The ever-evolving saga of Boehner's leadership is now entering a fevered pitch. Shockingly, even Obama is remarking publicly on the Speaker's lack of ability to control his caucus. Yesterday was to be a big deal for Boehner, presenting the latest proposal from the GOP to his caucus. The above newspaper article from the Orange County Register catalogs the daily ins and outs of the latest proposal, from opening hymns of Amazing Grace to the final KO from the House Rules Committee to table the bill indefinitely. (Note the time is PDT, so +3 hrs). The National Journal has a nice article written from two journalists who were in the halls of Congress yesterday, from an eye witness perspective. So, if this is the case, where do we go from here? Politico says no where but towards a default. Some members of Congress say, "No big deal." (Like Rand Paul) Perhaps the Treas will be able to find some creative accounting after all, even though they stressed they do not have the ability to do so. There is not even consensus in the public, as evidenced by the poll taken by the Pew Center below. And in the fall out of all of this (if we even make it past October 17th and beyond), where do constituents look to place the blame? Incumbents, beware. I guess the only good news to Obama is that the term limits save him from the humiliation of rejection by the American people. Can't say the same for his friends and foes over on the Hill. Speaking of incumbents, probably my favorite blame game quote comes from a Boehner insider... And if I look to the timeline above, is it conspicous that Cruz and Lee skipped the GOP Senate luncheon yesterday? I wonder what they have up their sleeve today for floor discussions about the Reid-McConnell bill... Perhaps this angle will save the Speaker? Asked how Boehner gets out of this mess, a GOP lawmaker close to Boehner responded, “With a clear, consistent history of what actually happened. … to remind everybody we had a grand strategy until Cruz played the stupid card.”
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I don't know if this is legitimate or not, but I found this to be an awesome example of inventiveness and peaceful protest from our federal workers. WTG.
Today, I needed NEEDED to have access to LOC.gov. Guessssss whaaaat? It is non-essential. Fear not! Here is your hook up, along with a few other cool websites about the shut down...
1. Archived .gov websites 2. Some fun visual resources... including my favorite which shows time in normal operating conditions versus non-normal operating conditions since 1976... 3. More visual graphics on the proposed FY 2014 budget... 4. And my absolutely favorite budget resource. You can find the FY14 budget broken out comparatively in an awesome visual feast. I have this one hanging on the wall in my classroom. Remember, this is only covering the portion of the budget that is NOT mandatory spending... Polling some great resources on the Shutdown... 1. What is open; what is closed. A great (and easy to read) list of what is (and is not) open for business. 2. Paying our Government Workers. Great for dialing this down to the most local of levels for students of federal employees. 3. A department by department break down of the shutdown. You can get a great feel for what is "essential," and what is not. What this does not get into are individual programs that are non-appropriated funding... or programs that are not policy based, but may be funded by "client" slush funds... 4. Primary Resource: OMB's Directive to shut it down. Fun to take a look at how these things work. 5. Who is to blame? Rs or Ds? Depends on who you ask. Just in case you don't know... 6. An example of how the shut down impacts "recession proof" DC suburbs. To illustrate a point of how these actions impact regions. 7. What Congress is doing between caucus, committee meetings, and floor debates... besides reading Dr. Seuss. Shockingly, they are fundraising. *** Here is an update on their fundraising activities... 8. And to make those of us in D.C. who are crying laugh just a little bit... Here is a little political satire to make your day. I started my morning off like all the rest of you... Government Shutdown. <<:/ SMH>> The media loves the storyline; coverage pulling us this way and that... Go to FOX and see what their talking points are, Go to MSNBC and rinse and repeat. But, we aren't the center of the world. I know our maps in our classroom make us think that. So, why not think about this from an outsider's perspective? Slate has a great little blurb on what this could be "spun" as...
Compromise rears its ugly head again, and we find connections between current events and what we have already covered. In the first unit, we listened to a <<short interview>> with Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein. Well, they are back on C-Span as Congressional scholars to talk about the dire circumstances before us in the shut-down. Great for extension or foder for your classroom discussions. They talk about their fantasy of a Congress that actually accomplishes something. I don't think that is happening. I am sure you don't either. The talk this week has also been on the fact that not only is Eric Cantor seizing control of the Republicans, but now Ted Cruz is jumping on board over on the Senate side of the buillding. Quite a crisis of leadership for Speaker Boehner... I wish y'all all the best.. Because all of the unintended consequences of not being able to promote the general welfare of our nation is really, well, bad karma. For the Rs and the Ds. And the TPs. (And the YOUs and MEs.) |
Photo via Flickr/Ted Eytan
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