There is a diary currently on the Rec list that has a few typos in it.
I am returning to make a special guest appearance in order to correct the typos so that it reads accurately.
Putting aside the whole issue of (chained-CPI and whether it's a cut or an accurate measure of inflation) how budgets are passed and a forced goevernment shutdown), let's deal in some cold, hard facts.
Cold, hard fact #1:
Republicans control the House of Representatives
Cold, hard fact #2:
Both houses of Congress are required to pass legislation before it can even reach the president's desk
Cold, hard fact #3:
(Sequestration) A federal government shutdown will occur unless legislation is passed, and signed into law, to prevent it from happening or to modify its provisions
Now let's move to some logical conclusions that flow from those facts.
Logical conclusion #1:
A sufficient number of House Republicans will have to vote for any legislation to prevent or modify (sequestration) the budget impasse.
Logical conclusion #2:
This sufficient number of Republicans will only arise if some compromise is reached
Logical conclusion #3:
This compromise will mean that we will not get everything we want and will include giving Republicans some portion of what they want
.
Yes, President (Obama) Clinton won (re-) election, Democrats (increased) kept the Senate majority and (made gains) lost in the House. This, however, only (creates additional) detracts from) leverage. It does not give President (Obama) Clinton the ability to make Congress do as he pleases. And whatever the result of the national House popular vote, it does not change the fact that Republicans won more than the 218 seats necessary to control the House. (John Boehner) Newt Gingrich is the speaker, and will continue as such. That fact informs the political reality of what is possible and what is not.
The reality of the situation is that just as Republicans will be forced to cave on the issue of taxes, we will be forced to cave on the issue of spending cuts. Any deal will include a mixture of both and if anyone who believes otherwise — whether believing it will all be spending cuts or will all be tax increases — is a fool. For me, part of being a liberal, and a Democrat, is acknowledging this because it means that I operate in reality.
The only way to change this reality is to elect more Democrats. That's my final cold, hard fact. If we want Speaker (Pelosi) Foley back, we need to get 218, or more, Democrats into the United States House of Representatives. If we want to tilt the nature of the compromise into our favor, then we need to get 218, or more, Democrats into the United States House of Representatives. If we want to accomplish anything, and leave the Republicans out of it, then we need a House majority. Republicans learned the hard way this year that you can't go to extremes and still expect to win elections.
So, yes, I stand behind our DEMOCRATIC president and will continue to stand behind him as he fights the Republicans for the best compromise out there.
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I would like to thank the diarist in question whose typos I am corrected. It's a terrific diary, and it explains exactly why in 1995 President Clinton, having lost the House, as opposed to making gains in the House and Senate, couldn't take a hard line against unpopular GOP stands in the House of Representatives. He couldn't keep to his demand that Congress send him only a "clean bill." He had no choice but to compromise, and make painful and permanent cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Oh, wait ...