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Ear to the Ground

Gov’t Shutdown Crisis Averted (Again)

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Posted on Nov 17, 2011
Flickr / Matti Mattila

All right, members of the 112th United States Congress, if you keep saying you’re about to have a total political meltdown and then nothing happens, we’re going to stop believing you. Once again, the fearsome government shutdown was avoided Thursday when squabbling factions on Capitol Hill were able to come to a compromise over a contested spending bill. This sequence of events involved a stunning GOP victory over Democrats and their big-government-o-philia in the crucial area of school lunch regulation.  —KA

AP via SF Gate:

The votes occurred against a backdrop of partisan gridlock among members of Congress’ supercommittee, which has less than a week to try agreeing to a debt-reduction plan. Some Republicans on that panel have been pushing to include some tax increases as part of a deal, and that has upset some Republicans adamant against abandoning the party’s core stance against boosting levies.

Democrats supported the measure overwhelmingly, with only 20 in the House and none in the Senate voting “no.” Liberals mocked a provision blocking Obama administration efforts to prod schools to put healthier foods on their lunch menus, including a proposal to no longer consider the tomato paste on pizza to be a vegetable.

“What’s next? Are Twinkies going to be considered a vegetable?” said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., who voted against passage.

Despite the objections, passage was never in real doubt. Both parties were eager to avoid further tarnishing Congress’ ghastly public image, which took a beating after partisan standoffs nearly caused a government shutdown this past spring and a federal default in the summer.

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Samson's avatar

By Samson, November 18, 2011 at 11:47 am Link to this comment

What shutdown?

I’ve used the parental blocking controls on my tv
system to declare CNN, FAUX, MSNBC and the rest as
obscenity that needs a special code to access/

So, when all the talking heads gin up a fake crisis
to fill empty news days, I’m blissfully unware.
That’s an improvement.

The interesting part is that you can find you are
much better informed because now my time and energy
isn’t being wasted on these fake crisis and these
fake debates.  I’m also not so busy washing all the
disinformation out of my head as I used to be.

Report this
BrooklynDame's avatar

By BrooklynDame, November 18, 2011 at 9:25 am Link to this comment

If we want to avoid crises in the future we have to get honest about where the
problems are coming from.  Denial about the damage inefficiency and huge tax
cuts for wealthy isn’t going to solve any problems.
http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2011/11/tit-for-tat/

Report this

By felicity, November 18, 2011 at 8:01 am Link to this comment

Well, gerard, you’ll have to admit that creating obese
Americans ends up putting a lot of money in the health-
care consortia’s pockets (it’s called building your
customer base) so it seems logical that Republicans and
Democrats who enjoy sharing in the largess reaped by
the consortia would be ill-advised to adopt any
measures which might reduce obesity in their beloved
country - and thus cut into the cherished profits of
the consortia.

Report this

By gerard, November 17, 2011 at 9:19 pm Link to this comment

So as far as Congress is concerned, we can continue to feed school children fats, chips and dehydrated this and that, cokes and an occasional weenie and call it “providing school lunches” to children—even though 99% of us know this is the fast track to obesity. And even this despicable measure was fought over tooth and nail! Where are all these self-righteous right wing “family values” people when we need them?

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By Rodney, November 17, 2011 at 7:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

A lot of these guys know they are not going to be reelected. They avoided the shutdown because they think their coleagues will not be reelected not them. All of the Republicans and the blug dog Dems all need to go.

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