Money ain’t a thing.
After a meeting with President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared optimistic that Republicans and Democrats would reach a budget compromise and avoid a government shutdown.
This morning, that optimism seems to have left the building.
“I am not nearly as optimistic, and that’s an understatement, as I was 11 hours ago,” Reid said today, according to the New York Times‘ Caucus blog. “The only thing holding up an agreement is ideology.”
No shit. That’s what the budget debate has been about this entire time. Not to beat a dead horse, but everyone knows that cutting $61 billion from discretionary spending for a single fiscal year is about as frugal as deciding to order the second most expensive bottle of champagne at the 40/40 Club.
Democrats don’t want to concede on that figure because if they do, they forfeit practically all their clout for the remainder of forever. Talks have put a compromise figure somewhere in the neighborhood of $30-$40 billion, but Republicans insist that’s bull. Yes, a government shutdown is looming because the GOP is only getting two-thirds of what it wants.
What aren’t Republicans getting? To hear Harry Reid tell it, negotiations around a compromise figure keep getting snagged on Republican proposals to restrict federal financing of abortion providers and changes to the Clean Air Act.
Leaving aside the fact that abortion is a medical procedure performed by medical professionals and should therefore enjoy the same federal dollars our government has deemed wise to spend on public health, to shut down the government over the chump change Washington spends on the procedure is nothing short of ludicrous. The government’s relationship with abortion, as well as its relation with the environment, are conversations that are absolutely worthwhile—so worthwhile that they require completely separate debates. Attempting action on these issues in the context of a budget debate, prompting gridlock (which Republicans had to know would happen) and endangering the livelihood of nearly one million government employees in addition to freezing public services, is profoundly irresponsible.
A compromise involves each side giving up something they want in order to get something they want. Right now, the Republican leverage amounts to controlling one house of one branch of government. The minority party in Washington, they’ve been met more than halfway by Democrats and still aren’t satisfied.
A plurality of 37 percent of Americans say they would blame Republicans for a shutdown. They would be right. It’s the Tea Party caucus that’s pressured House Republicans to leave Dems’ spending cut concessions on the table. It’s the Tea Party caucus holding rallies on Capitol Hill calling for the government to shut down. It’s the Republican party that did the exact same thing 15 years ago.
Of course, this all could have been avoided if Congressional Democrats had done their fucking job last year and passed a budget like they were supposed to. There’s no shortage of blame to go around for this shutdown, which is almost a certainty, unless today’s meeting between Obama, Reid and Boehner (happening as I write this) manages an about-face. I’m not holding my breath.
Just remember: When everything grinds to a halt, it will not be in the name of fiscal responsibility. It will be in the name of ideology; Harry Reid is right about that much. The only thing standing between Americans and a government that works for them is the Republican agenda.
April 07, 2011 at 7:52 pm, Dr Ned said:
The only thing standing between Americans and a government that works for them is [religion]. Like you said the only difference between abortion being covered under public health and not is crazy religious nuts who made important life decisions based on some fictional man in the sky.
April 08, 2011 at 7:23 pm, unorthodox said:
Let’s not forget that Planned Parenthood is not legally allowed to allocate federal funds for abortions. It’s called the Hyde Amendment. That money goes towards all the other essential services PP provides, like screening for breast, cervical and testicular cancers; pregnancy testing and pregnancy options counseling; testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases; comprehensive sexuality education, menopause treatments; vasectomies and tubal ligations. Only 2-3% of PP’s clients have abortions. Keep in mind, research has shown that abortion rates are about the same in countries where abortion is legal and in countries where it’s illegal.
April 08, 2011 at 7:35 pm, unorthodox said:
By the way, do you know who signed the ‘Family Planning Services and Population Research Act’ which first allowed funding to PP?
Yup, Richard Nixon in 1970…. and the the republicans supported the bill because they saw it as a way to keep people off welfare. What do you think will happen to welfare if we cut this spending?
April 07, 2011 at 10:26 pm, At Peace Girl said:
Once upon a time the States had more power than the Federal government. De-centralization of power was key to the framers ideal of the check and balance system. To the point if a State representative didn’t deliver to his constituents he was summoned home with great expediency; not left to raise money in their last year of their term to fund their war chest for the next set of scheduled errors in governing our Republic. Presently our newly elected officials are struggling with accomplishing what they were sent to our Nation’s capitol to achieve. They better start doing it right, to borrow lyrics from Genesis’ Dance on a Volcano. The American people should and will demand it—and quickly, too, you bastards. Because the “fictional man in the sky” will demand it, too. And please, if you don’t have a belief in a Creator you missed the Divine accident that is this great Nation. You cannot possibly believe that the United States of America and the Republic was just luck???!!! Where’s that prayer closet that was built in the Capitol building? Read your Bill of Rights, my God man, how about the Declaration of Independence. Every vision the framers had for this country and it’s people was formed in a God-based religious belief system. We are all answerable if not to God, than at least to each other–do you make your living murdering unborn human beings–I hate that my tax dollars go to fund that murderous endeavor!!! Please, Doc, you should have majored in philosophy instead.
April 07, 2011 at 11:06 pm, Iferness54 said:
The last time I checked, abortion was legal. If you don’t want federal money to be spent on abortion, then work to make abortion illegal. Until then, you have no basis for demanding restrictions on federal funding of a legal activity. Personally, I’m opposed to the wars we are fighting in the Middle East. I’ve written to my representatives to express my views. However, despite my opposition, my tax dollars are still being used to kill men, women and children in the name of homeland security. The Tea Party republicans should stop holding up our budget for their social agenda.
