In the wee hours of Sunday morning members of the House were absolutely giddy of their 231-192 vote to immobilize the new health care act for one year as a precondition for keeping the U.S. government open for business.
Was something in the water?
Longtime Republican Sen. John McCain’s reaction to the GOP recalcitrance said it best: If the party wants proof of the general public’s feelings to the Affordable Care Act, look to the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012.
“Elections have consequences, and those elections were clear,” McCain said last week. “A majority of the American people supported the president of the United States and renewed his stewardship of this country.”
And if that’s not enough, look to the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court which verifies Obamacare, indeed, is constitutional.
Somehow, the message isn’t getting through.
The House proposal was pronounced “dead on arrival” at the U.S. Senate, where Democratic majority leader Harry Reid said it would not go before a vote.
If Congress does not arrive at consensus on a spending bill by midnight tonight, when the new fiscal year begins, government funding runs out and many services will be shut.
The current stalemate particularly does not bode well for an even more crucial vote scheduled for Oct. 17 to raise the debt limit.
If that fails, the United States will default on the debt it owes to lenders here and around the world.
This is no small thing. And has big business quaking in its wingtips at the thought of all the ramifications. This is not just an overdue statement that the country is a little late on paying. Rather, it’s an admission we have no intention of paying our debts.
EXTREMISTS in the Republican Party are tarnishing its image of being a friend to business, and to the country in general.
A government shutdown affects hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of services, from food inspectors to engineers. That’s lost human potential, productivity and capital.
Threatening people’s jobs and livelihoods is no way to govern, nor is risking the credibility of the U.S. economy.
Republicans need to recalibrate their priorities to keep the party— and country — on a track to prosperity.
