Charlie Sheen still makes more sense than John Boehner, because at least Charlie Sheen is winning.Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips • Expressing dissatisfaction with the Speaker of the House. A topical comparison, sure, but is it really accurate to say that Charlie Sheen is “winning?” source (via • follow)
» Oh yeah: The next temporary deal could include restrictions that limit how and when the budget can be used – such as, for example, no money spent on the new health care law. Hrm.
» Oh yeah, fun fact: During the shutdown crisis, Congress and Obama may not get paid, thanks to a bill that the Senate unanimously passed today. At least that has bipartisan support.
Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money. We don’t need to shut down the government to accomplish that. We just need to do what the American people are asking of us.John Boehner (in expected statements) • Discussing the next steps his party plans to help encourage spending cuts. Note that he appears to be backing away from the idea of a government shutdown. Perhaps hard-line stances are proving a little too, uh, risky for the GOP right now? source (via • follow)
If Gingrich couldn’t control his hard-line freshman class of 73 members in 1995 — he jokingly referred to them then as ‘a third party’ — it’s hard to imagine how the kinder, gentler Boehner will control his 87 freshmen, many of them lacking government or legislative experience, let alone the gene for compromise.New York Times columnist Frank Rich • Offering the assessment of why the GOP should avoid playing the government shutdown game. It’s something that Rich says a number of GOPers are trying to argue doesn’t match the political playing field of 1995, where a defiant Newt Gingrich overplayed his hand too much and caused much embarrassment for the Republican party in the process. However, Gingrich doesn’t remember it that way, strangely enough. In a Washington Post column, he claims that he, on the other hand, plowed the way for much larger cuts in the ensuing years. Nice revisionist history, Newt. source (via • follow)
Give it up for John Boehner for figuring out a way to avoid a shutdown … apparently. The House Speaker, who just a week ago pushed through all sorts of crazy stuff that has little chance of passing, has conjured up a plan to keep the government moving. And it’s kinda what you might do if there’s a coat you really like from a place like Burlington Coat Factory, but you can’t really afford it right now. Some details of the apparent deal coming down the line:
Our pro-life constituencies are weary of campaign promises and empty rhetoric… We don’t want another symbolic victory.“Operation Rescue” founder Randall Terry • On the topic of anti-abortion politicians following through with policy. This came after the arrest of a group of six Terry supporters outside the office of John Boehner (who wasn’t even inside at the time), where they were demanding that the Speaker stand firm on defunding Planned Parenthood, no matter the Senate’s reaction. Not that Speaker Boehner can force the Senate to do anything, but procedural nuance isn’t always the strong suit of hyper-zealous, single-issue political groups. source (via • follow)
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The House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, said Thursday that Republicans would not agree to a short-term extension of the spending measure now financing the federal government without additional cuts, sharply raising the stakes in a war of wills with Democrats that officials say could lead to a government shutdown early next month.
The stopgap measure, which expires on March 4, has held spending generally to 2010 levels.
House Republicans are close to approving a spending bill for the balance of the fiscal year that includes the largest spending cuts in modern history — a swift, huge slash of more than $60 billion from domestic programs and foreign aid that they say would fulfill their campaign promise to shrink government outlays.
Read the rest at the New York Times
We had to school them quickly. We hit a lot of them very fast, and told them it was a cut in front of them today, versus what may or may not happen in the future.Florida Rep. Tom Rooney • Explaining the process he used to corral freshmen House members to help kill the funding for a competitive engine for a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter – against the plans of John Boehner, who pushed the bill on House leaders largely because the chief beneficiary, GE, is a major employer in Ohio, his home state. The plan, which would’ve cost $450 million, wasn’t to build the engine itself but to have a backup just in case something goes wrong. Rooney, a sophomore congressman, corralled 47 freshman House members to score a 233-198 vote on an amendment that scuttled the program. Not bad, kid. You’re gonna go far. source (via • follow)
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