The Next GOP Blackmail?

Who can forget how the Republican Party brought this nation to the brink of default twice in the last year, holding the good faith and credit of the US hostage, to blackmail America, actually causing one of the three major ratings agencies to drop our bond rating.  By long tradition, Congress does not insert policy changes into the budget, but it appears that is what Republicans are about to do.  This could repeat what I have called Republican acts of economic terrorism.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the vast majority of House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pushing him to strip partisan policy riders out of must-pass legislation to fund the government after the money runs out later this month.

Yes, here we go again. House Republicans are advancing appropriations bills loaded with controversial measures that would defund the new health care law, scrap key environmental protections and more.

“As you know, there is longstanding precedent not to use appropriations bills to enact major changes in national policy, and the bills being reported from Appropriations subcommittees this year violate that precedent,” wrote Hoyer in a letter signed by 182 other Democrats. “While not all policy riders are objectionable, many of those included this year are not only controversial but blatantly partisan. Included riders would block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, roll back important clean air and clean water protections, and place new restrictions on women’s access to a full range of medical and health services, among others.”

If Boehner passes these bills with Republican votes alone, he sets up a major standoff with Senate Democrats, who will reject the spending bills, leading to another government shutdown standoff. Of course, all year a rump of extremely conservative Republicans, eager to slash significantly more money from federal programs, has thwarted Boehner, and forced him to pass legislation with House Democratic votes. If that dynamic plays out again, it will give Hoyer and his party plenty of leverage, and perhaps force Boehner to strip these riders out of the legislation.

Otherwise, it’s a repeat of last spring’s shutdown fight, only this time Democrats aren’t nearly as willing to get rolled by the GOP… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <TPM>

I have little to add here.  Fortunately, the last time Republicans did this, Democrats refused to cave-in, and Boehner had to back down.  I’m giving an early heads up here, so that we can watch this and make our voices heard at the appropriate time.