House GOP to Blame For Looming Shutdown

Shortly after 8pm, the House passed a third iteration of CR 59 after the Senate rejected an earlier version in a party-line 54-46 vote this afternoon. The Senate is currently debating the House measure, which it will vote to kill sometime around 9:30pm. If an agreement is not reached by midnight, a government shutdown will ensue, thus demonstrating the utter ineptitude of the 113th Congress. 

Although Democrats and Republicans have taken turns pointing the finger at each other for the current fiasco, from a practical standpoint what the House GOP is demanding is simply ludicrous. Congressional Republicans are essentially asking President Obama to forgo the signature piece of legislation from his presidency for at least one year in exchange for funding the government beyond September 30. Any president who allowed one-half of one-third of the government to undermine and perhaps even destroy a law that he expended immense political capital on would be unworthy of the label, "leader."

While Republicans want to stop the Affordable Care Act by defunding it, it's unlikely that many lawmakers expect Obama to buckle on this, which means the GOP will have to seek concessions in other areas.