Obama: I, Personally, Will Shut The Government Down

Own it, buddy.

If that's how you want it.

He's released a statement saying he'll veto a short-term CR even if it passes the Senate -- that is, even if both parties in both chambers of Congress agree to it.

Now, 1363 won't clear the Senate -- Scott Brown won't vote to defund Planned Parenthood.

And, in fairness, he's specifically objecting to H.R. 1363 and says a "clean" version wouldn't be objectionable. He doesn't define "clean," however. Does he mean without the defunding of Planned Parenthood? Maybe, but he doesn't say so.

Does he mean containing no cuts whatsoever? Possibly-- he leaves that open, and so he does seem to be looking for a reason to shut the government down.

Via Hot Air.

It's my belief that we should do something to get the military funded throughout the rest of the year (with a cut -- I believe the House funding plan is actually less than Obama's requested amount; it's not a cut-cut, but a cut from projected growth, so that's a "cut," I guess).

Once the troops' pay is off the table, and they cannot be held as hostages in this struggle, we can call Obama's bluff and let him shut the government down all he likes. The crap people care most about will continue.

Barbara Mikulski can whine about cancer researchers just one day away from a cure, but I think most people understand they've been working on that for fifty years and will probably remember where they left off if they have to take a break for a week.

(BTW: What the hell kind of doctor is 24 hours a day from curing cancer and decides not to cure it if his paycheck for that day's work will be delayed for two weeks?)

With the military out of the way, I think we'll be in much better bargaining position, because at that point, we can pretty much say: So shut it down already. See if we care.

Rewritten: I rewrote to include the fact that 1363 really has no chance of passing the Senate.

This story actually isn't as big as thought. It's mostly a gesture, because the thing won't actually clear the Senate.

The only effect it really has is letting Ben Nelson and other "moderate" Senators vote against it, without political consequences, because they can always say "The President said he'd veto it anyway so it wasn't a serious proposal."

posted by Ace at 01:34 PM

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