They couldn't block the ACA from being passed. They couldn't repeal it. They couldn't get the Supreme Court to strike it down. They couldn't elect a president who promised to dismantle it, or a congressional majority to do the same. The only alternative left for the GOP was to defund it.
The GOP defunding strategy has been on the table since 2010, and active planned for over the last year, with the understanding and even enthusiastic anticipation that it might lead to a government shutdown and budget / debt limit crisis. _That was the plan._
Oh, along with blaming the Democrats for the whole mess. That was the plan, too.
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
The stand by conservatives that led to the current crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort, waged by a galaxy of well-funded groups, to undo President Obama’s health care law.
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It's worth noting that it's not all of the Republicans.
It's the 30 sitting members of the Tea Party, who are willing to defund ACA at all costs, plus Speaker Boehner, who is so afraid of losing his job as Speaker that he won't stand up to the Tea Partiers with a stern "We tried it your way. You lose. Now we're doing it the right way."
http://washingtonexaminer.com/how-30-house-republicans-are-forcing-the-obamacare-fight/article/2536611
Which, when you think about it, when the whole process is stuck because of 31 people, it makes it even more sad than the case where it sounds like 200+ Republicans are cockblocking the process.
+Jonathon Barton – in Boehner's defense, I don't know if I'd be willing to commit certain political suicide. It's certainly a candidate for the "Profiles in Courage" originally publicized by John F. Kennedy and continued after his death, but many of these courageous people lost their jobs as a result. Take a recent Profile in Courage honoree, Gerald Ford, who probably lost his job as President due to the Nixon pardon; it took decades for some (including Ted Kennedy) to acknowledge that the country was better off because of Ford's actions.
If you look at the one of the source documents at the Freedom Works website http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/ryanriebe/joint-letter-on-sequester-savings, you can find this interesting comment:
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Steve DelvecchioThe Tea Party has a plan for YOU!!! Austerity!!! Cut Federal Spending!!! You don’t want any money. You don’t need any help. Cut the deficit; Cut the debt; Cut Social Security; Cut Medicare; Cut Medicaid; Cut unemployment compensation; Cut bank regulation; Cut stock market regulation; Cut commodity market regulation; Cut food safety regulation; Cut drug safety regulation; Cut the Environmental Protection Agency; Cut FEMA assistance; Cut welfare; Cut food stamps; Cut low income energy assistance; Cut child support; Cut Head Start; Cut NASA; Cut road building and repair; Cut bridge repair; Cut FAA safety inspections; Cut air controllers; Cut antitrust regulations; Cut FDIC depositor insurance; Cut immigration and naturalization services; Cut the Census Bureau; Cut federal prison funding; Cut all federal courts; Cut copyright and patent administration; Cut the Corps of Engineers; Cut customs and border protection; Cut the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Cut child nutrition programs; Cut aids to education; Cut the Endangered Species Program; Cut the FBI; Cut the CIA; Cut the NSA; Cut the Government Printing Office; Cut all federal museums; Cut the Smithsonian Institution; Cut the Job Corps; Cut the Justice Department; Cut the Military Academy; Cut the Naval Academy; Cut the Air Force Academy; Cut the Coast Guard Academy; Cut the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Cut the Library of Congress; Cut the Mint; Cut nuclear energy research and development; Cut the National Weather Service; Cut the National Transportation Safety Board; Cut the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Cut the Peace Corps; Cut the Science Office of the Energy Department; Cut the Secret Service; Cut the State Department; Cut the Strategic Command; Cut the Treasury Department; Cut the Capitol Police; Cut the Veterans Affairs Department; Cut The Weights and Measures Division; Cut the U.S. AbilityOne Commission; Cut flu shots; Cut The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Cut Congress; Cut the Supreme Court; Cut the White House; Cut the bankruptcy courts; Cut the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; Cut The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Cut The Economics and Statistics Administration; Cut The Bureau of Economic Analysis; Cut the Defense Technical Information Center; Cut The Department of Agriculture; Cut The Department of Commerce; Cut The Department of Homeland Security; Cut the Department of the Interior; Cut the Drug Enforcement Administration; Cut the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy; Cut the Department of Energy; Cut the Federal Maritime Commission. We don’t need money; we don’t need help. We are self sufficient. Let’s be like Greece.
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+John E. Bredehoft The catch is that Speaker Boehner is now in an untenable situation. Political suicide no matter what he does. I think we read the same article in the last few days, based on your Profiles in Courage reference. =)
I think his Speakership is a lost cause at this point. Better to go down doing the difficult, but right, thing.
P.S. I dig the end of that comment…