Push came to shove and the government had been shut down for 16 days. Now it was on the edge of defaulting on its bills and incurring added expense on monies it had to borrow.
One tenth of one per cent rise in rate on the national debt would cost taxpayers 15 Billion dollars. A half of a per cent rise would cost taxpayers 75 Billion. This was a serious moment requiring partisan fighters and fools to unite for the good of the country.
Bob Goodlatt failed the test but he wasn't alone, Robert Hurt from the 5th district failed also. Two thirds of the republican party failed. These folks knew that a default would drive up the cost of credit sky high and send the country into a tailspin and send us back into recession.
The elected representatives would have to come together and do the things that were best for the country and her people. The two republican tea party Bobs shouted dam the torpedoes and cast their NO votes. Digging a deeper hole, inflicting more pain and chasing their fools errand.
Over the past 16 days the country had been put on debt watch by rating agencies and 900,000 jobs had been lost and it had cost the taxpayers 24 Billion dollars. Bob Goodlatte, our elected congressman in the 6th District, stepped to the plate and struck out.
Bob voted for default, for shutting the government long term by destroying our standing in the world and running up our cost of borrowing money. Goodlatte and his tea party wolf pack demonstrated that they were reckless and irresponsible.
What kind of stupid consumes the mind of Bob Goodlatte?
These foolish republicans are trying to sell the idea that the Democrats shut down the government. Nobody is buying that republican lie. The last time I saw this mental derangement Ariel Castro was telling a judge the three girls liked being held hostage and raped for 10 years.
Enough of the lies and spinning Bob, time for you to explain your screwy actions. Explain why destroying the full faith and credit of the United States is less important than the thoughts You and the tea party espouse.
Goodlatte, Hurt Vote Against Bill to End Shutdown
Both houses of Congress have passed a bill to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, voted for the bill. Thanks to Mark and Tim for putting the country first.
The three congressmen who represent parts of Southwest Virginia – Republicans Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke County, Morgan Griffith of Salem and Robert Hurt of Chatham, voted against the measure in the House.
The bill still cleared the chamber by a vote of 285-144. Thanks to the 87 Republicans who put the country first and voted with the entire Democratic block. It is amazing that two thirds of the Republican party cannot put partisanship aside
even to save the country.
The bill still cleared the chamber by a vote of 285-144. Thanks to the 87 Republicans who put the country first and voted with the entire Democratic block. It is amazing that two thirds of the Republican party cannot put partisanship aside
even to save the country.
Republicans demonstrated a total lack of courage and showed that they will destroy the country to force their ideas down people's throats.
They are in charge of the House and nothing else and they use the trust the people placed in them to take the country hostage and attempted to destroy the government. You had better thank God and your lucky stars the republicans didn't get their way.
They are in charge of the House and nothing else and they use the trust the people placed in them to take the country hostage and attempted to destroy the government. You had better thank God and your lucky stars the republicans didn't get their way.
Please, Next Election, Throw the BUMS Out.
|
Republicans Dazed and Confused
The United States Congress has endorsed
bipartisan legislation to end a protracted budget crisis, pulling the country
from the brink of a looming debt default and signaling the end of a two-week
government shutdown.
The bill, a temporary fix
that will last through until the start of 2014, passed the Senate 81-18 with a
majority of both Democrats and Republicans. It then passed the US House of
Represenatives by 285 votes to 144, with a majority of Democrats bolstered by a
minority of Republicans.
"Once this agreement arrives on my desk, I will sign it immediately," he said, saying he hoped the next round of spending negotiations between the parties would be more successful.
"Hopefully next time it won't be in the eleventh hour. We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis."
Earlier in the day, House Republican leaders conceded defeat in their two-week battle to derail Obama's healthcare reforms on Wednesday, and said they would not block the deal, despite winning virtually no concessions.
With just hours to go until the start of the deadline set by the US Treasury for extending the debt limit, House speaker John Boehner signalled he was ready to accept a Senate-drafted peace deal that contained almost no concessions to conservatives who had driven the country the precipice of a new financial crisis.
The Republican capitulation was swift and dramatic. "We fought the good fight, but we just didn't win," Boehner told a local TV station in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Moderate Republicans, bitter at the wounds inflicted on the party by a fight that ended in an almost complete failure to achieve any of the concessions they had sought, lashed out at their conservative colleagues.
