Could A Compromise Be On The Horizon?

There may be a small glimmer of compromise breaking through the dark clouds of obstruction that hover over Washington.  It would seem that the prospect of a short term increase in the debt ceiling has moved to the top of the agenda.

President Obama met with House Democrats yesterday.  Word from the White House is that the President is agreeable to a short term extension to allow the parties more time to work out their ideological differences.  Leaks from the Democrat caucus echoed the same sentiments.

The President invited all House Republicans to meet with him at the White House today.  Speaker Boehner, fearful of allowing some of his tin foil hat wearing members access to a microphone on the White House lawn, declined.  Republican Party leadership and committee chairman will go instead.  Word from the Republican caucus is that the votes are there for a short term extension.

House Budget Committee Chairman, Paul Ryan arose from his slumber to chime in.  Ryan is one of the few “establishment” Republicans that the Tea Party caucus will listen to.  Ryan favors a short term extension to allow time to forge a compromise on tax and entitlement reform.

Even grumpy old Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell spoke in favor of a compromise.  McConnell’s senate seat is in jeopardy.  He has been maintaining a low profile for fear of a primary challenge from the right.  McConnell is a pain in the ass…but he is a seasoned pain in the ass that knows when to hold and when to fold.  McConnell knows when and how to cut a deal in Washington.

You will notice that that we haven’t mentioned the phrase “Repeal Obamacare!”  Neither did Boehner, or Ryan or McConnell.  That’s because the grownups in the Republican caucus understand that the President is never going to give in on his signature achievement.  Ted Cruz and his Tea Party crew have lost this battle.  If they want to repeal Obamacare they are going to have to do it the old fashioned way…win a national election and put a Republican in the White House.

Perhaps you are wondering why this glimmer of compromise has suddenly appeared.  After all just 24 hours ago the President was calling Republicans “irresponsible” while Boehner  accused the President of demanding Republicans’ “unconditional surrender.”

Perhaps it was because the United States Chamber of Commerce, key advocate of all things business and large monetary contributor to all things Republican, came out with a statement that enough is enough.  The Chamber warned that contrary to assertions made by the tin foil hat bunch, a government shutdown would in fact have a disastrous economic affect on the business community.

Or perhaps this sudden glimmer of détente came about due to a recent Gallup poll that said the number one concern of Americans is Washington’s inability to get things done.  Gallup noted that this was the first time since the 2007 crash that the economy was not the number one concern of those polled.

Or could it be that Republicans saw another Gallup poll which showed their approval ratings at a ghastly 28%...their lowest rating since Gallup began asking the question in 1992.

Or maybe it’s all just one big coincidence!

We will continue to remain skeptical until a deal is struck.  And there is certainly the very real prospect that a short term deal is just doing what Washington always seems to do at difficult times like this…kick the can down the road.  We shall see.

One thing is certain…the adults have entered into the conversation.

       

Boehner Is Really Bad At His Job

Speaker Boehner wants to have a conversation. 

The Speaker spent the better part of a recent press conference whining about the president’s refusal to negotiate over the government shutdown and the debt limit. He referenced several instances in our country’s history where the parties have used the debt ceiling to negotiate matters of ideology.

The President has consistently said that he will not negotiate with Speaker Boehner until after the debt ceiling is raised and the government is re-opened.  Boehner likens this to demanding the “unconditional surrender” of the Republican Party.  “There WILL be a negotiation” the Speaker declared.

Boehner wants a play date.  So far the President has refused.

And why SHOULD the President negotiate with the Speaker.  To what end?

When the Speaker was providing the historical reference under which the parties used the debt ceiling to force compromise, he failed to mention that in each of the examples he referenced, the parties seated at the bargaining table had the power to bring their caucus in line in support of the agreement.  Speaker Boehner has shown repeatedly that he holds no such power over his caucus.

In 2011 Boehner and the President reached a “Grand Bargain” over the debt and deficit only to watch the Tea Party embarrass the Speaker by refusing to go along.

As recently as two months ago, the Speaker, the Senate and the White House agreed on a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government by cutting $80 billion from the current sequestration levels.  Boehner promised to bring a “clean” CR to the floor at the agreed amount.  Once again the Speaker was forced to tuck his tail when Tea Party members refused to agree to any CR that did not include the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (a law whose funding mechanism was set up completely separate from the CR to avoid just such a move by the president’s opponents.)

Time and time again, the Speaker has shown that holds no power over his caucus.  The President knows that.  So why would the President keep playing Charlie Brown to Boehner’s Lucy? 

