Letter: Stop the partisan games
To the community,
So, it’s really happened.
The federal government has shut down, threatening the livelihoods and well-being of hundreds of thousands of families like mine. It’s a good time for us to step back and look at who gets hurt – and why.
Small businesses get hurt. They get important loans from the government. California is home to 684,953 small businesses. People who are newly eligible for Social Security, like my parents, get hurt – there’s no one to process their claims. Federal employees get hurt – they’re not rich to begin with and now they are going to start missing paychecks.
That’s just a small sample of who gets hurt because Congress couldn’t do the one simple thing it needed to do to keep government operating. And why? It’s due to a doomed effort by Rep. Tom McClintock and his radical colleagues to defund, or at least delay, the Affordable Care Act. Back in 2010, Republicans tried to block its passage and failed. They tried to have it declared unconstitutional and failed there too. And then they ran a presidential campaign that was based in part on repeal and they failed a third time.
This is patently ridiculous. Rep. Tom McClintock needs to stop playing partisan games and get our government up and running again.
Patrick Stelmach, El Dorado Hills
Patrick, your assessment is spot on. I only have one bone to pick with you, Radical is too soft a word. I’m thinking traitors to our constitution would be more apt!
Biggerpicture
The real problem is Harry Reid, The Republican Party has voted to keep everything in the Gov. running except the Affordable Care act. They want one year to have meetings and allow the Republicans to have some input into the Act.
The Democrats shoved this down our throats when they controlled both Houses and did not allow one single Republican to enter into the process because they had control and did not need the Republican’s.
The Republicans have sent 14 balanced budget Bills to the Senate and Harry Reid has not allowed one of them to be brought to the floor for a vote, I think that you Democrats are out of line and you will pay the price in 2014. You would be crying like a baby if the shoe was on the other foot.
Harry Reid is the cause of the shut down.
I’m am not a Republican or a Democrat, I’m an Independent and I try to see both sides and this time it is the Democrats or I should say Harry Reid that has not allowed even his own party to vote on a
Republican proposal because he is afraid that his own Party will agree with the Republican Proposal.
Shame on you Harry Reid.
Stop listening to Rush Limburger, Old Timer. The blame for this government fiasco lies squarely with the GOP, specifically the Pee Party.
The GOP was postively gleeful when the Shutdown was confimed. Several were quoted as saying, something like, “The sky didn’t fall,” mainly because their paychecks continued, while federal workers’ paychecks didn’t. The Democrats are simply saying, Enough!”
And, remember, when the GOP controlled both houses of Congress, and the Presidency, AND the Supreme Court, they shoved the Bogus Iraq War down our throats.
This whole thing is an example of how partisan our government has become. No longer are the representatives a voice of the people. 3 years of the inevitalbe, yet unable to compromise in the end. Unfortunately, change cannot happen with out change. If it doesn’t work, change it again. I believe we all do that everyday. Pity our government cannot do the same.
The actual problem WC it’s that one faction wants, and is working towards making changes that will take us into the future more easily, while the other faction wants to make changes that will send us back to the nineteenth century!
Both sides are to blame. There are tens of millions of people who dont believe that the Affordable Health Care act is right, so they did what they could to stop it which is put in people in congress to do something. This is America where people may vote as they wish. It is wrong and goes against the ideals of the constitution to call them TRAITORS. If the majority of America wanted this law the republicans would not have gained control over congress over this issue alone. The Republicans did offer to lessen the impact of the shutdown by funding some departments, but the democrats would have none of that.
Dumbluck and everyone else that does the same – how about keeping the discussion civil and stop the name calling? I don’t believe it helps your cause and for me it does just the opposite. I enjoy reading the lively debates but this type of thing just turns me off.
I might add that Obamacare was passed without one Republican voting for it. And it was President Obama alone, that exempted Congress from it. No vote in Congress, no law passed, He just went against the law and took it upon himself to say that Congress could be exempt.
Congress and the Senators should not except it if they were for the people that they represent.
If Obamacare is so great for us why is Obama and all of congress and the Senate exempted from it ???? Along with their Staffers and families ????
If it’s good for everyone then it should be good for them !!!
I wonder sometimes how the liberal brain works. The liberal brain isn’t capable of processing information that supports basic standard reasoning. For example: Obama is a Democrat (at least in name, though he falls into very nefarious categories as well, such as Marxist, Communist, Socialist, etc.). The Democrats control the Senate and the Republicans have a slight majority in the House. Basic standard reasoning would be to conclude that the Democrats are in control of the U.S. government and have been for the past five years. Thus the lousy economy, the continued various wars, the out of control national debt and the deficit, job loss, increased illegals entering the country, bankrupting of the multitudes of businesses, and the escalating racial tensions all exist because of Barack Obama and the Democrats. One of the latest Obama and the Democrats stunts is to close down the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Some Republican congressmen went to the Memorial to make sure the veterans coming from various states would have access to the site. They did this because Obama ordered the place closed and had government employees barricade the place to keep the veterans out. A piece at the Huffington Post called the presence of the Republican congressmen “grandstanding”. It goes almost without saying that the Huffington Post is one of the most liberal left-wing rags in the country.
