Who Is At Fault If The Government Shuts Down?

It is odd to me that the Republicans continue to take blame for the looming government shutdown.  While the President's speech last evening on the subject was less contentious that his usual rhetoric he none-the-less called out the Republicans and lauded Obamacare without mentioning any of the multitude of legitimate concerns held by the Republicans, even some Democrats and a majority of the public.  He speaks of his willingness to talk to anyone in hopes to avert a shutdown but has not reached out to Speaker Boehner for over a week, according to news reports today.  Seems like that is a simple and reasonable thing he could do but has for his own reasons chosen not to.  It also seem to me to reflect a distinct lack of leadership in this vital issue. 

As the below article notes the Republican led House has made two proposals that keep the government open.  The first one defunded Obamacare so the Senate stripped out that provision and sent the bill back to the House.  Once again the House acted to keep the government open.  This time they delayed Obamacare for one year and sought to repeal the tax on medical devices which is widely expected to harm that industry and the patients who benefit from it.  The ball is now back in the Senate's court.  If they fail to act, it is they who are following the President's lead by maintaining Obamacare, despite it many known flaws, will proceed to  implementation starting 1 October.  This despite the President's unilateral, without consultation with Congress, delays of 19 portions of the law.  After the House submitted its latest proposal and the apparent contining intransigence of the Democrats the Republicans made yet another compromise offer which seeks to provide individual citizens the same relief the president has unilaterally granted to the business community. The consequences if they do not agree with the House version of the bill or the later compromise offer will be a government shutdown because they would not compromise on three Republican led proposals.  White House spokesman, Dan Pfeiffer, stated on the evening news last night that the President would not even consider the latest Republican compromise offer.  We will see if that attitude changes. 

So, should it happen, how is it that the Republicans are to blame for a government shutdown when it is the Democrats who are unwilling to compromise?   Well, it happened and the Administration, Democrats in Congress and the mainstream media are following the script.  It's the Republican's fault.

http://heritageaction.com/2013/09/rebutting-conventional-wisdom-government-shutdown-and-the-battle-to-stop-obamacare/?utm_source=heritageaction&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shutdown   

George Burns