http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/09/2 ... t-ShutdownTime to Start the Countdown on Yet Another Government Shutdown
Congress has begun to take steps to avoid another government shutdown, but it looks like Capitol Hill lawmakers are going to use every second they have before next week’s deadline.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed a motion to advance funding that would keep the federal government open until December 11 and redirect money from Planned Parenthood to community health centers.
Related: As Government Shutdown Looms, Federal Workers Prepare for Furloughs
The policy rider is meant to appease conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a 2016 presidential candidate, who are outraged after a series of undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale body parts and tissue from aborted fetuses.
A vote on the spending bill is slated for Thursday, the same day Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress. In a bit of Kabuki, Democrats are expected to filibuster the legislation, so McConnell can then introduce a “clean” short-term funding measure.
The GOP leader’s commitment to going through the motions will burn valuable time off the clock.
Congress must pass a spending bill by October 1 to avoid a shutdown. The House is not even in session until after Francis speaks, and any decisions about funding are expected to wait until GOP members meet Friday morning.
Related: Another Government Shutdown? Washington Prepares for a Nervous Breakdown
Question marks surround what course of action the lower chamber might take. A sizeable bloc of social conservatives has announced that they won’t vote for any spending measure that includes money for Planned Parenthood. The group is watching GOP leadership carefully and signaled that if they are being set up for nothing more than a “show vote,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) might face a major revolt.
Even though McConnell started getting the gears in motion, Cruz and others could throw a procedural monkey wrench in the works to slow things down and bring Washington even closer to the brink of a shutdown.
If events in the House and Senate go off the rails, the scene next Wednesday could be reminiscent of December 2010 when President Obama signed a three-day stopgap measure that averted a shutdown by mere hours and gave lawmakers more time to hammer out a final, catchall bill.
Some GOP lawmakers are tired of machinations dominating the funding fight.
In a fiery floor speech on Tuesday, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (NH) skewered her fellow Republicans for risking a shutdown just to make a point about Planned Parenthood.
Related: Boehner May Have Found an Escape Hatch on Budget Standoff
“I’m tired of the people on my side of the aisle who have been pushing this strategy, even though they know they don't have the votes to pass it in the United States Senate, and they certainly don’t have the votes to override a presidential veto,” said Ayotte, who is up for reelection next year and a top Democratic target.
Last week she fired off a strongly worded letter to Cruz asking him to illuminate his “strategy for success” if the government shuttered. Ayotte says she has not received a reply from the presidential hopeful.
On Wednesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and ten other freshmen lawmakers sent a letter of their own to the House Republican conference urging them to “avoid another unnecessary and harmful government shutdown.”
I figure having one thread from the get-go is probably a good idea, but the article I originally wanted to post is this one:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/0 ... amps-usda/USDA Does Not Have The Cash To Keep Food Stamps Running If The Government Shuts Down
Tens of millions of vulnerable Americans would lose their food stamps benefits if Republicans bent on defunding Planned Parenthood force the second government shutdown of the Obama era next week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned on Tuesday.
Unlike the 2013 shutdown when cash reserves allowed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to be disbursed as normal, “USDA will not have the funding necessary for SNAP benefits in October and will be forced to stop providing benefits within the first several days of October,” a spokeswoman told the Associated Press. The agency notified state SNAP administrators on Friday that they should not begin the process of doling out October’s food stamps dollars this week as they normally would.
Without a deal, funding for normal government operations will run out at the end of September. In response to the news that a shutdown would cut off food stamps to as many as 45 million people, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) issued a statement saying the way to avoid a shutdown is for Democrats to get on board with cutting off federal funding for women’s healthcare. “The best way to ensure SNAP recipients receive needed support is to vote for the [continuing resolution],” Roberts told the Huffington Post. “I’m prepared to do so, and if members are worried about SNAP funding, they should too.”
The funding measure Roberts referenced would zero out federal funds to Planned Parenthood, the national women’s health organization that’s been smeared by pro-life activists as improperly profiting off the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Many of Roberts’ House colleagues have pledged to shut down the government if the group doesn’t have its funding cut off. State lawmakers in some parts of the country have already moved to restrict the group’s ability to provide a wide range of health services to low-income women who depend on Planned Parenthood clinics. In a quarter of all the counties where the group has a presence, the clinics are the only source of affordable contraceptive services for women of little means.
The 2013 government shutdown caused disruptions in a variety of federal services including the job training programs that unemployed people rely on to fulfill the eligibility requirements of SNAP. But the money for food itself was able to continue flowing because the USDA had sufficient cash in reserve to put the appropriate funds on peoples’ cards. That isn’t the case this time, lawmakers briefed by the agency say.
Cutting off SNAP would mean shooting the U.S. economy in the foot. The benefits more than pay for themselves, generating close to two dollars of economic activity for every dollar of benefits doled out by the USDA. Plugging up the flow of money from the federal government to low-income families to the grocery stores where they shop would have ripple effects on businesses and on tax revenue for public coffers.
The timing of the possible shutdown would exacerbate that natural chain of harmful knock-on effects. Most SNAP beneficiaries have already spent down their full monthly benefit by about midway through any given month. That cycle puts a crunch on grocery stores as well, distorting the hours they can sensibly schedule workers to be in the store and shifting how they stock their shelves. The USDA’s early warning about SNAP being cut off may have some political ramifications in the Congressional tussle over government funding, but it also serves as a more practical heads-up to the economic ecosystem surrounding the food stamps program.
I know that several SDN members are on food stamps, so if you are one of them, get ready. Try going to food pantries now, because they are going to be cleaned out by October 2nd.
