Thursday, December 20, 2012

GOP Revolt Forces Boehner to Pull Bogus "Plan B" Budget Proposal

Throughout Barack Obama's first term the lunatic fringe of the Congressional GOP (admittedly, a very large fringe in today's GOP) made it clear that they would rather damage the nation's economy and harm millions of American families rather than allow Barack Obama to appear successful or stand up to the ugliest element in the GOP base.  Now, with the so-called fiscal cliff fast approaching, the House GOP has revolted and (i) left John Boehner unable to secure enough votes to pass his horrendous "Plan B" budget proposal and (ii) shut off the lights and gone home for the holidays.  The potential damage to the economy and millions of Americans as a result of this childish temper tantrum apparently means nothing to these Kool-Aid drinkers in the GOP.  Thus, the dysfunction of the Congressional GOP is now complete.  Politico looks at this absolutely irresponsible conduct on the part of Congressional Republicans.   Here are highlights:

The House Republican Conference turned its back on Speaker John Boehner Thursday, forcing GOP leadership to abandon its plan to extend Bush-era tax breaks for income under $1 million.  After a full day of heavy arm-twisting, House Republican leaders were unable to cobble together enough support from 217 of their 241 members for Boehner’s (R-Ohio) “Plan B” proposal, even after Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) assured its passage.

It’s a major setback for Boehner, as his attempt to show strength in his showdown with President Barack Obama quickly morphed into an exercise in showing the limits of his power in the House. Boehner had Republicans on the House floor for several hours Thursday, and then retreated to an emergency, closed-door party meeting in the basement of the Capitol. During that session, Boehner admitted defeat and sent his lawmakers home for the Christmas holiday.

The debacle leaves him with greatly diminished leverage in the ongoing fiscal cliff showdown with Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and it vaults Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to the forefront of the tax-and-spending debate.  “The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Boehner said in a Thursday night statement. “Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.

Congress will now return from the Christmas holiday with a gloomy reality for the GOP: they are going to be presented with a Democratic authored bill as the nation stands just days from the fiscal cliff.  Even Boehner’s allies admitted Thursday’s surprising outcome was a big blow to Boehner, who often seems unable to control his younger, tea-party inspired members.

The reality is that the House Republicans just underscored the reality that the party has basically gone insane and is unfit to govern in any meaningful way.  One can only hope that if a solution is not found before year end that Americans recognize where fault lies and severely punish every Republican candidate on upcoming ballots.  If the GOP cannot put the best interests of the nation and millions of Americans first, their asses need to be voted out of office.

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