Congress continued its steady march toward a government shutdown Tuesday with another round of posturing but little action to keep the government running past next Monday.
Both the Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate seemed poised to speed up a vote on a spending bill from House Republicans that would have funded the government through Dec. 15 but stripped out funding for the Affordable Care Act. Many Senate Repbulicans were prepared to vote for the measure, which they favored, and Democrats were ready to get their hands on the bill so they could amend it and restore funding for the law.
But that possibility ground to a halt as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took to the Senate floor to deliver a lengthy speech (that technically is not a filibuster, because of the Senate's procedural rules). He began talking at 2:41 p.m. ET, announcing that "I intend to speak against Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand."
Actually, I thought Cruz was finished, but he's not. Looks like he gets a bathroom break each hour.
They should be forced to pee their pants or give up the podium. That's the American way!! :lol:
Eh, he's a self-absorbed, ambitious jerk with delusions of future grandeur... which is what his grandstanding now is all about in the first place.
I feel bad that this idiot is from my state how he got elected is beyond me. I appologies for the state of Texas maybe they should be kicked out of America. First Gov Perry running for President and now this teabag loooney!
and all the while the sequester continues to take its toll.
here's a idea: why not get rid of that?
Cruz is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and he is a perfect example of idiots primaried in that have caused continued ruinous Democrat rule of the Senate. He saw Rand Paul make a principled stand against drones and decided he needed some of that - a total embarrassment.
Why? Do you not think there is $100B of waste in a $3.6T budget?
Why? Do you not think there is $100B of waste in a $3.6T budget?
sure there might be waste, but is arbitrarily cutting funding for governments programs like blind executioner any way to solve the problem?
Do you think the sequester actually cuts waste?
It depends on how agency heads implement the cuts...
Actually, I thought Cruz was finished, but he's not. Looks like he gets a bathroom break each hour.
Except very little discretion was given to the various agencies. That's why we had an Air Traffic Control slowdown. The FAA literally had unused research funds sitting in an account they were legally barred from using to shore up the ATC budget.
Each department can ask for freedom in implementing the cuts...
Because of the sequester, the Los Angeles County Housing Authority, which provides housing vouchers for 23,000 individuals and households, stopped issuing new vouchers when any slots came open. That was to absorb a 5% cut in federal funds imposed by Congress' inaction."We're unfortunately the homeless capital of the world," Sean Rogan, the agency's executive director, told me recently.
That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not to L.A.'s credit — or the nation's — that it compares favorably to some Third World countries. The waiting list for vouchers at Rogan's agency is 65,000 names long, while only about 1,000 slots open by attrition each year.
The agency hopes to avoid having to take vouchers away from families that are currently housed, but that will happen only if its application for a $1.2-million emergency grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is approved.
Rogan is hopeful, but without that money some 1,800 families or elderly or disabled individuals may lose existing vouchers, which would put them at the mercy of Southern California's tight rental market, virtually guaranteeing that many will lose their shelter.
If the sequester continues into next year and forces an additional 5% budget cut, those losses will be inevitable, he says. And that comes on top of relentless budget cuts imposed by Congress over the last two years.
"The sequester was just piling on," Rogan said. "Those impacts are real."
It depends on how agency heads implement the cuts...
there is damage that cannot be negotiated
As damaging sequester continues, Congress goes on 5-week vacation - latimes.com
the the story in the link may be a month old, but the fact's are not old.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?