Speaker Boehner & House Republicans Getting Closer to a #GOPshutdown
- The Hill – Prospect of shutdown grows
The prospect of a second government shutdown in two years is growing as House conservatives pledge to oppose any funding measure that includes money for Planned Parenthood.
GOP leaders face a familiar problem.
But Republicans in the House…don't want to negotiate with Democrats.
- Cleveland.com – Freedom Caucus opposition to Planned Parenthood funding could lead to government shutdown
A conservative House of Representatives faction led by Champaign County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan announced Thursday its members will vote against any federal spending bill that contains money for Planned Parenthood, dramatically increasing the chance of an Oct. 1 government shutdown.
The stance by the Freedom Caucus' roughly 40 members will make it harder for Republican leaders who control the House and Senate to a pass a bill to keep the federal government open after current government funding expires on Sept. 30.
A 16-day government shutdown resulted in 2013, when many of the same legislators who are in the Freedom Caucus demanded that any funding bill they'd support delay the Affordable Care Act's implementation and repeal a tax that paid for it.
…polls conducted afterward showed voters blamed the standoff on Republicans in Congress.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) says he won't vote for federal funding of Planned Parenthood, even in the face of a possible shutdown.
Asked to predict the odds that the government will shutdown over the issue, Goodlatte tells The Hill's Molly K. Hooper that he's "long been opposed" to funding Planned Parenthood and "will vote against funding Planned Parenthood again," adding: "where that leads, I do not know."
Meanwhile, newspaper editorial boards are urging Republicans to put an end to the #GOPshutdown threats and their extreme ideology:
- Providence Journal Editorial – Videos and politics
…some Republicans are threatening to vote against any budget that includes tax dollars for Planned Parenthood, something that could cause a government shutdown.
The tapes turned out to be deceptively edited, and failed to prove any wrongdoing.
…a cutoff of funds to Planned Parenthood -- never mind a shutdown of the government -- would end up hurting low-income Americans, especially women who rely on its services.
- Boston Globe Editorial – Holding women's health hostage to politics
…another year, another round of invective, another threat of a federal government shutdown.
To hold one organization accountable for differing political viewpoints — and hold women's health hostage in the process — is as wrong now as it was the last time around.
- Aiken Standard Editorial – Shutdown only brings more economic harm
…the country doesn't need a replay of 2013…Repeating such a stark reality could only do harm to the local economy. Also, on a larger scale, a shutdown would dent an economy in the U.S. that has strengthened in recent months and been a relatively bright spot in an otherwise volatile global economy.
- Houston Chronicle Editorial – Congress has work to do
When Cruz tried this shut-down strategy in a fight over the Affordable Care Act in 2013, it didn't turn out too well for his Republican colleagues. The party hit a record low in approval polls. Nor did Cruz help the nation as a whole, which suffered a $20 billion economic hit from the 16-day shutdown, according to Moody's Analytics. And in the end, the Affordable Care Act remained on the books.
House Republicans' continued dysfunction and inability to govern is having real effects on hard-working Americans who do not deserve another costly and unnecessary #GOPshutdown. But perhaps MSNBC's Steve Benen said it best:
Put a radicalized party in charge of a branch of government and the "new normal" is watching Congress careen from one self-imposed crisis to the next, with little to no actual governing taking place.