TPM:
In a presentation at CPAC on Thursday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) called on Republicans to hold the government hostage until President Obama abandons his dream of reforming the nation's health care system. ...
The reform law signed by Obama last year includes what King called "self-enacting appropriations" -- mandatory spending -- which means they'll kick in on their own unless Congress passes a law to stop them. King's plan: tell Obama that unless he agrees to kill that spending, the GOP will refuse to pass new legislation to fund the government, which runs out of money on March 4.
Without that legislation, the government would shut down. And, voilà: a government held for ransom.
So Steve King wants a hostage situation...give up on health care reform, or the government gets a bullet in the brain.
But his "brilliant" little plan has a not-so-tiny little problem...you see, the Republicans are already threatening a government shutdown over the budget.
That means Steve King wants to take something hostage that's already been taken hostage. And everybody in the hostage-taking business knows you can't take a hostage twice.
And even if you could, you certainly couldn't shoot it dead more than once!
Voilà!