April 08, 2011 at 1:57 am, Jdavis said:
Of course abortion is legal but it does not have to be paid for by the government. If you want to kill a human life, pay for it yourself.
April 08, 2011 at 2:17 am, Iferness54 said:
A fetus in the first trimester of pregnancy is not a human life. It cannot survive outside the uterus. On the other hand, an 18-year-old soldier is definitely a human life that is being killed with government funding.
April 08, 2011 at 7:10 pm, Just a Guy said:
So, just to be clear, if a “potential human” cannot survive outside a uterus, then it’s not a human life. Is there a time limit on how long it can survive? For instance a 1 month old baby could last a few days on its own before starving to death, so it’s not a human life. Or does it only apply when it would live less than an hour, maybe a couple minutes. Are premies that are kept alive on respirators human lives? and if so, then, theoretically if a baby could be kept alive outside a womb from conception through some breakthrough in technology, does that then make it a human life? I’m just a little confused by your logic.
April 08, 2011 at 8:50 pm, Stephanie Kornblum said:
I think she’s referring to the fact that a fetus is like a parasite and needs to feed off the mother in order to survive and grow. @Just A Guy you make a good point though. How do you feel if she aborts before the thing becomes a fetus?
April 08, 2011 at 8:57 pm, me said:
The government doesn’t provide any funding for abortions. The government funding for Planned Parenthood goes toward other services that they provide.
April 08, 2011 at 9:01 pm, Stephanie Kornblum said:
The government doesn’t pay for abortions. Google Hyde Amendment.
April 08, 2011 at 12:29 am, Stop funding war said:
I agree! Imagine how much we spend on war that could be avoided. Preache it. Shut down the industrial military machine. That fictional man in the sky would be ashamed of what are war machine does.
April 08, 2011 at 4:39 am, Betsy O'Leary said:
Well, you are not factually correct on many of your points. Approximately 98% of the signers of the Declaration were Masons, which is not based in Christianity per se. Additionally, most were Deists, not Theists. Deists believe that God created the universe and just let it be with no further intervention on His part. Theists believe that while God created the universe, He remains actively involved in it. You will not find a single reference to either God or Jesus, Christianity or its Bible in the document, and that is because our Constitution did not support the idea of divine authority under God, which was what was up until then accepted. The Constitution gave back the ultimate power of government to its people instead. We were given freedom of religion, which prohibited establishment of any state religion.
Referemce the Teaty of Tripoli, Article 11, signed Nov.4, 1796 (while John Adams was president), which further defines this concept explicitly:
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
I understand that this can be a hard concept to accept, especially since it has been promulgated throughout the years that our founding fathers were Christians, but do your own research and you will see the truth for yourself.
I am a Christian, by the way.
April 08, 2011 at 6:24 pm, john charles webb jr said:
The entire Freemason cosmology is based upon two vital items :
1) The Belief in a ‘Higher Power’ (choose one from many religions)
and
2) embracing ethics
It is believed that our “inalienable rights’ (life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness) come from “God” . (The God of one’s personal choice) .
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (From : The Declaration of Independence)
April 08, 2011 at 6:26 pm, john charles webb jr said:
we do NOT , it seems ,
get any ‘rights’ what-so-ever
from women :
April 08, 2011 at 6:24 pm, john charles webb jr said:
The entire Freemason cosmology is based upon two vital items :
1) The Belief in a ‘Higher Power’ (choose one from many religions)
and
2) embracing ethics
It is believed that our “inalienable rights’ (life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness) come from “God” . (The God of one’s personal choice) .
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (From : The Declaration of Independence)
April 07, 2011 at 10:26 pm, At Peace Girl said:
Once upon a time the States had more power than the Federal government. De-centralization of power was key to the framers ideal of the check and balance system. To the point if a State representative didn’t deliver to his constituents he was summoned home with great expediency; not left to raise money in their last year of their term to fund their war chest for the next set of scheduled errors in governing our Republic. Presently our newly elected officials are struggling with accomplishing what they were sent to our Nation’s capitol to achieve. They better start doing it right, to borrow lyrics from Genesis’ Dance on a Volcano. The American people should and will demand it—and quickly, too, you bastards. Because the “fictional man in the sky” will demand it, too. And please, if you don’t have a belief in a Creator you missed the Divine accident that is this great Nation. You cannot possibly believe that the United States of America and the Republic was just luck???!!! Where’s that prayer closet that was built in the Capitol building? Read your Bill of Rights, my God man, how about the Declaration of Independence. Every vision the framers had for this country and it’s people was formed in a God-based religious belief system. We are all answerable if not to God, than at least to each other–do you make your living murdering unborn human beings–I hate that my tax dollars go to fund that murderous endeavor!!! Please, Doc, you should have majored in philosophy instead.
April 08, 2011 at 6:13 pm, john charles webb jr said:
some budget insight :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12776418
April 09, 2011 at 6:27 am, john charles webb jr said:
Federal shutdown averted at last minute :
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0409/Federal-shutdown-averted-at-last-minute
April 09, 2011 at 6:29 am, john charles webb jr said:
shoot , i was looking forward to having some real ‘rights’ !
April 10, 2011 at 3:44 am, Adrian said:
The only thing standing between American and a government that works is that we can’t be racist to orange people!