Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Tuesday Morning Link Dump | Main | James O'Keefe Outs Media Gun Hypocrites »
January 15, 2013

The House GOP Is Ready To Cave on Sandy Pork . . . And The Debt Ceiling

A couple short items to put on your radar. First, if you didn't see it, here's my post detailing all the wasteful spending in the Sandy relief package that will be taken up by the House today.

Second, last night the GOP-led House Rules Committee blocked almost all amendments to the Sandy bill that would have trimmed out the fat. I suspected the GOP was ready to welcome defeat on this yesterday. Now we know for sure. They just want the issue gone.

There's something else in the air here in D.C. too. And that is the feeling, propelled by pieces like this one in Politico and this column by Ed Morrissey that conservatives in the GOP would prefer to get the debt ceiling out of the way so they can score points off of a government shutdown -- or the threat of a government shutdown -- in late March, when the current CR expires.

This seems, to me, to be skipping past the immediate problem, the debt ceiling, in favor of fantasizing about a supposedly easier fight to be had months from now. My concern is what form a debt ceiling deal will take since these folks are so obviously telegraphing their disinterest in fighting that battle. In case you were wondering, that sound you hear is Speaker Boehner's leverage slamming the door on its way out.

This is doubly confusing because not only is the debt ceiling our immediate problem, but it is the only one of the two on which we poll better. Whereas the public at least says it supports spending cuts equal to the amount we raise the debt ceiling (they say this, but I'm not sure they mean it), the public absolutely hates government shutdowns.

Shutdowns poll terribly. That's why both parties try so hard to avoid them. But Ed and Politico's GOP whisperers are kidding themselves if they think that Sen. Reid will take the blame for the next one, particularly because Ed and Politico's GOP whisperers have gone to such lengths to explicitly describe this GOP strategy and detail its benefits. That type of talk does not exactly give the impression that the GOP wants to avoid a shutdown.

I suppose I should slightly amend that previous bit: shutdowns poll terribly, except in some deep red districts. That's more truthful and it gets to the heart of the issue here. Most Republican congressmen want to avoid a shutdown because their constituents want it avoided. They're not looking to upset their constituents and that's reasonable since the alternative is a Democrat in that seat.

However, a small group of congressmen come from such solid red districts that they could threaten to close the government for months and they'd never face even the threat of electoral punishment for it. In fact, some of these districts would welcome not just the threat of a government shutdown, but an actual government shutdown. Which means their priorities are exactly opposite the priorities of most of their GOP colleagues.

Do you see where this is going? Because it is a repeat of the Plan B debacle. The Safe Republicans from solid red districts will refuse to cut a deal, even one that cuts spending, because they can survive a gov't shutdown that cuts more. Meanwhile, Republicans in unsafe districts will have to go to the Democrats to cut a deal if they want to avoid losing their seats. And any deal that depends on House Democratic support for passage will be further to the left than a deal that had received uniform Republican support.

The far right,* because it refuses to work with their Republican colleagues on a compromise, will once again have impelled final legislation that is further to the left than would otherwise be the case.

Anyway, the course has been set. All that's left is to watch this trainwreck.

*Update: Several commenters are unhappy with my use of the phrase "far right."

What I meant by that was, as I had previously written in the post, those members who are from such safe districts that they can give their GOP colleagues the middle finger on the issue of a government shutdown. Instead of "far right," it would have been better had I continued to use the phrase "conservatives" or "more conservative members." "Far right" was too antagonistic.


digg this
posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:10 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Morning, insomaniacals! I actually slept about en ..."

Braenyard: "Stefanie Lambert, an election integrity attorney w ..."

Epobirs: "The offending file(s) will usually make itself obv ..."

Epobirs: "Max Gail (Wojo) is apparently still around. He has ..."

Braenyard: "I don't mind renaming a file but going through 50 ..."

Epobirs: "New Tricks was more a more conventional police pro ..."

Epobirs: "I've usually gotten around the problem by copying ..."

Jim[/i][/b][/s][/u]: "New Tricks was the Brit version of Barney Miller, ..."

irongrampa: "Sitting here listening to music, mostly oldies tha ..."

publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb): ">> says you have 3 files with names too long for ..."

Epobirs: "New Tricks was on a lot longer than that. 2003-201 ..."

Braenyard: "Those 4bbl Holley's are light on the gas if you're ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64