WASHINGTON (CNN) – He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September.
Oh, hell yeah!
“But Gator, why the need for a government shut down?”
I am very happy you asked that question…
The precise maneuvering of a shutdown threat is complicated, but it revolves around the fact that key government spending bills expire when the fiscal year ends September 30 and Congress must vote next month to keep the government operating.
One of those spending bills, for the Department of the Interior, contains the hot-button provision banning offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf. If that bill expires, as it is set to do at the end of September, then so does the drilling ban. Republicans believe a majority of the House opposes the ban, and thus a vote on whether to keep government running could also become a vote on whether to allow offshore drilling.
So my fellow American citizens, join me in my call:
Daniel Horowitz
Neil Stevens
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Jake Walker
Last shutdown, Newton blinked.
Mark Kilmer (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 11:18AM EST (link)Gingrich blinked first in 1995, and that was the beginning of the end of that particular revolution.
Awww...
BigGator5 (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 11:24AM EST (link)Yes, but Newt isn’t Speaker of the House this time around. That honor belongs now to Nancy Pelosi now and Bush has little left to lose.
Educated (About The Issues Facing Us Today), Dedicated (To Making A Difference), And Highly Motivated (To Getting Things Done)
I would love a shut down - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 11:38AM EST (link)nt
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
A shutdown nets the GOP 8 House seats, 1 Senate seat
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 11:46AM EST (link)That’s my unqualified armchair analysis.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
Which ones? (nt)
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:03PM EST (link)RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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Unlikely Voter: Poll Analysis, Election Projection.
“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
What would it take
RJD (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:06PM EST (link)for the Republicans to continue the “revolt” even after the House comes back in September?
I’m just asking. Can’t have a vote if the House isn’t in session, but I’m just curious.
This is something we can agree on BG...
AceInTX (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:11PM EST (link)Hell must be freezing over or something…
:>)
So why is Mr. Gingrich doing the talking here...
Jeff Emanuel (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:21PM EST (link)…instead of the folks who are actually involved?
JE
Shutdown? America will collapse by 6pm
Achance (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:24PM EST (link)of the first day of a federal shutdown. If you don’t believe that, just watch the TV. This is playbook stuff for the unions; they can’t sustain a strike, so they use their friends in the media to make it look like the world his ended on the first day. The Ds ran this one on the Rs back in Clinton, the Country bought it and the Rs folded.
I will guarantee you that on the six pm news that night, there will be staving babies with mommies with cancer who’ve lost their health insurance, businesses folding, houses being forclosed, military wives who can’t feed their babies, poisoned food since the food inspectors aren’t at work, aircraft near-misses since the AT controllers aren’t at work, and on, and on. They can spin this up almost instantly and the media will have frenzy with it.
Of course, none of it will be true. It won’t even be said that the government employees would have to be off for at least two weeks, maybe a month before they didn’t get paid, and that once they go back, they’ll be paid for all the time they missed. It will never be said that almost all benefit distributions are by automatic payments to states, which draw them down immediately to run and pay for the welfare and other similar programs. Logic and reason won’t matter, Republicans will try to explain it and will be characterized as “mean-spirited,” upon which they will fold.
Anyone want to prove I’m wrong?
In Vino Veritas
Maybey the recent polls showing the the media is actively trying to get Obama to win
Mord (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 12:32PM EST (link)could provide some backbone to the Republicans. Or that people have a lower opinion of the MSM and Congress then the so-called worst president in history.
I am not saying it will…I am just saying, it should.
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“Republicans never win polls, they win elections,” – Rudy Giuliani
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Dude, that's my WAG
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 1:03PM EST (link)But there is [something of] a thought process behind it. I bet there’s a real short term for this idea, but I can’t think of it. You know how they talk about (in the presidential race) certain states like OH, MI, FL, NH, NM, IA, WI, MN, etc as being states that are very much in play, where certain other states (GA, TN, KY, NV, PA, OR, WA) are a bit more securely in the Dem or Repub camps, and then certain ones are pretty much in the bag for one or the other (TX, AK, HI, DC, CT, MA, NY). One might quibble with exactly which states go in which category, but work with me here.
I think it’s fair to say that most states could be put (approximately) on a number line, left to right, in terms of electoral likelihood of going Dem or Repub. At some point is the centerpoint that is defined by what happens on election day. That centerpoint is moved leftward or rightward by events (success or failure in Iraq, banking crisis, pump prices), by issues (Dems won’t drill), by news coverage (all Repubs are corrupt and want to pollute the world), by personalities (Rock Star Obama), and so on.
But that numberline has some predictive value. If McCain wins PA, then there is almost no way he will have lost OH or FL, and certainly not NV, LA, NM, and VA, because PA sits to the left of them on the numberline. Likewise, if Obama wins LA, then he takes all the ‘in play states’.
So, as it relates to the question at hand, my assertion that a government shutdown over drilling will be a +8 House, +1 Senate net, I have not the foggiest idea which ones, I just assert that this shutdown would move the centerpoint of the House numberline 8 notches to the right.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
They do that a lot in English elections I think
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 1:15PM EST (link)From what I’ve seen, a lot of English election analysis goes along those lines. They put every constituency on a line, try to guess the national swing, and determine where on the line that swing puts you.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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Unlikely Voter: Poll Analysis, Election Projection.
“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
Schaffer (CO) went from -9 to even on this issue in a month.
NightTwister (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 1:30PM EST (link)Well, Udall’s truancy problems probably contributed to his fall too.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
Does a shutdown
JKH1232 (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 3:50PM EST (link)Have an affect on military operations? I don’t actually know, so I find myself needing to ask. I’m all for an escalation, if it forces hands properly, and the troops get fed.
I was a civil service employee during the last shut down
AceInTX (Diary) Tuesday, August 12th at 7:12PM EST (link)I certainly won’t try to prove you wrong because I lived exactly what you just said!