If Boehner wants to have a serious conversation with the President, he needs to prove that he is in control of his caucus.  One way to do that would be to defy the Tea Party minority and bring a clean CR to the floor at the agreed upon July figures.  The measure would pass with bi-partisan support and give Boehner the credibility he needs to show that his words have meaning.

Boehner is bad at his job...this much is clear.    

If he wants to play with the President he has to bring something new to the game.

Otherwise it’s just more of Lucy and the football.

                              

An Opportunity To Govern

The Republican Party has an image problem.

Ever since Republicans wrested control of the House from Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats they have embarked on a scorched earth policy designed to defeat the president’s agenda.  As a result, Republicans are largely viewed by the voters as a party of obstructionists; more interested in ideology and job security than in governing the country.  They are the party of “No;” losers of the popular vote in five of the last six national elections.

Now, in the middle of a government shutdown, Republicans have within their grasp an opportunity to alter that image in a positive manner.  The question is…will they make the most of this opportunity…or will they squander it.

There are two things that ALL Republicans agree on. 1.) They want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 2.) They want to reduce government spending.

Item #1 is not gonna’ happen.  There is no way that the president is ever going to agree to repeal his signature achievement.  To do so would end his presidency, destroy his legacy and irrevocably damage his party.  It’s not gonna’ happen.  Republicans know that.

Item #2, a reduction in government spending, is within reach.  The president has offered a bill to continue funding the government at pre-2008 spending levels.  This bill effectively wipes out all of the spending increases enacted by the Obama administration.  This is a huge concession by the Democrats.  Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called it “a major victory.”  All Republicans have to do is vote “Yes.”

The president challenged the speaker to allow a floor vote on the Democrat’s proposal.  Speaker Boehner should accept that challenge…put the measure to a vote…and when it passes claim victory.  Republicans would score a huge win, take a major step in repairing their party’s image and end an unpopular government shutdown that is killing the country.

This is an opportunity for the moderate majority in the Republican Party to wrest control from the radicals who have so damaged the Republican brand on the national stage.

This is an opportunity to govern.

       

              

Just the Facts...

As the government shut down enters its second week Republican leaders took to the Sunday talk shows to spin their story.  Listening to the partisan spin and half truths it became apparent to us how difficult it must be for the casual observer to discern fact from fiction. 

So let’s set politics aside for the moment.  For those of you just tuning in here are the facts as to why we have a government shutdown.

The Republican Party, led by the Tea Party Caucus believed that their best opportunity to reduce the size of government and block President Obama’s agenda centered around two dates.  The first was September 30 when the government ran out of money and needed to pass a continuing resolution to continue its funding.  The second was October 17 when the governments’ borrowing limit (debt ceiling) needed to be raised so the government could borrow the funds necessary to pay its obligations.  The Tea Party Caucus believed that they could use these two events to leverage a reduction in the size of government and defund the President’s signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Republican led House has refused to pass a continuing resolution unless it excludes funding for the ACA. As a result the government has shut down leaving tens of millions of Americans dependent upon the government to suffer.  The President has refused to negotiate the funding of the ACA.  His argument is that the ACA was passed by congress, confirmed as constitutional by the Supreme Court and affirmed by the voters in the last national election. 

So we are at a stalemate with the debt ceiling deadline looming 10 days down the road.

Speaker Boehner, in a Sunday talk show interview said that there were not enough votes in the House to pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the government.  He placed blame for the shut down “on the President’s refusal to negotiate.”

Senator Rand Paul, on Sunday’s Meet the Press, said that the government had more than enough money to pay its debts and for the president to even suggest that we might default was “irresponsible.

Here is the truth.  The government shut down and impending debt limit crisis lie squarely at the feet of the Republican Party.  Speaker Boehner and Senator Paul’s statements are simply lies. 

Here is why this is all on the Republicans.

It is the Republican Speaker of the House that refuses to bring a clean continuing resolution to the floor for a vote.  22 Republicans have stated publically that they will vote with Democrats to re-open the government.  That is enough to pass the CR.  Six independent polls have said that there are another 40-50 Republicans that have stated off the record that would vote for a clean CR.  Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said that if the vote were held in secret, 150 Republicans in the House would vote for a clean CR.  The votes are there and the Speaker knows it.  But he is more interested in saving his speakership from a Tea Party challenge than he is about saving the country.  Boehner could end this misery today if he only had the courage.

