7 Days From Possible Shutdown

[FriendlyFire]

10 Days From Possible Shutdown

The No. 1 item is preventing a government closure when a temporary funding measure expires on Dec. 11. The House and Senate Appropriations committees are negotiating a $1 trillion-plus spending bill for the budget year that began

The tax-writing committees are trying to renew a bundle of expired tax breaks such as the deductions for state and local sales taxes and the research and experimentation credit.

The president's authority to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria expires Dec. 11. Lawmakers probably will renew it while postponing action until 2015 on a broader, new authorization to use military force.

Obama also is requesting more than $5 billion to pay for sending additional noncombat troops and munitions to Iraq and cover other military and intelligence costs associated with fighting the militants. He wants $6.2 billion to tackle Ebola at its source in West Africa and to secure the U.S. against any possible outbreak. Also pending is a $3.7 billion request to address the immigrant children.

The annual defense authorization bill has passed every year for more than five decades, and the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees are eager to avoid breaking the streak.

The Defense Department has proposed a slight increase in pharmacy copayments and a gradual reduction in the basic allowance for housing, from 100 percent for off-base housing costs to 94 percent.

The Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed the cuts, but the House committee rejected them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/01/congress_n_6247462.html

Jesus CHRIST !
please PLEASE let this be satire.

 

[James Stuart]

Jesus CHRIST !
please PLEASE let this be satire.

Can you please clarify this? The article isn't very well written. Is it saying the Republicans are going to shut down the government over the Defense Authorization Bill, or that they will temporarily renew some aspects of the bill, but not all of it?

 

[warpus]

Again. . *yawn*

This was exciting the first time it happened, but now it just seems like a badly thought out sequel. You know what's going to happen. It's going to be the exact same thing. They're going to argue for a while, call eachother idiots who don't want to compromise, and then at the end it's all going to work out, while damaging the country a little.

 

[Ajidica]

Again?
I should probably grab any census data I'll be using for projects before the 11th.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Republicans Ready Plan to Avoid a Shutdown

WASHINGTON — House Republicans made substantial progress on Tuesday steering some of their most conservative members away from a course that could shut down the government next week, a prospect that would badly damage the party as it prepares to take control of Congress in January.

Though the outcome remained unpredictable, Speaker John A. Boehner and his deputies were already counting votes for a two-part plan that they presented in a closed-door meeting in the Capitol.

The first step would be to allow a largely symbolic vote on legislation to dismantle President Obama’s executive action last month that delayed the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants. The second would be to fund the government through the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2015, except for agencies that spend money to enforce Mr. Obama’s immigration action, like the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress would then revisit funding for those agencies early next year when Republicans are in control of both the House and the Senate and in a stronger position.

Republicans are eager to pass a broad spending bill this year to avoid the crisis atmosphere that spending fights would create, notably in financial markets.

Mr. Reid, who called Mr. Boehner’s plan a “big accomplishment” that Senate Democrats might support.

till many conservative Republicans who were openly dismissive of the leadership’s package. “I would vote no because I don’t think you fund any unconstitutional action, even if it’s over a short period of time,” said Representative Joe L. Barton, Republican of Texas.

On Tuesday, two different House committees held hearings on Mr. Obama’s executive action, and the strong criticism from some Republicans highlighted Mr. Boehner’s challenge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/u...tion-vote-in-plan-to-avoid-shutdown.html?_r=0

.......... Republicans are going to pass a 1 month budget bill.
And defunding the department of Homeland Security.

Democrats could be key in keeping government open.

The government will shut down in just eight days unless Congress acts, and Republican lawmakers and aides in and around leadership fear their two-step government-funding plan cannot pass without help — from Nancy Pelosi.

At the beginning of the day, GOP leadership thought they had it all figured out. They’d give conservatives a separate bill to direct their anger at President Barack Obama over his executive action on immigration, then vote separately to fund most of the government for a year.

But as key leadership aides and lawmakers circled the House floor Tuesday afternoon, they encountered unexpected “headwinds,” several sources said. Hardline conservatives who have caused problems for leaders for years were not falling in line. These conservatives estimate their ranks are 30 to 40, enough to derail a vote.

