Tuesday, October 15, 2013

US Shutdown Day 15, Senate May Deliver, But What About The House?

I found a NY Times article that detailed the forces behind the shutdown planning and execution, and no surprise that the Koch brothers are generous supporters.  In addition they are prepared to back ultra-conservative primary challenges to any moderate Republicans who stray from the hard line.  This will make it nearly impossible to get a deal through the House.  I am not nearly as optimistic as the newspaper headlines announcing "the Senate is very close to a deal".  I think the hardliners will not hesitate to force us into the abyss, and we'll see if it even gets a vote in the Senate.  Any single senator could block a vote for several days, and I'll bet Cruz does it, so we will probably go past the Oct 17 deadline before any vote.   President Obama may have to use the 14th Amendment to stave off disaster.

With agencies like the Judiciary running out of money to stay open, things are getting dire.  If hypothetically the courts run out of money (likely to happen by Thursday), will criminal cases have to be dropped?  They are already postponing all Civil cases due to being short-staffed, and some say they will work without pay if that comes to pass. 

This shutdown is tearing our society apart.

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