It is Tea Party Republicans that hatched this plan and started this fight by leading their Republican colleagues down this dangerous dark alley with no exit strategy; threatening a primary challenge against any moderate Republican who stood in their way.  And it is the moderate Republican lemmings that cowed to Tea Party pressure and blindly went along.

It is Republican Senators like Cruz and Paul who spin party rhetoric to rally the lemmings in the House to fall on their sword but back down when it is time to fall on own.  Paul says the government has plenty of money to pay its debts.  True, if you shut down social security and virtually every other federal agency.  Cruz feigns dismay over the impasse; blaming politicians for playing politics.  This is the puppet master blaming the puppet.      

Now Republicans find themselves in a political box; resorting to lies and half truths to deflect blame for the damage they have caused.

Republicans started this mess on a political whim.  They have the power to end it today.

Those are the facts!

 

    

    

This Makes Me Sick!

If you are a regular reader of this space you know that I do not like to write in the first person.  There are a number of reasons for this quirk; one being that writing in the third person helps me to keep my personal feelings and emotions from interfering with the facts.

Today I will make an exception.

Today I witnessed American politics at its very worst.

Honor Flight is a non-profit organization “created solely to honor America’s veterans for all of their sacrifices.”  Honor Flight transports veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials that were dedicated to their service.

Today Honor Flight brought several bus loads of WW II veterans to DC to visit the WWII Memorial.  When they arrived the found the entrance barricaded; closed as a result of the government shutdown.

Never fear…the Tea Party Republicans came to the rescue.

Republican Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, along with Republican Representatives, Michelle Bachman, Louie Ghomert, Steve King and a handful of their colleagues, showed up…with TV cameras in tow…and removed the barriers, allowing the veterans to tour the magnificent memorial that had been dedicated in their honor.  It was a truly moving scene as these octogenarians, many aided by walking canes and wheelchairs, openly wept as they reflected on those difficult days of the past.  Afterward the congressmen shook hands and posed for photos with our nation’s heroes.  Ms. Bachman was seen bussing several of the blushing G.I.s on the cheek.

Representative Bachman then took the opportunity to berate the president for shutting down the government and depriving the veterans of the opportunity to visit the memorial.  Chairman Priebus, proudly waving a check, announced that the Republican National Committee had raised enough money to pay for security guards to patrol the memorial and assure that it would remain open in the future.

This makes me sick!

Today the self proclaimed “Tea Party Patriots” shamelessly used the country’s true patriots as a political prop!

I wonder if any of these gentlemen knew that the very politicians who were shaking their hands and bussing their cheeks were the same politicians that had voted time and time and time again to cut veterans health benefits, job programs, and education assistance initiatives.

I wonder if any of these gentlemen knew that these very same politicians were the ones who refused to fund the government… which caused the shutdown…which caused the memorial to be closed.

I wonder if any of these gentlemen knew that the woman kissing their cheek when asked earlier how she felt about the shutdown said:  “I’m happy!  We are finally right where we want to be.”

If these “Tea Party Patriots” really cared about these veterans they could have opened the memorial without all the fanfare…without the TV cameras…without all the political gamesmanship.  But they didn’t show up here with a TV crew because they believed it was the right thing to do.  They did it to gain a political advantage…and they used these selfless gentlemen as window dressing.

Words cannot describe how truly vile I find this despicable, shameful act.

Bachman and her crew owe these veterans an apology.

   

  

      

And so it begins...

The Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges opened for business yesterday; seemingly oblivious to the havoc they wreaked upon Washington insiders. At the end of the day the insurance exchanges proved themselves to be either a huge success or an abject failure depending on one’s political persuasion.

Government officials reported that the health insurance website received almost 3,000,000 hits in the first day…over 1,000,000 before 7:00 AM.  The site was overwhelmed by the traffic causing users to experience 10-20 minute delays in accessing the information.

If you are a proponent of Obamacare the day was bitter sweet.  On one hand 3,000,000 hits far exceeded the expected number and proved Democrat’s right in predicting that the people ARE interested in finding affordable health care.  On the other hand, having the system crash plays into the hands of critics who say that the president’s health care plan simply won’t work.

From our prospective, better to have a huge demand and glitches in the website than a shiny new website and little demand.  Given the 6 month enrollment period, there is plenty of time for the government to get it right.  But you have to wonder why they couldn’t get it right in the first place.  They had almost five years to build the system.

