THE BEST FUCKING CARD FOR FOCUS

LINK ON SHUTDOWN

This card is from around Noon, so its pretty stellar.
UQ
The GOP WILL Compromise - But The Parties Only Have HOURS To Come To A
Compromise
New York Times 9/29/13 [Brian Knowlton and Jeremy W. Peters from The New
York Times, 29 September 2013 at 12:12 PM, Time Is Short, but G.O.P. Leaders Say
Shutdown Can Be Avoided,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/us/politics/time-short-but-gop-leaders-
say-shutdown-can-be-avoided.html?_r=0 //SD]


House Republican leaders said on Sunday that they still believed a government
shutdown beginning on Tuesday could be averted if Democrats would accept at least some
of their demands to scale back President Obamas health care law. I think the House will get back
together, in enough time, send another provision not to shut the government
down but to fund it, and it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to
look at, Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican whip, said on Fox News Sunday.
Specifically, Mr. McCarthy mentioned a tax on medical devices that pays for a part of the health care law. The House voted in
the early hours of Sunday to rescind the tax and delay the health care law by a year as conditions for financing government
operations and avoiding a shutdown. Those measures will be considered by the Senate when
it convenes at 2 p.m. on Monday, just 10 hours before a stopgap measure to
finance much the government is set to expire. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, has said that
any bill that alters the presidents signature health care program would be dead on arrival in the upper chamber, although the
device tax has critics in both parties and is seen as a possible subject of compromise. Some Republicans seemed offended that
the Senate was waiting until its normally scheduled time on Monday to resume business leaving the House with scant time to
respond to the other chambers next move. Theres no reason the Senate should be home on vacation at such a time, Senator
Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, one of the sharpest critics of the health care law, said Sunday on the NBC program Meet the
Press. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in that chamber, said he would be willing to consider
the medical devices tax, but not with a gun to my head, not with the prospect of shutting down the government. Asked
whether he expected a shutdown, he said, in resigned tones, Im afraid I do. The legislative back-and-forth,
which has brought the government to the brink of what would be its 18th shutdown, is expected continue into
the late-night hours on Monday as the House and Senate pursue separate paths. The Senate is expected on
Monday to dispense of the House bill quickly and then send back to the House a budget bill that Republicans there have
already rejected. Until they send us a clean bill, were going to table whatever else they send us, said Senator Charles E.
Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat. It is not clear what will happen once the ball is back in the Houses court.
House Republicans have shown no willingness to accept anything other than a budget that curtails elements of the health care
law. Mr. McCarthy, the Republican whip, insisted that the door was
open to a last-minute deal . We will not shut the government down, he
said. If we have to negotiate a little bit longer, we will continue to negotiate,
perhaps with an extension of government financing that might last only a few days. But no one, for now, appears to be
negotiating, and Democrats have expressed little desire to do, despite repeated goading from Republicans who say the blame
for a shutdown should thus go to the Democrats. Mr. Cruz, the Tea Party Republican who took to the Senate floor for 21 hours
last week to argue for a defunding of the health care program, said NBC that Mr. Reid had essentially told the House of
Representatives and the American people, go jump in a lake. He said, Im not willing to compromise; Im not willing to even
talk. Mr. Cruz added: I hope he backs away from that ledge that hes pushing us toward. But that is his position. A fellow
conservative Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, sounded a similar note. We
are the party thats willing to compromise , he said on the CBS program Face the Nation. They are
the party that says, no way, were not touching Obamacare. Many veteran Republicans, including the partys 2008 presidential
nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, have cautioned that the party will suffer if the government shuts down. But in the
House, Speaker John A. Boehners move on Saturday to include provisions in the House budget that appeased the most
conservative Republicans was seen as a sign that he is again allowing newer and more right-leaning members to control the
agenda. Many rank-and-file Republicans remain convinced that the public will not blame them. They cited several reasons the
equation had changed since 1996, when a government shutdown helped reverse their partys fortunes. Part of this confidence
comes from the belief that the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act, which will go into wider effect on Tuesday when people
can begin signing up for insurance plans under the law, makes it easier to demand that it be delayed and defunded. They claim
a mandate from the public -- one, to be sure, that runs far stronger in conservative districts than it does elsewhere. Democrats
counter that the program will gain popularity as it begins to take effect, is better understood, and provides real benefits.


Not As Good Use Card Above

*You need to be very ethosy and logic oriented when talking about this card
because it doesnt explicitly claim that they will compromise. Explain all the
different reasons why the republicans have to compromise or else they commit
political suicide, wreck the econ, and they lose face.
GOP Will Have To Compromise They Know They Fucked Up, Voters Will Blame
Them, and It Will Wreck The Economy
Washington Post 9/29/13 [Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane and Rosalind S.
Helderman from The Washington Post, Updated September 29 2013, House pushes
U.S. to the edge of a shutdown, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-
republicans-to-propose-one-year-delay-in-obamacare/2013/09/28/1e884de6-
2859-11e3-9256-41f018d21b49_story.html //SD]