Now this is where the liberal mind processes information according to a limited pre-conceived idea …
Barack Hussein Obama is a freaking liar. We knew eventually he would begin to frighten senior American citizens with the threat of not sending out Social Security checks. He wants to add more to the U.S. debt (like around $6 trillion in the time he’s been squatting in the White House) by raising the “debt ceiling” again. (the same debt ceiling he voted against as a Senator)
“If we don’t raise the debt ceiling Social Security checks won’t go out on time”
He’s lying.
Social Security recipients are paid from payroll taxes, not by congressional appropriation. Period.
The only reason they would not go out on time is if he delays them to punish Americans.
Is…or is not…Congress exempt?….it is not an easy yes-no answer:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/27/is-congress-exempt-from-obamacare/2883635/
Things could change any time on it.
Both sides are NOT to blame. The Tea Bag faction of the Republican Party are sabotaging our country trying to relitigate issues that were decided in the last election. Old Timer makes it sound like the Republicans were not allowed to vote, they chose not to vote, big difference. McClintock parrots the GOP talking points and needs to go next election.
The point Arod is that they did not completely win the last election otherwise the house would not be able to try and negociate something new. If they won the election they would also control the house.
Heavy sigh…well, Patrick you are certainly entitled to your opinion. This is not how I see the situation. I tend to disagree with you on the causes. I do agree it is, to put it mildly, an inconvience that could have been avoided. But, it wasn’t so on to the next step of communication/negotiation and let’s solve this problem in a proper way.
Old Timer laughingly states: “I’m am not a Republican or a Democrat, I’m an Independent and I try to see both sides and this time it is the Democrats”…. blah, blah, blah.
Whenever you hear that crapola you can be 99% sure the speaker is a dyed-in-the wool GOPer who idolized and defended every action of R. Reagan, GHW Bush and GW Bush and only claimed their phony “independence” after their entire agenda crashed and burned in disgrace and they don’t want to admit their complicity in those horrific failures. Not coincidentally they parrot every delusional talking point from right-wingnut funded hate radio and foxnooze like the properly duped stooges they have become.
Proclaiming the centrist Obama administration as marxist, socialist, communist or such is just proof they don’t understand what any of those terms actually mean. It’s overwhelmingly obvious that one faction(teaparty) of one party(gop)in one segment(house of reps) of our government led by Ted Cruz and the 35-40 uber-crazies have caused this shutdown. There is no “both sides are to blame” on this one.
Teabagger: Can I burn down your house?
Dems:No
Teabagger:How about just the 2nd floor?
Dems: No
Teabagger:How about the garage?
Dems:No
Teabagger:Well let’s discuss what stuff inside the house we can burn.
Dems:No
Teabagger:Well what part of the house can we burn down?
Dems:There will be no house burning
Teabagger: Wah, wah, wah… you won’t compromise!
BijouBil
If Brains were Gas, you wouldn’t have enough to prime a red ants motor scooter. Why are you so blind?? you can’t see the forest for the Trees !!
The Majority of the American People don’t Want Obamacare, what don’t you understand ???
Alot of heat, but not much light is being disseminated by the Republicans(or most of them). Excuse me, when a law is passed and it is upheld by the Supreme Court, isn’t it the law of the land?
It seems to me that the Democrats got a watered down version of what they really wanted in the Affordable Care Act. It seems that they compromised.
A take no prisoners attitude, and then passing parts of special funding for veterans is a partisan way of trying to use the patriotism card as if they(the republicans) own the country more than Democrats or that they are more concerned about children than the Dems.vis a vis special funding
I believe that most people, whatever their votes in the past may have been can see that a photo op with a veteran being kissed by that exgovernor of Alaska is a blatant manipulatio of public opinion.
People see through this. Give me a break. Government workers and contractors have families too, and they need to pay mortgages and utilities, and many do not have the cushion that wealthy members of congress have, who apparently have enough to donate their salaries to their favorite charities. Why not put that money into an escrow account for children who have been denied food stamps?
Government Shutdown – Caused 100% by Republicans/ Teabaggers, Pure Extortion on America, 100% Obstructionism and Prejudice against Obama ! Guaranteed non- Repub election in 2016 !
I am surprised that the Republicans didn’t use this opportunity to get a real win. They could have easily gotten meaningful tort reform through the Democrats. It was a slam dunk, but are instead we get nothing of value from this.
Vietnam war all over again. Government spending on foreign police actions was expensive, citizens figured their health was a priority too. Johnson does medicare. Flash forward around 50 years, weapons were improved upon for the middle east policing, the whole babysitting operation was funded through debt, citizens want an upgraded health care system too.
As for McClintock’s staff who apparently feels balancing the budget involves taking a person’s $1K a month disability check that is spent on college with no help from rehab, to be whittled down to $750 a month to make sure they stay on disability.If this is the true mode of operation of McClintock’s staff, hopefully this is negated in the future.