and many Republicans are likely to refuse to go along with President Trump’s request for money for a border wall financed in part by outsize cuts to medical research. And the specter of another fight over Planned Parenthood funding is also in the offing.

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Two weeks until the next Tea-Publican government shutdown

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CalendarNow that you are recovering from your Thanksgiving dinner, it’s time to talk about the next important date on the calendar, and it’s not Christmas.

It is December 11, 2015, the day the government will again run out of money if the Congress and the president cannot agree on a budget, and the government will be forced to shut down.

As I have previously explained, Tea-Publicans in Congress are using the reconciliation process for this year’s budget because it does not allow for a “filibuster” in the Senate and can pass with a simple majority vote. In other words, it is an end-around the “regular order” of passing bills.

But the radical extremist Tea-Publicans in Congress are taking things a step farther and also loading up the budget appropriations bills with “poison pill” riders, i.e., their “Wingnut Wish List” of regressive measures that are not germane to the appropriations bills, and that may be outside the scope of the reconciliation process (that process can change existing laws to conform tax and spending levels to the levels set in a budget resolution, but not make substantive law changes).

The Hill reports:

Lawmakers will return from their Thanksgiving break with just two weeks to reach a deal before a Dec. 11 deadline.

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For my friends who continue to believe that legal abortion is safe

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On this very day in 2015 there are still liberals who cling to the belief that the anti-abortion stance is merely a ploy by wily “establishment” (whatever the hell that means) Republicans to keep the rank-and-files docile and the campaign coffers full. I, of all people, still hear this claim constantly from I know! “They’ll never overturn Roe! They need abortion as a wedge issue too much!”

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Mutiny on the Boehner: Iran, Planned Parenthood, then government shutdown

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FreedomWorksPhase one of the Mutiny on the Boehner is now complete.

On Wednesday, the mutinous GOP House Freedom Caucus took Captain Queeg the TanMan hostage and forced him to pull the scheduled vote on the resolution of disapproval of the Iran agreement. They then forced the nominal Weeper of the House to accede to their hair-brained “Tortilla coast gambit” based on a debunked conspiracy theory about IAEA “secret side deals” with Iran. The GOP House Freedom Caucus ‘Tortilla Coast gambit’ to delay the Iran deal is a fraud.

On Thursday, the House voted on two resolutions claiming that the President had not given them all the information required to be reviewed by Congress under the Iran review law passed by Congress.  Not true: As Max Fischer wrote:

You can read, for yourself, the law that Congress passed articulating its authority to disapprove the Iran deal. Section 135 describes the congressional review period, and specifically articulates the documents that the Obama administration is required to give Congress. There is nothing in there about the text of IAEA safeguards agreements with Iran.

These two resolutions from the GOP’s Gimmicks-R-Us Shoppe were approved on a straight party-line vote without a single Democrat in support. Roll Call Vote 491 243-186 (straight party-line vote); Roll Call Vote 492 245-186 (straight party-line vote). This demonstrates that the TanMan is not in command of his mutinous ship.

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UPDATE: Oct 16 PDA Tucson Fall Membership Meeting Postponed until Nov 14

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October 15 Update:
Yesterday, I posted a notice about the Fall Membership Meeting of PDA Tucson. The headline speaker was to be Congressman Raul Grijalva.
The Congressman had to cancel, so the PDA meeting is being postponed until Thursday, Nov. 14. 
Here is a link to the event on Facebook. You can find updates there or on this blog. We had hoped that Grijalva canceled because he was called back to DC to vote on lifting the shutdown and the debt ceiling, but given this afternoon's headlines that vote appears to be a distant dream.
October 14 Blog Post:
With the government shutdown, historic gridlock in Congress, and multiple protests errupting, Washington DC has been a hotbed of political activity.

While some Arizona Democrats are cozying up to the Republicans, Congressman Raul Grijalva continues to be a leader of the progressive movement. Last week, he and other progressive Congressmen were arrested at a recent immigration reform protest in DC (above). He also spoke with Democracy Now about the shutdown and immigration reform.

This Wednesday, October 16, Grijalva will give a Washington update at the Fall Membership Meeting of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter at the Ward 6 midtown office.