Just a few hours ago, it was still fairly easy to see a way out of this mess. House Republicans had tried to take away health care benefits from millions of Americans, and came up short, but GOP lawmakers still had time to pass the center-right spending bill approved by the Senate and keep the government’s lights on.
They just didn’t want to. Republicans wanted the first shutdown of the federal government since the GOP-imposed shutdown of 1996, and as the clock struck midnight, that’s exactly what they got.
In an 11th-hour pitch that can only be described as hilarious, House Republican leaders suggested they’d agree to a conference committee with Senate Democrats to help resolve their differences. This is amusing, of course, for several reasons, not the least of which is that Senate Dems asked for this in April, and the GOP balked — 18 times.
With literally less than an hour to go before the government’s lights go out, House Speaker John Boehner (R) effectively decided to ask, “So, wanna go to conference now?” Senate Democratic leaders said they’d be happy to negotiate on the budget, just as soon as the House passes a clean spending bill that prevents a shutdown. Boehner didn’t even try to cooperate, and in the process, he and his caucus shut down the government.
Ultimately, Senate Dems couldn’t take the last-ditch, desperation offer seriously because there was nothing serious about it. Republicans conceded they intended to use the talks to strip American families of their health care benefits, and had no intention of accepting any concessions.
The GOP’s shutdown, driven entirely by the party’s hysterical opposition to health care access, will not derail the Affordable Care Act. The enrollment period begins immediately, Republican apoplexy notwithstanding.