Meanwhile the shenanigans on the Hill continued.  Republicans staged a photo-op showing them seated on one side of the negotiating table with eight empty seats on the other.  The message: ”We are ready to negotiate. Where are the Democrats?”  Apparently Republicans have forgotten that Harry Reid spent the last six months asking Republicans to appoint members to a conference committee to negotiate the government shutdown.  Republicans refused.  Now, having followed Ted Cruz down a blind alley they want to talk.

In another desperate political move, Republicans in the House floated three separate continuing resolutions: to open the national parks, pay veterans benefits and fund the Washington district.  The Senate quashed all three. 

Republicans are feeling pressure from all sides to capitulate to the president.  The media is reporting story after story of the hardship being caused by the shutdown.  Polls show that 72% of Americans oppose the government shutdown as a means to defund Obamacare.  87% of the country disapproves of the manner in which congress is handling the shutdown.  People are beginning to feel the pain…and they blame the Republicans.  Any solace they gleaned from the website difficulties is hollow at best.

Obama is not going to give up his signature piece of legislation.  So as far as we are concerned there are only two ways this can end.

The Speaker can put a vote for a clean continuing resolution on the floor.  It will pass with bi-partisan support.  But it will cause the Speaker his job and will make life difficult for more conservative members when they return home to their districts.

Or Republicans can hunker down, take the abuse and await the debt ceiling battle looming two weeks hence.  Perhaps tying Obamacare, re-opening the government and raising the debt ceiling into one big package will work for them.

Meanwhile people are suffering.  And they will remember this when they vote.

  

It's Official!

It’s official!  The federal government has shut down until further notice.

As the sun rises this morning 800,000 federal government workers will be furloughed. 

Another 1 million will continue working without pay.

Tens of millions of Americans dependent on government services will wonder how they will get through the day.

The finger pointing will begin in earnest.  Who is to blame for this travesty?

For our money there is plenty of blame to go round.

Ted Cruz certainly shoulders some responsibility.  His calculated willingness to put his ideology and personal political aspirations ahead of the good of the country has left us with…what.  The government is closed while Obamacare, the very subject of Cruz’ ranker, opens for business today.

Then there is the Tea Party caucus in the House.  Thirty to forty Republicans sent to Washington by gerrymandered districts have brought the government to its knees.  Through the use of fear mongering and obstructionist tactics they have swept aside the results of two national elections to impose their will.   

Certainly Speaker Boehner shares some responsibility.  Unable to control his own caucus he has allowed the inmates to run the asylum.  As Speaker he had the power to avoid the shutdown.  He could have brought a “clean” continuing resolution to the floor and it would have passed with b-partisan support.  He refused, because to bring such a bill to the floor would have in all likelihood cost him his speakership.  Instead, like Cruz, he put his personal ambitions ahead of the country.  He may well be remembered for his efforts as the most ineffective Speaker in our history.

Finally, there is the president.  For five years he has refused to participate in the deal making and cloakroom bargaining  that for over 230 years have been an integral part of Washington politics.  Instead he made speeches hoping to persuade the people to do what he was loath to do…twist the arms of their local lawmakers.  When push came to shove the lack of any personal relationship with members on the Hill cost him and the country.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is out with a new book today titled “Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked” by Simon & Schuster.  Its release today of all days could not be more appropriate.

Matthews served as a long time top aid for the Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill.  In the book, Matthews gives his firsthand account of how O’Neill and President Ronald Reagan worked together to get things done.

By Matthews account O’ Neill was the consummate Democrat’s Democrat…Reagan, of course, the icon of Republican conservatism.   O’Neill and Reagan hated the other’s politics.  They fought tooth and nail and publically railed against one another.  But behind the scenes they worked together to move the country forward.  They respected the office and understood that they each had a job to do. 

Matthews tells us that for all their public disagreements it was O’Neill’s quiet behind the scenes support that helped Reagan forge his cold war ending bond with Gorbachev.

When Reagan was shot, O’Neill was one of the first to reach the fallen president at the hospital.  The government had downplayed the president’s condition which in fact was quite serious.  Matthews recounts how the Speaker knelt at the side of Reagan’s gurney, held the president’s’ hand, and the two of them together recited the 23^rd Psalm.  O’Neill then kissed the president on his forehead and withdrew.

Can you imagine such a relationship in the poisoned atmosphere of today’s Washington?

What we observed last night could have…should have…been avoided.  It is the result of a political atmosphere devoid of respect; an atmosphere in which compromise is viewed as treason.

Until that changes things won’t get any better.