Republicans are not playing by the rules, they're abusing their power

[ProSense]

The "power of the purse" wasn't intended as a tool for Republicas to hold the Government hostage because they lost an election, hate a law or can't get what they want.

...They, in a word, hold the purse that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure. But will not the House of Representatives be as much interested as the Senate in maintaining the government in its proper functions, and will they not therefore be unwilling to stake its existence or its reputation on the pliancy of the Senate? Or, if such a trial of firmness between the two branches were hazarded, would not the one be as likely first to yield as the other? These questions will create no difficulty with those who reflect that in all cases the smaller the number, and the more permanent and conspicuous the station, of men in power, the stronger must be the interest which they will individually feel in whatever concerns the government. Those who represent the dignity of their country in the eyes of other nations, will be particularly sensible to every prospect of public danger, or of dishonorable stagnation in public affairs...

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fed_58.html

What we're seeing is Republican belligerence. They're holding the country hostage, people are suffering, losing pay and their goal is to deny tens of millions of Americans health care.

That was not the intent of the power of the purse.

Food bank sending trucks to feed furloughed Grand Canyon workers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023807835

This is happening because Obamacare drew a big red line in the sand. It's the one big social policy, which affects all Americans, that caused Republicans to flip out.

Think about what happened. The bill that passed automatically expanded Medicaid to 17 million Americans, and provided subsidies for millions more. Republicans hated that so much so that they challenged it, and the SCOTUS sided with them by making the expansion optional.

Republican governors and state legislatures decided they'd rather screw over the most vulnerable people in their states instead of complying.

The Cruelty of Republican States in One Chart
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023790604

That still wasn't good enough for the driven-insane Republicans. They proceeded with 43 attempts to repeal the law. Insane and desperate, they decided that shutting down the Government and threatening to blow up the economy would help them to achieve their goal. Sure the ransom list has expanded, but it was the health care law that caused them to lose their damn minds. FAIL!!!



http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023760563

Why Republicans are So Intent on Killing Health Care Reform

by Richard Kirsch

It’s not just about expanded care. It’s about proving our government can be a force for the common good.

Why are John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell so intent on stopping health care reform from ever taking hold? For the same reason that Republicans and the corporate Right spent more than $200 million in the last year to demonize health care in swing Congressional districts. It wasn’t just about trying to stop the bill from becoming law or taking over Congress. It is because health reform, if it takes hold, will create a bond between the American people and government, just as Social Security and Medicare have done. Democrats, and all those who believe that government has a positive place in our lives, should remember how much is at stake as Republicans and corporate elites try to use their electoral victory to dismantle the new health care law.

My enjoyment of the MLB playoffs last month was interrupted by ads run by Karl Rove’s Crossroads front group against upstate New York Rep. Scott Murphy, who was defeated last Tuesday. Rove’s ads rained accusations on Murphy, including the charge of a “government takeover of health care.” Some might have thought that once the public option was removed from the health care legislation, Republicans couldn’t make that charge. But it was never tied to the public option or any other specific reform. Republicans and their allies, following the advice of message guru Frank Luntz, were going to call whatever Democrats proposed a government takeover.

There’s nothing new here. Throughout American history, health care reform has been attacked as socialist. An editorial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December 1932, just after FDR’s election, claimed that proposals for compulsory insurance “were socialism and communism — inciting to revolution.” The PR firm that the American Medical Association hired to fight Truman’s push for national health insurance succeeded in popularizing a completely concocted quote that it attributed to Vladimir Lenin: “Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the Socialist State.”

<...>

President Obama and Democrats in Congress understood the historical importance and profound moral underpinnings of the new health care law when they enacted it earlier this year. And they knew that the right-wing attack had soured the public in swing Congressional districts and states on reform. They stood up then. They will have to stand up again, understanding that if they give way to Republicans, they lose more than the expansion of health coverage. They lose the best opportunity in half a century to prove to Americans that government can be a force for the common good.

http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/11/08/why-republicans-are-so-intent-on-killing-health-care-reform-26298/

Kirsch was director of Health Care for America Now, one of the leading advocacy groups during the battle to pass the health care law.

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

[ProSense]

4. Another.

Thanks.

[DJ13]

2. K&R

Blue links and all!

[ProSense]

3. Thanks. n/t

[ProSense]

5. Debt ceiling hike? Not without killing Obamacare, House GOP says

Debt ceiling hike? Not without killing Obamacare, House GOP says

by Joan McCarter

At what point does this qualify as pathological?

Speaker John Boehner may be trying to finalize a plan to raise the debt limit, but House conservatives are already skeptical of his efforts. In interviews, several of them tell me they’re unlikely to support any deal that may emerge.

“They may try to throw the kitchen sink at the debt limit, but I don’t think our conference will be amenable for settling for a collection of things after we’ve fought so hard,” says Representative Scott Garrett (R., N.J.). “If it doesn’t have a full delay or defund of Obamacare, I know I and many others will not be able to support whatever the leadership proposes. If it’s just a repeal of the medical-device tax, or chained CPI, that won’t be enough.”

Representative Paul Broun (R., Ga.) agrees, and says Boehner risks an internal rebellion if he decides to broker a compromise. “America is going to be destroyed by Obamacare, so whatever deal is put together must at least reschedule the implementation of Obamacare,” he says. “This law is going to destroy America and everything in America, and we need to stop it.”

“Stay the course, don’t give in on it, that’s what the people in my district are saying,” says Representative Ted Yoho (R., Fla.). “We did a town hall the other day, and 74 percent of people said, ‘don’t raise the debt ceiling.’” (emphasis added)

Harry Reid is right. It's insanity. More than 40 votes to repeal/defund/fold/mangle and mutilate Obamacare have been taken and have gone nowhere. Obamacare is now open for business, never mind the shutdown. Now, global economic crisis brought on by default could potentially put a damper on it, and pretty much everything else, but they cannot win. No matter what snake oil they bought from Ted Cruz.

None of that seems to be reuniting them with reality, however. Not when the default deniers are gaining steam. Because nothing has become more critical to them than keeping people from having health insurance.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/08/1245348/-Debt-ceiling-hike-Not-without-killing-Obamacare-House-GOP-nbsp-says

Tweet: Harry Reid calls out Republicans for not voting on compromise CR
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023809676

[ProSense]

6. Kick! n/t