GOP House Votes to Defund ACA with Continuing Resolution as First Step to Shut Down Government

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There is no better GIF to describe today's Republican Party in Congress then this 

This is a must read article from Think Progress which takes you through the steps that got us where we are today:

The Complete Guide To The GOP’s Three-Year Campaign To Shut Down The Government 

BY IGOR VOLSKY ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 AT 9:01 AM
As the nation races toward another budgetary crisis next month, Republican leaders are using the prospect of a government shutdown and the need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling as leverage points to undermine the Affordable Care Act — just days before uninsured Americans are expected to sign up for health care coverage — and extract additional cuts to government programs. 

(snip) 

Though Congress has already enacted approximately $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction since the start of fiscal year 2011 — 72 percent of the savings have come through spending cuts — the deficit has fallen to the lowest level since 2008, and inflation-adjusted discretionary spending is now below the final two fiscal years of the Bush administration, Republicans keep holding the debt ceiling and continuing resolution hostage, to achieve more cuts. 

Excerpt:  Read the three year path by Republicans to shut down Government at Think Progress

This is fascinating reading but at the same time makes your blood boil.  The very idea this bunch of hard right Republicans backed by the Koch Bros and their various organizations set out to shut down Government starting three years ago smacks of treason in my book and at the very least anarchy.  I am not a lawyer but this is orchestrated and seems like there have to be laws that have been broken including buying of the GOP in Congress by the Koch Bros.

Think Progress takes you through the steps starting before the 2010 elections when the Koch Bros Tea Party started taking seats in primaries belonging to more sensible people.  It is shocking to follow the trail but gives you a good idea of how it led up to the latest budget crises perpetrated by the House Republicans or as Nancy Pelosi now calls them Tea Party in Congress.  Today's GOP is a shell of its formal shelf and as I asked my Congressman today in email, "Why won't they stand up to the Tea Party and do what is right?"  

Posted this morning on an article on Huffington Post about the upcoming vote where the House Republicans tied defunding Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the continuing resolution to keep the Government open starting with the new fiscal year on 1 October:

Yesterday the heartless and soulless GOP voted to strip SNAP of $40B in a bill with 109 pages of crap.  Read it last night and struck me as being one of those bills that is long so you cannot figure out what they are voting on except we know it guts SNAP and puts a lot of rules in effect that are cruel.  All this from the Party that refuses to vote on jobs bills even for veterans. 

Now today, House GOP are trying to tie the hands of the Government by once again voting to defund Obamacare but this time they attached defunding language to the continuing resolution as a first step in shutting down the Government.  First of all the majority of Obamacare funds come from mandatory spending which the GOP House cannot control as they only can do discretionary spending or Social Security and Medicare would be voted on all the time as well.  They know full well the Senate will decouple Obamacare defunding language but then the GOP House would have to appoint members to the Conference Committee -- they are not coming back until Wednesday after they worked so hard this week (sarcasm) in their effort to destroy Americans.  The big question is if the GOP House will appoint any members to the Conference Committee or will they do like the Budget Conference Committee and ignore thus shutting down large parts of the Government and crippling others. 

This debacle belongs to GOP House/Tea Party/Koch Bros

As someone who worked for the Federal Government (Air Force) when the Government transitioned from a budget due on 1 July changing it to 1 October, I can remember all the promises that we didn't have to worry about not getting a budget finished with the extra three months.  We went through the 1T as part of the transition which funded the three months the first year.  What a bunch of crap from members of Congress -- they had three more months to waste.

Fast forward to Republicans in charge of Congress and one theme appears -- continuing resolutions over and over again since the 2000 election even worse then past years which shows how both parties have failed the process although this group of Republicans since regaining control of the House in January 2011 have taken it to a new low.   Congressional Research Service has put a report together showing how Continuing Resolutions are used and how many we have had over the years put into tables to make it easier to read.  There are a lot of members of Congress who owe the American people an apology and should return some salary for their roles in mismanaging the Congress.  Here is a description of the process from the Congressional Research Service:

Congress uses an annual appropriations process to fund the routine activities of most federal agencies. This process anticipates the completion of 12 regular appropriations bills to fund these activities before the beginning of the fiscal year. Over the past half century, the timing of congressional action on regular appropriations bills has varied considerably, but enactment after the start of the fiscal year has been a recurring issue. Until regular appropriations for a fiscal year are enacted, one or more continuing appropriations acts (commonly known as a continuing resolution or CR) can be used to provide funding for a specified period of time. 

Under recent congressional practice, continuing resolutions typically include as many as six main components. First, CRs provide funding for certain activities, which are typically specified with reference to prior fiscal year’s appropriations acts. This is referred to in this report as the CRs coverage. Second, CRs provide budget authority for a specified duration of time. This duration may be as short as a single day, or as long as the remainder of the fiscal year. Third, CRs typically provide funds based on an overall funding rate. Fourth, the use of budget authority provided in the CR is typically prohibited for new activities not funded in the previous fiscal year. Fifth, the duration and amount of funds in the CR, and purposes for which they may be used for specified activities, may be adjusted through anomalies. Sixth, legislative provisions, which create, amend, or extend other laws, have been included in some instances. 

Between FY1977 and FY2012, excluding the four fiscal years that all appropriations were
enacted on time, over half of the regular appropriations bills for a fiscal year were enacted on time in only one instance (FY1978). In all other fiscal years, fewer than six regular appropriations acts were enacted on or before October 1. In addition, in 11 out of the 36 years during this period, none of these regular appropriations bills were enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year. Five of these fiscal years have occurred in the interval since FY2001. For further information, see Table 1. 

In the interval since FY1997, the most recent fiscal year that all regular appropriations bills were completed on time, continuing resolutions have been enacted on average about six times per fiscal year. During this period, CRs provided funding for an average of four months each fiscal year. For further information, see Table 2 and Figure 1.

Excerpt:  Read More at Congressional Research Service 

What I got from this document is that our elected representatives have had a hard time working together for a long time, but it is even worse when Republicans are in charge from I have been reading.  Today the GOP in Congress or the better word "Tea Party" are much worse.  We heard for the last few years that the Senate didn't do a budget which was deplorable BUT they passed one this year in the spring and the GOP House Leadership refused to send members to a conference committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate.  Looks like they had their heart set on shutting down the Government on 1 October.  I would bet if President Obama looked back, he never would have compromised with the GOP in Congress because they are dishonest and cannot be trusted.  The lies that have emanated from their GOP mouths are frankly astounding and shameful that grown men and women would lie to their constituents like they have since President Obama took office.

We, as voters, have to start demanding that members of Congress do their job instead of wasting our tax dollars as we have been witnessing over the last few years.  Think for every day Congress goes past the FY date of 1 October for the budget, they should not be paid.  If they concentrated on doing their job instead of faux investigations maybe the Government would run better, but not holding my breath as long as the GOP Tea Party are in charge of leadership with their threats that leadership bows down to as they represent the Koch Bros who pull their chains.  How many GOP members of Congress are bought and paid for today by the Koch Bros and other large donors?  Maybe instead of faux investigations, we should be demanding investigations into Congressional Republicans after what went on with Abramhoff which seems to be worse with the Koch Bros.

This  GIF says it all about what today's House Republicans care about which is more about making America a theocracy then doing the work of the American people:

The worst House in my lifetime is run by today's Republicans aka Tea Party headed by Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor!  Democrats need to pledge that they will pass a budget on time and no more continuing resolutions if they are in charge.  Let's make it happen with a huge GOTV from coast to coast to send the Koch Bros Tea Party to the trash heap of history!