The standoff ended just after midday when Harry Reid, the majority leader, announced the deal on the the floor of the Senate. Calling for all sides to work together, he said: "Now is not the time for pointing the fingers of blame. Now is the time for reconciliation."
Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, acknowledged the fight was over. "This has been a long, challenging few weeks," McConnell said. "This is far less than many of us had hoped for, but it is far better than some had sought."
The deal, crafted by Reid and McConnell, will fund the government until 15 January and lift the debt ceiling until 7 February. It will force both sides into a formal budget conference in an attempt to reach a longer-term deal by 13 December.
The only apparent change to the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans had targeted when they precipitated the government shutdown, involves asking the Obama administration to carry out better checks on the incomes of people registering for insurance exchanges.
A senior Republican aide told the Guardian that Boehner had agreed to allow the House to vote on the deal, which in practice means it would pass with support from Democrats and moderate Republicans. The vote was due to take place on Wednesday evening.
At 3pm, Boehner hosted a short meeting with Republicans in the House. Sources inside said he effectively told his colleagues they had lost the fight, before he was given a tepid applause.
Several congressman leaving the meeting conceded that hardline Republican tactics, which forced a two-week government shutdown and took the government to the brink of an economic crisis, had left them empty-handed.
The White House welcomed
the Senate deal but cautioned that the battle would not be finally over until
House lawmakers voted in favour of it. "The president applauds leader Reid and
minority leader McConnell for working together to forge this compromise and
encourages the Congress to act swiftly to end this shutdown and protect the full
faith and credit of the United States of America," said
Obama's chief spokesman, Jay Carney.
"The president believes that one of the consequences of these manufactured crises is that time is taken away from the pursuit of other goals that we have as a nation," added Carney. "That includes ... the project of bringing about legislation that he can sign that comprehensively reforms our immigration system."
Recriminations among Republicans flew thick and fast, with moderates accusing House conservatives of trashing the party's reputation in pursuit of an impossible ambition to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, said this had "been the best two weeks for the Democratic party in recent times".
"When we evaluate the last couple of weeks, it should be entitled the time of great lost opportunity. If we had been focused on the rollout of Obamacare and its confusion, public support would have diminished. Instead, our numbers have gone down, Obamacare has mysteriously gone up, and other than that, this has been great."
Graham was scathing about the influence of conservative advocacy groups such as Heritage Action, which torpedoed a deal on Tuesday when it threatened to withdraw support from Republicans who backed it. He also warned of the damage that the party had inflicted on itself: "The way we are behaving and the path we have taken the last couple of weeks leads to a marginal party in the eyes of the American people," he said.
Ted Cruz, the first-term Republican senator from Texas who had led the rebellion against Obamacare with a marathon 21-hour speech last month, was unrepentant but said he would not stand in the way of the Senate vote even though he opposes the deal.
Underscoring the fault lines in the Republican party, he blamed fellow senators for failing to go along with his strategy.
"Unfortunately the Senate chose not to follow the House and in particular we saw real division among Senate Republicans. Had Senate Republicans united and supported House Republicans the outcome of this would have been very, very different," Cruz said.
Shortly before the Senate vote, Cruz took to the floor to urge his colleagues to vote against it. "This is a terrible deal," he said. "It embodies everything about the Washington establishment that frustrates the American people."
It was the worst of all possible outcomes for Republicans. None of their stated goals were achieved, and polls showed that voters overwhelmingly blamed them for the crisis. By refusing to blink, Democrats pushed Republicans to show that they would not let the US default on its debts, making it hard for the GOP to repeat its tactic.
Charles Boustany, a Louisiana Republican Charles Boustany, said the Tea Party-backed members of the House of Representatives had put the GOP's position at risk. "This could trigger a wave of discontent that could wash out our Republican majority in the House if we're not careful – it's getting to that level," Boustany told the National Journal.
However, conservatives were equally robust in return. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, admitted his side had emerged with "a goose egg". "We got nothing," he said.
Asked if his party had been damaged in any way over the last two weeks, he replied: "No, I don't think so. I think we'll find out in 2014, at the ballot box."
|
|
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
ACVDN
Don't Forget, Write In Jeff Price
Don't Forget, Write In Jeff Price