“This changes every day,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a close Pelosi ally on the Appropriations Committee. “There is no pattern, there is no rhyme or reason. They say they’re going to do one thing, then they do something different the next day. We need to see what is being offered, and then we will look at it.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/government-shutdown-nancy-pelosi-113278.html#ixzz3KniQvHe2

Ok, even the 1 month funding of the government is looking unlikely given how screwed up the Republican house is.
Maybe the Federal Government can survive somehow for 1 month without any funds until next year ?

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday evening announced that he is reappointing Republican Trey Gowdy of South Carolina to head the Select Committee on Benghazi next Congress.

Can Republicans stop being the party of stupid ?
This is like the 6th hearing on Benghazi.

 

[KMRblue1027]

Wait defund Bush's baby? I don't....

 

[James Stuart]

.......... Republicans are going to pass a 1 month budget bill.
And defunding the department of Homeland Security.



Ok, even the 1 month funding of the government is looking unlikely given how screwed up the Republican house is.
Maybe the Federal Government can survive somehow for 1 month without any funds until next year ?

Can the government sell glossy polaroids of itself with Santa at hastily erected stalls outside the Capitol? It worked for retired footballers needing to pay medical bills when I was a kid.

 

[JollyRoger]

Didn't Gowdy already determine that it was GOP defunding that left our people vulnerable in Benghazi?

 

[GenMarshall]

Like this shut down is going to do anything but drive down congressional approval ratings down.

 

[James Stuart]

Like this shut down is going to do anything but drive down congressional approval ratings down.

I was already of the belief that the only people in America who actually approve of Congress are Congressmen. And not even all of them.

 

[jackelgull]

And yet the institution still exists, so it must be doing something right, either that, or Americans are too apathetic to do anything to change it.

 

[Colonel]

Like this shut down is going to do anything but drive down congressional approval ratings down.

You can't go into negative numbers on an approval rating... or can you?

 

[GenMarshall]

You can't go into negative numbers on an approval rating... or can you?

If it does, it'd be a case of dividing by zero in politics.

 

[Ajidica]

I was already of the belief that the only people in America who actually approve of Congress are Congressmen. And not even all of them.

Last I checked Fidel Castro is more popular than Congress. The only person I've met who thinks favorably of Fidel Castro is Reindeer_Thistle here.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

You can't go into negative numbers on an approval rating... or can you?

I was gonna say...the best line ever about congressional approval ratings was when McCain said "If you leave out our family and friends no one approves of us."

Last I saw congress was trailing the BP oil spill by double digits. How you can be less popular than an ecological disaster being a question that is beyond answering.

 

[Tee Kay]

And yet the institution still exists, so it must be doing something right, either that, or Americans are too apathetic to do anything to change it.

Gerrymandering works.

 

[Ajidica]

Gerrymandering works.

How much of it is actual jerrymandering and how much is simply how populations are distributed?
I mean, it is going to be hard to get a rural Oklahoma county to be a fair fight between left and right. Likewise, it is just as hard to get a fair fight in, say, inner city New York.

 

[JollyRoger]

How much of it is actual jerrymandering and how much is simply how populations are distributed?
I mean, it is going to be hard to get a rural Oklahoma county to be a fair fight between left and right. Likewise, it is just as hard to get a fair fight in, say, inner city New York.

In 2012, the Democrats got more votes in Congressional races than Republicans, yet Republicans won more seats. It is not the extremes of rural Oklahoma and inner NYC where gerrymandering happens.

 

[FriendlyFire]

The Great Gerrymander of 2012

 

[Commodore]

And yet the institution still exists, so it must be doing something right, either that, or Americans are too apathetic to do anything to change it.

To change it we would need to hold another Constitutional Convention; and I am deathly afraid of what kind of government would be spawned from such an event at this moment in history. I think a lot of Americans may feel that same fear as well; so it is fear that keeps us from changing the system, not apathy.

On topic: Is there any word on whether or not VA benefits will be affected by a shutdown if it happens? If so, I have some classes I might need to drop so I don't get stuck with a $1500 bill because the government can't stop bickering and get its act together.