Editorials Slam Speaker Boehner's Embarrassing & 'Dysfunctional' Showdown
Washington Post Editorial – An embarrassing spectacle in the House over DHS funding
…the House of Representatives, where dyspepsia has displaced deliberation as an organizing principle, threw common sense to the winds…What should have been routine disintegrated into crisis Friday evening because the Republican right flank in the House prefers confrontation…to compromise. In the end, the best the House could do was to extend the department's funding by a week, thereby ensuring that the brinkmanship will continue for some or all of this week…
The House has become an embarrassing spectacle, and the promises of Republican leaders in both houses to govern without hop-scotching from crisis to crisis have been shredded. Speaker John A. Boehner's control of the tea party faction in his GOP caucus is so slight he couldn't even manage a three-week funding extension for DHS, let alone approving a budget through the end of the fiscal year in September…Now, instead of tackling major legislation, Congress will be paralyzed for more days — and perhaps even longer — as House Republicans continue to insist on measures to reverse Mr.?Obama's immigration moves that have no chance of passage in the Senate, no chance of being signed by the president and no chance of becoming law…it is reckless in the extreme to wallow in brinkmanship and imperil a key department of government…And it is certainly not what the American people want, expect or deserve from their lawmakers.
If House Republicans so dislike Mr. Obama's immigration policy, they have an option that is more responsible and more traditional than forcing a partial government shutdown. They can, as the Senate did in 2013, enact legislation to address the central problem of 11 million undocumented immigrants…It is their failure to do so that has sunk Congress to its current depths.
Wall Street Journal Editorial– Squandering a GOP Majority
Once again the fight comes down to recognizing political reality, or marching off a cliff to almost certain failure. The Cliff Marchers refuse to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without a provision barring the enforcement of Mr. Obama's immigration orders going back to 2012…That puts DHS on the cusp of a partial shutdown.
On Friday the House and Senate voted to fund DHS, but only for a week and only with the help of Democrats. Speaker John Boehner 's plan to fund the department for three weeks came crashing down when 52 Republicans revolted. The revolters effectively put Nancy Pelosi in charge of the House. So the GOP will now consume itself in more recriminations as it squanders more of its first 100 days.
The smart play now would be for Republicans to fund DHS and move on to more promising policy ground including the budget. Texas and other states that oppose the order have already won a legal victory when a federal court issued a preliminary injunction against implementing it…in every previous shutdown the voters blamed Republicans more than Mr. Obama. And if there is a terror attack, good luck explaining that Congress isn't to blame because those DHS workers were supposed to be on the job even if they weren't being paid…The immigration fiasco raises the larger question of whether House Republicans can even function as a majority…Republicans need to do some soul searching about the purpose of a Congressional majority, including whether they even want it.
West Central Tribune Editorial (Minnesota) – It is time to fund Homeland Security
…Republican leaders said they were done with dysfunction and government shutdown threats. Come February, congressional Republicans just could not help themselves…This latest threat of a partial government shutdown highlights the fact that congressional Republicans are still pursuing a dysfunctional course. They must figure out a way to prove they are capable of governing in a proactive manner.
The threat of this latest partial government shutdown shines the light on the chaotic Republican caucus in the House…It is imperative that a funding agreement be reached this week for the Homeland Security Department…If the DHS shutdown threat becomes a reality this week, the political shock wave may have a negative impact upon Republican political hopes in 2016.
Republican Editorial(Massachusetts) – GOP squanders opportunity by failing to act responsibly
If this is governing, what would failure look like?...On Friday night, Republicans in the House came perilously close to running the Department of Homeland Security into a ditch. When it became clear that the tea party wing of the GOP wouldn't go along with a plan to fund the department through the end of the fiscal year, House Speaker John Boehner devised a stopgap measure that would fund the department for a mere three weeks. But even that was too much for the zealots who just couldn't take yes for an answer.
Moving from crisis to crisis isn't governing. It's just more of the same dysfunction…Republicans were…given a chance to show that they were serious, that they could pass sensible legislation…Two months into the current session, they've done nothing of the sort. They've in fact done nothing at all.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial(Missouri)– A House, and its ruling party,divided
When Republicans took control of both houses of Congress last November, GOP leaders promised that the days of partisan showdowns and threats to the continuity of government were past.
Never mind.
House Republican leaders came in for harsh words — from Senate Republicans. "If you're going to govern, you have to act responsibly," said Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill…Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., moaned, "There's nobody to blame but us now when it comes to the appropriations process."…this is at least the fifth time since 2011 that Republicans in Congress have balked at doing their duty…This is how Congress operates now…the House kamikaze caucus wanted to fight. It's a fight they can't win, but it's a fight they must pretend…to fight, hoping that by November 2016 their constituents will have forgotten about it…The House should get over itself and pass a clean bill…
House Republicans must stop putting the politics of right-wing radicals over the safety of American families, and join Democrats to strengthen our homeland, protect the American people, by passing clean, long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security immediately.