Washington marched relentlessly toward its first federal shutdown in 17 years Saturday after House Speaker John A. Boehner
yielded to conservative demands to use a government-funding bill to press an attack on President Obamas 2010 health-care
law. Early Sunday morning, the House approved a plan to keep the government open past midnight Monday. But under
pressure from Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and other GOP hard-liners, Boehner (R-Ohio) agreed to amend the bill
to include a one-year delay of the health laws mandates, taxes and benefits ensuring a
stalemate with the Democratic Senate. The amendment passed on a largely party-line vote, 231 to 192, with two lawmakers
from each party breaking ranks to vote with the other side. We will do everything we can to protect Americans against the
harmful effects of Obamacare. This bill does that. Were united in the House as Republicans, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.)
said Saturday night shortly after unveiling the plan to his rank and file. Now its up to the Senate Democrats to answer. That
response came quickly. Even before the House had a chance to vote on its proposal, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-
Nev.) blasted it as pointless. Democratic aides said the Senate would set aside the House
amendments, probably first thing Monday, leaving GOP leaders with a stark choice:
approve the simple funding bill the Senate has already passed or permit
federal agencies to close. As I have said repeatedly, the Senate will reject any Republican attempt to force
changes to the Affordable Care Act through a mandatory government funding bill, Reid said in a written statement. After
weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one.
White House press secretary Jay Carney called the latest GOP strategy reckless and irresponsible. Any member of the
Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown, Carney said in a written statement. As the House convened
for the rare Saturday session, senior Republicans seemed to recognize the potential
consequences of their actions. For now, Boehners decision to appease his
right wing keeps an uneasy peace in his fractious caucus. But it bodes ill for his ability
to work with Democrats to keep the government open, restore funding for federal agencies if
a shutdown occurs or in a few weeks raise the federal debt limit to avoid a first-ever default on the national debt.
Leaders of both parties agree that a government shutdown would be bad for
the economy and that a default would be potentially catastrophic. Complicating hopes for an easy resolution: Obama
leaves Saturday for a week-long trip to Asia. Meanwhile, the maneuvering of House Republicans has caused considerable
anxiety within their party. I think its going to be tough for them. Theyre having such
difficulty pulling things together, said Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), one of several GOP senators
who consults frequently with House members. I dont know that I have a clear vision how we move through this. And I think
the debt ceiling is maybe even more murky. As recently as late August, Boehner urged his rank and file to avoid provoking a
fight that could shut down the government, arguing that Republicans would have more leverage during the battle over the
$16.7 trillion debt limit. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said Congress must raise the debt limit by Oct. 17 or the nation will
begin running short of cash to pay its bills. Many Democrats view a government shutdown as unpleasant but economically
survivable, and polls suggest that voters would blame Republicans. But raising the debt limit is
an entirely different matter, a deadline Obama and other Democrats are unwilling to breach. Failure to meet this
responsibility would be far more dangerous than a government shutdown. It would effectively be an economic shutdown, with
impacts not just here, but around the world, Obama said Friday at the White House. We dont fully understand what might
happen, the dangers involved. But over the summer, outside groups such as Heritage Action for America kicked up dust about
the health law, which is set to begin signing up consumers Tuesday. Cruz and other far-right Republicans refused to pass up a
single opportunity to attack it, arguing that the law would ravage the economy, destroy jobs and raise insurance premiums for
average Americans. Theres a real push to say were going to do whatever we can, as much as we can, to protect the people of
our districts from the harmful effects of this law, said Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the conservative Class of
2010 who now serves in House leadership. So lets find out how much we can protect them from. That summer onslaught set
in motion a series of capitulations by Boehner. First, he agreed to include a provision to defund the health law in the
government-funding measure the House initially sent the Senate. Despite a 21-hour talkathon, Cruz and his allies failed to
force the Senate to uphold that version. Boehner then tried to declare a temporary cease-fire in the health-care fight and once
again urged conservatives to defer their battle to the debt-limit debate. But conservatives again objected, forcing Boehner on
Saturday to agree to advance a one-year delay of the health law as part of the government-funding bill, formally known as a
continuing resolution, or C.R. In addition to delaying implementation of the law, the amendment would weaken its
requirement that insurance policies cover contraception with no co-payments, instead allowing employers to decide whether
to offer such coverage to their workers. That drew fire from birth-control advocates, such as Dawn Laguens, executive vice
president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who called it a remarkably desperate, misguided and extreme
attack on womens health. The latest House strategy also includes a proposal to repeal a tax on medical devices that helps
fund the health-care law and has long been unpopular in both parties. The House voted 248 to 174 to approve that change.
And Democrats joined Republicans to overwhelmingly approve a separate measure that would guarantee that active-duty
members of the military as well as civilians and contractors essential to their work would get paid in the event of a
shutdown. That would eliminate one of the most politically sensitive consequences for Republicans if a shutdown occurs. But
Democratic aides said the Senate was unlikely to consider that bill, either. We are sending them a bill to pay our troops. Its
called the C.R., Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said via e-mail. On Saturday afternoon, senior GOP aides in the House held
out hope that the Senate might feel obliged to approve the repeal of the medical-device tax. Earlier this year, the Senate voted
overwhelmingly to repeal and replace the tax. But Reid quickly shut down such hopes. Senate aides in both parties confirmed
that Reid would need only 51 votes to table both of the House amendments, denying Cruz and his allies the opportunity to
block Democrats and keep the Houses changes alive. Some rank-and-file House Republicans said they now see no way to
avoid a shutdown. Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.) called the prospect likely. For now, at least, Boehner, Cantor and other top
lieutenants have ruled out the prospect of seeking out Democratic votes to help them pass a simple funding bill and keep the
government open, their advisers said. But as Republicans prepared to vote late Saturday, some
lawmakers acknowledged that they had no idea what would happen if the
Senate follows through on its threat to reject their latest offering. It comes back to us,
I guess, said Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.), one of the more conservative Republicans and a candidate for Senate in 2014. We really
didnt talk about exactly what the plan would be then.