Editorials to Speaker Boehner & Congressional Republicans: 'Not Another' #GOPshutdown

With 9 legislative days until Tea Party extremist Republicans shut down the government again, newspaper editorial boards across the country are urging Speaker Boehner and Congressional GOP Members to stop this insanity:

Miami Herald Editorial (Florida) – No to another government shutdown

Is there another federal government shutdown in our immediate future?  That's how it's shaping up, if irresponsible members of Congress have their way when the nation's elected representatives return to Capitol Hill this week after the summer recess.

The immediate issue is a vow by ardent conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others…

Last time, they lost on the substantive issue, and the public blamed the GOP for the temporary loss of government services during the costly shutdown.

Yet, amazing as it may seem, they're willing to try this kamikaze stunt again.  They should know better by now.  They're likely to lose, and once more they'll be seen as disruptive and ineffective.

Baltimore Sun Editorial (Maryland) – Not another shutdown

The allegations that Planned Parenthood profits from this have proven untrue, and stripping the organization of a half-billion dollars or so in federal funding would mostly cost poor people access to birth control and other women's health services.

How crazy is the anti-Planned Parenthood push?  Take away the organization's funding and you increase the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country, which means more, not fewer, abortions.  So the budget fight comes down to this: A desire to shut down government and further sully the GOP brand (which is exactly what past shutdowns and threatened shutdowns have done) to pave the way for the abortions the perpetrators claim to despise.

The News & Advance Editorial (Virginia) – Please, Not Another D.C. Shutdown

Two years ago, from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16, the federal government of the United States of America came to a screeching halt for the first time in two decades.

Today, Sept. 10, we're exactly 21 days away from a repeat performance, and for no good reason whatsoever.

…we have the push to revive the economically important Export-Import Bank...we have…to act on replenishing the Highway Trust Fund...and we have the federal debt limit that needs congressional attention.

All of this congressional leaders knew was on their to-do list.  All of it.

And what did they do?  Nothing.

Sacramento Bee Editorial (California) – Lay off Planned Parenthood

Now Congress is back from its break, with fresh efforts to cut off Planned Parenthood's federal funding, even if it means wasting everyone's time with another attempted government shutdown or forcing millions of women to look elsewhere for health care and birth control.

The GOP should pull back before some unhinged person damages more than mere property.

Keene Sentinel Editorial (New Hampshire) – Congress has little time to stave off another budget crisis

…Congress has three weeks — actually, nine working days as of today — to reach accord on a 2016 budget…

If a workable budget can't be reached, we face another shutdown…

The Republican Editorial (Massachusetts) – Government shutdown would do only harm

…for a certain crowd of conservatives, there's another matter that's been at the top of their agenda: shutting down the federal government. Yes, that old chestnut.

The "shutdown set" might wish to rethink that move.  A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that the GOP would largely be blamed for closing down the government, just as it was in 2013.

But that's not all.  The fact is, shuttering the federal government as a way to deny funds to Planned Parenthood wouldn't actually do much of anything to the organization's finances.

A recent report by Politico cited a Congressional Research Service study showing that Planned Parenthood's budget would be largely unchanged by a government shutdown.

But fanatics seldom let the facts stand in their way. As the old saying has it, when the only tool you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Speaker Boehner shouldn't have to hold "listening sessions" with House Republicans about how to keep the lights on and fund the government days before it shuts down.  It is time to stand up to the extreme Tea Party wing and stand up for the priorities of the American people and keep the government open.