# They're really gonna do it again. Shutdown 2015! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 9, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467 "2015-09-09T22:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/81 "2015-09-15T06:20:52Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Well, why wouldn’t they? The sequester was two years ago, IIRC. They won the elections the next year handily. May as well stick with what works. > > The GOP’s “Great Satan” is not the Democratic Party as such. It’s the labor unions, including public employee unions–most of whom vote Democratic, it’s true. If the GOP can induce enough public employees to quit, they can disrupt that power structure. It’s all positive utility from a GOP standpoint. It’s pure upside. > > Am I correct in thinking that this won’t affect all the non-unionized government contractors, like the guys recording metadata on your phone calls and emails, in the slightest? Nope - contractors get shut out, too. Union or not, if you’re paid under the wrong type of funding, or you aren’t declared essential, then you don’t work during a shutdown. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/82 "2015-09-15T10:02:07Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population is on Obamacare. The rest of us _don’t_ know people on Obamacare. Let’s try a variation on that, with changes in bold, to see how much sense that makes: Only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population is **gay**. The rest of us _don’t_ know people **who are gay**. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/83 "2015-09-15T12:32:06Z")
And they’re not, you know, our \*own \*people anyway, right? It could never happen to _us_, we’d never need it _ourselves_, so fuck 'em, knowhamean? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/84 "2015-09-15T22:58:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > In a way, you do, you tip them. I imagine wait staff fall in the hole left by failing to expand Medicaid. So no. (Depending on the state you live in.) But I guess that’s what you meant. Hm. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/85 "2015-09-16T01:13:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I doubt he tips anyone. That’s enough, right there. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/86 "2015-09-16T01:19:48Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > That’s enough, right there. No shit? Isn’t that kinda .002 on the Insult Richter Scale? Unless you happen to be a pizza delivery boy? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/87 "2015-09-21T06:23:49Z")
Now with a threat of Shutdown at a 75% chance. With pestilence and famine coming out of the Northeast at twelve miles per hour… > **[GOP-On-GOP Violence Raises Chance Of Federal Shutdown To 75%](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stancollender/2015/09/20/shutdown-chance-now-75-because-of-gop-on-gop-violence/)** > > With less than 10 days before the new fiscal year, Republicans still have to negotiate with each other before they even start talking to Democrats. > [@](#): > > Last week’s increasingly intense Republican-on-Republican political violence has convinced me to raise my estimate of the chance that there will be a government shutdown from 67% to 75%. > > Consider the following, all of which happened over just the past few days. > > The 40 or so Republican conservative representatives from the so-called Freedom Caucus who have been threatening to unseat House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) significantly increased their insistence that the continuing resolution (CR) needed to avoid a shutdown not be considered if it includes continued funding for Planned Parenthood. > > One member of the Freedom Caucus — Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA CA +0.00%) then resigned from the group over its threat of a shutdown > [@](#): > > McConnell also continued to say that there will be no shutdown even though, as I posted last month, it’s increasingly obvious he’s not in a position to make that promise. As definitive as they seem to be, at this point McConnell’s frequent statements about no shutdown seem to be more wishful thinking than leadership decrees and are not being taken that seriously. > > In the face of the House and Senate leadership’s effort to come up with a compromise, many primarily Republican anti-abortion groups intensified their demand for a shutdown aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, even if it ultimately won’t be successful. > > House GOP leaders offered to provide ways other than through a continuing resolution for members to demonstrate their opposition to Planned Parenthood, but the Freedom Caucus and its supporters rejected those options as meaningless gestures. The prospect of voting on these alternatives (one of the votes happened in the House last Friday) didn’t stop the shutdown talk and may have further infuriated those opposing funding for Planned Parenthood. :sigh: This is a painful demonstration of what is going on in the right wing info sphere, an echo chamber that has transformed the tampered tapes from Planned Parenthood into a “reality” that is showing how inept many Republicans are nowadays, useless on figuring out that one should not swallow their own propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/88 "2015-09-21T14:40:23Z")
