You think the budget deal is done and there won't be a government shutdown? Think again! The media has got the public convinced that speaker Boehner "cleaned out the barn" before he left and there won't be any budget fights for the next year or two. Well Boehner may have got the barn cleaned out, but this is what he left Paul Ryan:
Some very good reporting in recent days is starting to show how the specific appropriations bills that need to be passed by Dec. 11, could turn into some real fights.
From David Dayen at The American Prospect:
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What the House passed on Wednesday and the Senate passed early Friday morning is not the final budget. It’s merely a framework for topline discretionary and defense spending for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.
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But once Congress has agreed upon the top line, it must go back and appropriate funds to the specific agencies and programs that make up the federal government. The House has passed six of the twelve appropriations bills, but the Senate hasn’t passed any, and even if it did, the bills would have to be rejiggered to account for the new funding levels.
Right now, the government is funded under a continuing resolution that expires on December 11. Sometime between now and then, the 12 appropriations bills, consistent with the new framework, must be passed to keep the lights on.
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For example, the appropriations bills on offer would cancel all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. They would prevent enforcement of a proposed Labor Department regulation to mandate investment advisers to operate in their clients’ best interest. They would cancel the Federal Communication Commission’s net neutrality rules. They would stop environmental regulations on clean water, endangered species, and air-quality standards for ozone, and block an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule on toxic silica dust in the workplace. They would exempt flavored cigarettes currently on the market from regulation. They would halt the Securities and Exchange Commission from completing rules requiring publicly traded companies to disclose political spending. They would block rules limiting the hours long-haul truckers can spend on the road without rest. And they would change hundreds of other rules, regulations, and funding priorities.
How can anyone argue that the GOP isn't a wholly owned subsidiary of American Oligarchs Inc. This is going to put President Obama and the Democrats in a very difficult position. The dishonest, deceitful, deceptive, lying Republicans are going to use their right wing propaganda machine to try and convince an uninformed public that it is the Democrats that are shutting down the government.
And from Greg Sargent at the Washington Post:
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Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee tell me that they are worried about the possibility of major sticking points looming over so-called “policy riders,” a threat that still remains...
This all sets up a very interesting situation for incoming Speaker Ryan. He has vowed to make the House governable again, and has sought rules changes to insulate himself from blowback from House conservatives if and when he makes governing compromises that anger them.
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But conservatives may regroup and mount a new round of pressure on Ryan to use these riders to fight for conservative priorities, such as defunding Planned Parenthood, rolling back or weakening Obama’s new efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, and so forth. To be sure, conservatives will probably expect their leaders to cave on many of these, but it’s still an occasion for more infighting between them and GOP leaders — and more conservative anger and disappointment towards them.
So here we go again. The challenge for the GOP nutcases, is to use their powerful propaganda machine and the ability to intimidate the main stream media, to convince the public that the Democrats are blocking the passage of the budget. The challenge for Democrats is to get the public to pull their heads out of their asses and start looking at what the conservatives in this country are doing to all of us and our children's future.
So if this turns into a real battle, the Dems might have a slight advantage. The Republicans have a debate scheduled on Dec 15 (for now) and the Democrats have one 4 days later on Dec. 19. Theirs is on a Tue evening, while ours is on the Sat. before X-mas (Don't get me started on DWS!!!). So if anyone is watching the Dem debate, the Dems will have an opportunity to call out the lies of those GOP liars, and lay the blame at the foot of the GOP where it belongs.
Don't put the popcorn away yet and hang on to your butts in Dec., Santa Clause may just decide to skip Washington DC this year.