Shut ‘Er Down?

The big “talk” these days—on the front pages of newspapers, on all the Sunday news shows, and all over social media—is about the effort to “defund” Obamacare as part of a Continuing Resolution, and the possibility (now likelihood) of a government shutdown come Tuesday (the old fiscal year ends, and the new one begins, at midnight on Monday night).

Sen. Ted Cruz’s valiant effort of a 21 hour filibuster-that-wasn’t-really-a-filibuster-but-really-just-a-long-speech, brought great attention to the “Defund” effort.  He was joined by several senators—most notably Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Jim Inhofe and Marco Rubio.  Those senators came to the floor and asked him extended questions (presumably to allow his voice a chance to rest, and perhaps to get a drink of water—although Senate rules are not only arcane but draconian—he would lose control of the floor if he had sat down, left to use the restroom, etc.). 

Cruz showed himself to be quite impressive in his holding of the floor.  Had it been most people (well, at least me and many I know) they would have been drooling, babbling, crossing their legs, and generally making little logical sense toward the end. Senator Cruz, however, in the last couple of hours, was answering questions posed to him cogently, and seemed ready to go longer, had the rules allowed.

The occasional Democrat who came to the floor to ask questions (and later expressed their own opinions) struck a far-from-reasonable tone.  Rather, they sounded more like 7 year olds who weren’t happy that their friend wanted to play with Legos while they wanted to swing.  The rhetoric devolved into name calling (“Tea Party Anarchists” was my favorite) on the Senate floor. 

Sen. Cruz’s effort was intended to convince primarily the Republicans in the Senate—but any friendly Democrats, as well—not to vote for cloture on the consideration of the House Continuing Resolution 59 (which defunded Obamacare but fully funded the government otherwise), as it was, because Majority Leader Harry Reid had already filed an amendment to remove the “defunding” provision from the CR.  If cloture was invoked, then all amendments and the final version of the CR could be approved in the Senate with a simple majority, which the Democrats have.

Nineteen Republicans stood against cloture, and ultimately, against funding Obamacare.  Twenty-five Republicans voted with the Democrats (although many of them later voted against the CR, presumably so that they could say (as John Kerry once did) that they were for it before they were against it.

The Resolution returned to the House, and somewhat surprisingly, the House has now taken a bold stand—a bit of a compromise, but not one that will likely win in the end.  They voted against Reid’s amended CR, and have sent over a new one to the Senate—one that would (among other things)—delay implementation of Obamacare for another year.  Senator Reid has indicated that the Democrats won’t buy that, and given the time constraints, it seems likely that there will be no money to authorized to fund the government come Tuesday morning, and we’ll see a shut-down of some sort.

I understand the problem of military pay, Social Security payments, and so on.  I also understand that federal government employees—whether I like their jobs and functions or not—are workers who likely depend on a regular paycheck.  But I tend to think that the Republicans are right in drawing this line in the sand, and it’s encouraging to see them show some guts (well, except for the 25 in the Senate who didn’t…).

The problem is staggering.  I frankly am not sure how it’s possible to dig ourselves out.  The video above suggests the only answer: we have to seriously reconsider what we expect government to do.

LE

Comments

[Georg Thomas]

Great post, by my favourite politician!

Are you happy with how things are going for you, especially in terms of your own political goals?

Is the sequester-issue a central theme in your daily political work?

[Laura Ebke]

Hi Georg. Thanks for the kind words. And thanks for keeping things alive here. I have lots of good intentions about writing more, but there seems not to be enough hours in the day sometimes...

Things are going well with my campaign. The Tea Party sentiment appears to be alive and well in my district. I knocked on a door the other day, handed the gentleman who answered my little introductory flyer, and he said:"Are you a Republican?" When I answered affirmatively (it's a non-partisan race, so I hope to get some Democrats voting for me as well and don't flaunt the Party), he said "Are you Conservative?" I felt comfortable saying "yes." Then he asked "Are you Tea Party?" I guess I'd never thought of myself in exactly those terms, but I'm pretty Tea Party-ish (although maybe more Tea Party than most Tea Party folks). So I said "yes" (not knowing whether he might be a progressive ready to slam the door in my face). He held out his hand, shakes it, and says "you've got my vote."

People are increasingly tired of government, I think. Not everyone, but the people who are paying attention and paying the taxes are certainly getting tired of it. :)

[Georg Thomas]

I am glad to hear your campaigning is going well.

I want you to win. You are much needed.

Your political success takes precedence over many things, rightly, least of which is this blog.

All the more, it's a joy to see you come back to RSE with your great way of writing and your wonderful observations and ideas.