It looks like the federal government is going to have a partial shutdown (which means at the very least, the National Parks will close). The White House Press Office mainstream media will blame divided, constitutional government, Harry Reid will call anyone who doesn’t accept a fascist state an anarchist, and the San Diego Free Press will parrot Markos’ little nicknames for the fiscal conservatives in the House.
The world will still turn at midnight tonight, the economy won’t tank (although the subsidized stock market might), and San Francisco won’t be invaded by Communist China… (hmmm).
Republicans DO have a way to educate the populace about the proper role of the federal government while outflanking President Obama and Majority Leader Reid. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has the right idea:
The House passed the military pay bill unanimously on Saturday night. Instead of reconvening the Senate on Sunday as some had called for, Senator Reid chose to wait until Monday afternoon to call the Senate back into session, increasing the possibility that the fight over Obamacare could put military pay in jeopardy.
This is the right tack to take tomorrow morning. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the 18 discreet, specific and unique powers delegated to the federal government. Each day, the House should post how much revenue is expected for the following month (about $200B). Then, each day, the House should send a 90-day CR to the Senate, funding one of those functions until the $200B is exhausted. If the Senate rejects it, add each power to the previous day’s resolution until Reid blinks.
Americans will realize that the Department of Education’s SWAT team is probably not a necessary function of the federal government, Republicans can start putting points on the board, and we might not even have to debate the debt ceiling increase.