Speaker John Boehner takes to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday morning to whine about how (he thinks) we got here:
We passed a bill on Saturday night, sent it to the United States Senate, that would delay Obamacare for one year and would eliminate, permanently, the medical device tax that is costing us tens of thousands of jobs that are being shipped overseas.
The Senate decided not to work yesterday. Well, my goodness, if there's such an emergency, where are they? It's time for the Senate to listen to the American people just like the House has listened to the American people and to pass a one year delay of Obamacare and a permanent repeal of the medical device tax.
Uh:
- If John Boehner's goal is to blame Senate Democrats for shutting down the government, is it really a smart strategy for him to start his argument by saying House Republicans are willing to avoid a shutdown ... provided that Democrats agree to delay Obamacare for a year (at which point Republicans would surely demand another year delay)?
- If John Boehner thinks it makes a difference whether or not the Senate worked on Saturday, why did House Republicans refuse to consider the Senate's "clean" budget bill, which would have prevented a government shutdown without attaching unrelated poison pills like the Obamacare delay?
- The American people don't want what John Boehner says they want: 60 percent of them say they think Congress should be working to avoid a government shutdown. Just 34 percent say it should be working to end Obamacare.
And here's a fourth: If Boehner actually cared about what the American people want, wouldn't he want to let them all vote?