First of all, this is not directed at those that simply disagree with the tactics the Pubs took in the recent shutdown. Hell I’m a Pub and disagree with what they did. This pit is directed to the fucktwats that have no fucking clue what Congress’ job is. This is to the dopeheads talking about firing members of the House or having them arrested for sedition and then idiots too dumb to even come up with that asinine idea talking of what a fine idea that was. At least the person who came up with the idea was original in their dumbfuckery. The rest of you are just bandwagoners in the circle-jerk of stupidity.
So let’s examine why y’all should be deported because you are too fucking stupid to be Americans (and that’s a low bar to begin with).
Unless written into the law as mandatory spending (e.g. Social Security, servicing the debt) - in which case it’s not even up for discussion when making the budget - Congress does not need to fund anything. Back when Congress passed IDEA (the law helping students with disabilities) they pinky swore to fund it to 40%. That’s right, a federal program/mandate that wasn’t even funded completely. And guess what, when they refused to do even that and people complained, the told the SpEd advocates to go fuck themselves and they fund it to whatever level they want to.
So all of you who were talking about how it was “illegal” or “sedition” or “breach of government” when the Pubs refused to fund the ACA, learn what you’re talking about first. Oh and by the way for those of you talking about how the House hadn’t passed a bill. They did. It was that they didn’t pass the bill YOU wanted. A couple of you had intelligent arguments about the morality of shutting down the government over the attempt to defund ACA but for those of you arguing the legality of it, I notice you didn’t talk about the culpability of the Senate in all of this. Why is that? Because out of both bills, the Senate bill was the one you wanted. Legally both Houses were in the same position but you chose to support the Senate because of some legal argument you pulled out of your ass that had nothing to do with the law.
And for those of you who still are “Nuh-uh. Congress has to fund something when it’s the law no matter what.” How many times has Congress defunded a Federal program. It happens all the fucking time. Maybe it’s never happened on a scale this large before but withholding funds to kill a program happens all the time in Congress so take those example and learn something from it next time you want to argue that Congress can’t control discretionary funds.
I’m pretty sure that it is, at no time, Congress’ job to shut down the government, piss away billions of dollars due to the former, threaten default, destabilize financial markets, hold dozens of symbolic doomed votes to end or cripple a program that most Americans are behind in principle, or maintain a state of perpetual brinksmanship due to a five year long hissy fit over losing an election.
But yeah, if they want to defund a program without doing any of those things, I’m fine with that.
The difference between the Senate and House bills, is that the House said, “Do what we want or we’ll cause real human suffering and potentially dry-fuck the world economy.” The Senate Bill said, “How about we just restart the government and stop hurting our countrymen?”
Both are certainly legal, but hopefully the American public has largely learned that the GOP and ignorant, delusional dupes that vote for them are shrill children that need to be marginalized.
It probably would. Although, I think on the one hand, regulating insurance companies, getting rid of pre-existing conditions, helping the poor afford insurance and providing a simple marketplace, and on the other hand, needlessly starting a war that would kill over a hundred thousand innocent people… one might see a bit of rationale behind extreme actions for one and not the other.
That said, I wouldn’t have approved of threatening the world economy to stop the war either.
Oh, I understand just fine that nothing they’re doing is illegal. But if you’re going to try to excuse taking hostages to enforce tyranny of the minority, causing tons of damage to the economy, and threatening global default with “it’s legal”, then I’m afraid you’re off your rocker.
On top of that, the House voted on a bill and sent it to the Senate. The Senate voted on it, amended it, and sent it back the the House. So far BAU… then the House then sat on it.
Normal, everyday* rules would allow for a vote. They changed the rules, just for this, just so there could be a shutdown over it.
That’s the difference between the Senate and the House.
*when you’re not specifically trying to tank a single piece of legislation and intend to take the whole government hostage to do so.
The Senate allowed a vote on the House’s original bill. They voted on it, modified it, and sent it back. Boehner refused to allow a vote.
The Senate behaved differently than the House. It’s reasonable to criticize the House but not the Senate in this instance- the Senate allowed a vote, the House didn’t.
Also to the OP- all this blather about how the shutdown and threats of default were well within the scope of normal Congressional behavior totally misses the point, which is this: the House Republicans, in the form of statements and memos, openly planned to execute a government shutdown (and a threat of bumping the debt limit), took action to execute a shutdown, and many even celebrated the shutdown. They wanted a shutdown and they made the shutdown happen. Therefore, it’s totally reasonable to blame them, and totally unreasonable to blame anyone else. Boehner made the shutdown, and in the end, only Boehner could end it- and he did. It didn’t matter what anyone else did- he just had to allow a vote, and he finally did.
I’m sure the OP’s very next thread will be a well deserved pitting for the dumbfuckery of elected GOP officials whose job it is to *actually know the law *of the land hollering for impeachment proceedings on the president.
Right Saint Cad? Right? Ummm… you’ll get back to me on that?
Since congress apparently doesn’t know what their job is, how are we supposed to know?
The right way: If you don’t agree with a law, get the votes to repeal or change it.
The wrong way: Throw a stupid temper tantrum that shuts down the government and puts thousands of people into economic chaos and further degrades our standing in the world.
I am on record (possibly here, possibly not) as saying that IF the GOP failed to raise the debt ceiling, then that would constitute the sort of destructive action against America for which they should be rounded up and sent to Gitmo like the traitors they are. And I’ll cheerfully stand behind that statement.
I certainly do not argue that the legal authority would exist to do so, even under those circumstances. Just saying that I think that would have been the morally appropriate penalty if they had taken that additional step.
Now for just shutting down the government (and then being upset that parts of it they like were shut down), they should be widely acknowledged as the worthless assholes and jerkfaces they are. Fortunately, that seems to be happening.
Different issues, yes. The role of Congress is the same. Helpful hint: if you read the words in bold at the top of the page, it’s called a “subject” and it helps people understand what the focus of the discussion is. If you’re inclined to go into more detail, the OP (that’s shorthand for original post/poster) has a lot more words setting forth a thesis about the role of Congress in our country.
TLDR: he’s tired of people saying that Congress is required to pass funding bills, and not doing so ought to be a crime.
ETA: are you an idiot? You think money for the Iraq war mysteriously appeared in our nation’s coffers through no political decision making process at all?
Except that this president ran on, and was democratically elected on THIS issue. Twice. Who takes the White House gets to steer, not those that lost. A child could see it. An attempted end run, by the GOP playing politics while severely damaging a recovering economy. No regard for whom they hurt with their antics, or, it appears, shame.
THAT’S what people see. And they long ago stopped listening to anybody’s spin on this, right or left. And the harder the GOP spin the worse they look!
Willfully passing bills that you know have ZERO chance of being passed by the other house of congress AND the President? Not exactly Sedition, but definitely not doing their fucking jobs right.
Trying to guarantee a default on America’s debt? That is Sedition. Now, not all of the Republicans were walking that path, as evidenced by the fact that many of them voted for the bill that gave them nothing (Good Day, Sir!), but the two dozen or so who openly stated that they wanted to see us default? They should be removed from office, if nothing else.