While writing this story there is another gun shooting and violence incident near the Capitol building this afternoon. Violence in Washington DC is nothing new, but so close to lawmakers is more than noteworthy, of course.
The nation is pent up. People are fearful about the government shutdown and the inability of lawmakers to demonstrate responsibility for the nation’s economic security. John Boehner told Republicans that he will do whatever it takes to avoid default.
Those words are encouraging, and it would take a bipartisan action to accomplish that. If Speaker Boehner is able to avert default and to restore some order and cooperation in his own party, he may well become a candidate for being a modern day profile in courage.
Let’s not get carried away, however. This mess in Washington DC is something that voters helped create. The Tea Party movement is wrong-headed in that politicians are willing to risk the nation’s financial security over and over again.
It began when Republicans spent on wars we could not afford. It continued when they gave to wealthy Americans tax breaks they did not deserve, even when the nation needed tax revenue. It still does.
Republican lawmakers are not providing solutions, but the evidence is clear that they are making matters much worse.
“Boehner says he 'll do whatever is necessary to avoid default
With a deadline for raising the debt limit fast-approaching, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has been telling colleagues in recent days that he will do whatever is necessary to avoid defaulting on the federal debt, including relying on House Democrats to help pass an extension, according to GOP aides familiar with the conversations.
In a series of small group meetings held in his office suite off the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Boehner also has been telling colleagues that he will not permit a vote on a “clean” continuing resolution that does nothing about ending or delaying parts of the new federal health-care law.
Relying on Democratic votes to pass a debt ceiling extension likely would infuriate some of the most conservative members of the House GOP conference.