When counting those “on Obamacare”, don’t forget to count all those people who have insurance now, but who didn’t before, but who _thought_ they had insurance. If you pay your premiums every month without a problem, but then as soon as you get sick and need insurance, your insurance company discovers that you had an undeclared hangnail back in sixth grade and you’re not eligible, then you never actually had insurance, you just had a scam. And if you had that plan but stayed healthy and didn’t end up needing it, you still didn’t have insurance. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/89 "2015-09-21T16:33:41Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > You were wrong to claim that people “forgot about the shutdown” due to problems with the healthcare website. Do you even remember your own overwrought characterization about “real people, people that we knew”? > > The vast, vast majority (~96%) of people in the United States aren’t on Obamacare, and were thus unaffected by those glitches. Yeah, those of us who don’t know anyone on Obamacare _barely_ heard about those glitches. I’ll bet it made nary a paper byline or blog post during that time (my memory is failing), nor was it trumpeted by the right wing media echo chamber to attack Obama. Wonder why they didn’t repeat the failings \*ad nauseum \*leading up to the mid-terms, to prove that Obamacare was failing?😕😕 Missed opportunity, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/90 "2015-09-21T16:36:56Z")
Less than nine and a half days until the money runs out! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/91 "2015-09-21T17:43:54Z")
Let’s just sit here with our thumbs up our butts _and blame Obama_! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/92 "2015-09-21T17:59:22Z")
I wonder if the House will even be able to pass a continuing resolution of any sort, whether it defunds Planned Parenthood or not. That may be above their level of competence. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/93 "2015-09-21T18:31:53Z")
There’s a theory that Democrats could join to pass a clean bill without riders, but that Boehner would be risking a vote of no confidence shortly after that. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/94 "2015-09-21T18:36:45Z")
Yes, there’s a large enough coalition available, between the Democrats and the sane-minority Republican faction, to pass anything sane. But Boehner puts keeping his speakership ahead of the national interest. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/95 "2015-09-21T19:27:55Z")
I actually predicted in 2014 that the current crop of Republicans would make both Boehner \*\*and \*\*McConnell cry. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/96 "2015-09-21T20:05:50Z")
Boehner was a gimme on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/97 "2015-09-21T20:23:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > But Boehner puts keeping his speakership ahead of the national interest. I don’t think that’s a fair criticism at all. He’s set aside the Hastert Rule of seeking a majority of the Majority to pass controversial legislation in the past, and it seems that he’s willing to do so again in the future. For example, he pushed a bill through the House that actually raised taxes on the wealthy with only 85 members of his caucus supporting him, and several times he’s moved debt limit increases – which prevented the United States from defaulting on its national debt – with only a couple dozen Republicans supporting him. It isn’t clear, however, whether he will do that this time. But insinuating that he’s only out for himself, and doesn’t take risks by alienating a large number of Republicans he’s supposed to be leading, just isn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/98 "2015-09-21T20:28:32Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But insinuating that he’s only out for himself, and doesn’t take risks by alienating a large number of Republicans he’s supposed to be leading, just isn’t true. OK, it’s only _most_ of the time. Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/99 "2015-09-21T20:47:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > OK, it’s only _most_ of the time. Fair enough. I just looked it up: it appears that Boehner and Nancy Pelosi have ignored the Hastert Rule the same amount of times over the same period of time, at least according to Wikipedia. Now, that doesn’t factor in whether you believe Pelosi put her speakership ahead of the national interest most of the time… ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467/100 "2015-09-23T13:09:55Z")
One thing that crossed my mind this morning that’s mostly been forgotten is **why** the 2013 shutdown came to an end: we were about to hit the debt ceiling in the third week of October, and that’s what finally forced the GOP leaders to come to the table. This year, we apparently aren’t due to hit the debt ceiling until sometime in November, so if the wingnuts in the House want to go all Green Lantern on us and say, ‘we can win this one if we only have the willpower,’ we could have quite a long shutdown indeed. Ol’ Charlie’s stole the handle, and all that. I don’t think it’s _likely_ that we’ll have a shutdown that goes into November, but there’s nothing _stopping_ it from happening the way there was the last time. My sense of things is that (a) there will be a shutdown, and either (b) it will be resolved in about a week or less, or © it will go longer than the last one. I’m rooting for (b). I need a small vacation, but it don’t look like rain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-really-gonna-do-it-again-shutdown-2015/730467.md?page=6)