Paul Ryan Threatens To Use Power Of The Purse Ahead Of Potential Shutdown

WASHINGTON -- Newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) left the door open on Tuesday to allowing controversial riders to be added to a forthcoming budget bill, which could put the government on the path to a shutdown.

Ryan's predecessor, John Boehner (R-Ohio), crafted a deal on his way out the door that sets spending levels and lifts the debt ceiling, but Congress still needs to pass an omnibus budget bill to fill out the details of what will be funded.

Paul Ryan Wants to Shut Down the Government, Permanently

Everyone has seen the news stories about how Representative Paul Ryan, the likely next Speaker of the House, is a budget wonk. That should make us feel good, since we would all like to think a person in this position understands the ins and outs of the federal budget. But instead of telling us about how much Ryan knows about the budget (an issue on which reporters actually don't have insight), how about telling us what Ryan actually says about the budget?

How A Government Shutdown Could Steal Food From The Poor

WASHINGTON -- Tens of millions of Americans could be left hanging at the grocery store if Congress can't reach a funding deal before the end of the month.

The Senate will vote on a funding bill Monday, but it's not clear what the House will do, since a faction of Republican members are so intent on shutting down a women's health services provider that they're also willing to shut down the government.

A Debt Ceiling Showdown Between Republicans Comes Into Focus

At a certain point during the middle of the summer, Republican operatives began worrying that the party was flirting dangerously with self-immolation, though not for the reasons many suspected.

Yes, Donald Trump launched a presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants illegally crossing the border “rapists.” And yes, another Republican presidential candidate accused President Barack Obama of shepherding another Holocaust with his Iran nuclear deal. But those were viewed as rhetorical flourishes from the campaign trail – potentially damaging but not necessarily self-destructive.

Meet the 32 Senate Republicans Who Voted to Continue LGBT Discrimination in the Workplace

On Thursday afternoon, the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a landmark bill that would end decades of employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. The bill moved forward with support of 54 senators who caucus with the Democrats (Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania didn't vote because he was attending to his wife's surgery) as well as votes from 10 Republicans, only a few months after the Supreme Court ruled that the government must recognize same-sex marriages. But most GOP Senators came out against it, and House Speaker John Boehner has promised to oppose the bill, which means it will likely be killed in the House.

Chemical Safety Rules Requested After West, Texas Explosion Delayed By Shutdown

WASHINGTON –- The 16-day government shutdown earlier this month has delayed the new chemical safety rules that President Barack Obama called for in response to the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last April.

Obama issued an executive order on Aug. 1 in response to the West disaster, which killed 15 people and destroyed much of the neighborhood around the plant. The order calls on a number of federal agencies to update regulations and coordinate on initiatives that would improve safety at chemical facilities across the country. That includes the formation of a new Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group made up of the top officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security. The order called for a number of those recommendations to be delivered within 90 days, which would conclude on Oct. 31.

Ted Cruz In Iowa Claims Shutdown Was Worth It

DES MOINES, Iowa -- DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says this month's partial government shutdown and his key role in it were a success: They got people talking.

"One of the things we accomplished in the fight over Obamacare is we elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much Obamacare is hurting millions of Americans across this country," Cruz told about 600 Iowa Republicans on Friday at the Iowa GOP's annual fundraising dinner in Des Moines.

Meet The 37 House Republicans Who Could Lose Their Jobs For Shutting Down The Government

The 16-day federal government shutdown that furloughed 800,000 workers and cost the U.S. economy $24 billion dollars has largely been pinned on House Republicans, making many of them vulnerable in the 2014 midterm elections.

Numerous polls have shown that a majority of Americans assign a larger share of blame for the shutdown to congressional Republicans, who tried to tie government funding provisions to defunding the Affordable Care Act. Even prominent Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have criticized their colleagues in the House for damaging the GOP's image.

Senate Conservatives Fund Shutdown Strategy Led To Record Fundraising

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Conservatives Fund posted record fundraising numbers in September as it backed the congressional campaign to defund Obamacare that ultimately forced a 16-day government shutdown.

In the month leading to the Oct. 1 shutdown, Senate Conservatives Fund raised more than $2.1 million, a record for the group in a non-election year and the second-highest monthly total it has ever reported. The majority of the fundraising, $1.9 million, came from small donors. The group posted similarly big fundraising numbers in August as the defund Obamacare campaign gathered steam.

U.S. Shutdown Could Cut Economic Growth By A FIFTH, Economist Says

In case it wasn’t already painfully obvious, here’s some more evidence the government shutdown is probably hurting the economy.

Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs’ chief economist, wrote in a note Friday that the shutdown could shave about 0.5 percent off the next quarter’s GDP growth. Hatzius’ 0.5 prediction may seem small, but if it proves true, it could have a big impact. Initially, Hatzius predicted the economy would grow by 2.5 percent, so cutting the forecast by 0.5 percent marks a 20 percent drop.

Here Are The Sleaziest Things Congress Has Done During The Shutdown

We're now almost two weeks into the government shutdown, and there's been no shortage of outrage over the fact that Congress remains unable to figure out how to end it. Recent polling has shown record levels of support for replacing every member of Congress, and lawmakers are now less popular than witches and dog poop.

This level of unpopularity may not come as a surprise to anyone who's followed the actions of Congress. The shutdown, brought on late last month by House Republicans who insisted that any measure to fund the government must also delay or dismantle Obamacare, has taken a nationwide toll on federal workers and programs. With around 800,000 federal employees furloughed without pay and programs for veterans, women and children increasingly becoming hobbled by the congressional impasse, lawmakers have been more successful at upsetting the people they serve than at ending the shutdown.

Steve Pearce Tells Furloughed Workers To Take Out Loans To Pay Bills

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) has a suggestion for any of the hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers worried about being able to pay their bills: take out a loan!

In a post on his personal Facebook page that was later deleted, Pearce urged government workers to call their banks and take out a short-term loan if money is tight.

CPSC, Paralyzed By Shutdown, 'Can't Protect People,' Chairwoman Says

WASHINGTON –- Among the federal agencies hit hardest by the government shutdown is the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- an office no one pays much attention to until their kid's toy slices open her hand or their surge protector bursts into flames.

But the shutdown has left only 23 of the commission's 540 staffers on the job. All of the CPSC field investigators and port inspectors have been furloughed, leaving only a skeleton crew to investigate safety concerns for all products on the market in the U.S. As a result, the commission can only investigate complaints it considers an "imminent threat" to human life.

World War II Memorial Barriers Pushed Through By Crowd

WASHINGTON — A crowd converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday, pushing through barriers to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown.

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, along with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were among those gathered Sunday morning. Cruz said President Barack Obama is using veterans as pawns in closing the memorial.

"Let me ask a simple question," Cruz told the crowd. "Why is the federal government spending money to erect barricades to keep veterans out of this memorial?"

How Sequestration And The Shutdown Dealt A Body Blow To Scientists

WASHINGTON -- As congressional leaders attempt the patch together a last-minute deal to fund the federal government and raise the nation’s debt limit, scientists dependent on federal funds are looking on with concern.

For nearly the past two weeks, many of them have been denied access to work, either because the agencies that employ them have been shut down or because the facilities where they operate have been closed. The Obama administration announced Friday that four of the five Nobel Prize-winning researchers currently working for the federal government were “furloughed and unable to conduct their federal research.”

Far-Right Republicans Could Hit A Tipping Point As Support Falters

Tension is brewing in the Republican Party as the federal government shutdown enters its seventh day and far-right members of the GOP show no sign of letting up.

The shutdown -- which has already affected hundreds of thousands of federal employees and hit critical government programs -- is bringing the Republican Party to a boiling point, angering GOP fundraisers and throwing a wrench in the works for the upcoming 2014 elections.

“People are totally annoyed,” one GOP fundraiser told the Washington Post.

How Cold War Game Theory Can Resolve the Shutdown

In late October, 1969, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ordered a squadron of B-52 Stratofortresses, fully loaded with nuclear weapons, to race toward the Soviet Union’s border. For three days, they zagged along the edge of Soviet airspace, taunting Moscow. The operation, which remained secret for thirty-five years, was part of a deliberate White House strategy to convince the U.S.S.R. that Nixon and Kissinger were just a little mad. In many negotiations, the prevailing side is the one most willing to take the fatal step. A union gains leverage if it’s really willing to strike; management gains leverage if it might actually shut down the plant. If you’re playing chicken with another driver who you know has had a lot to drink—or who has torn off his steering wheel—you’ll likely swerve first. If the Soviets believed that Nixon and Kissinger were capable of unleashing Armageddon, perhaps they’d be more likely to concede in talks over, say, Berlin.

Dennis Ross, GOP Rep: 'Pride' Is Why Republicans Won't Budge On Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON -- With the government shutdown in its fifth day, many Republicans have conceded the fight is no longer about Obamacare. Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) added his name to the list on Saturday, saying the matter now boils down to "pride."

“Republicans have to realize how many significant gains we’ve made over the last three years, and we have, not only in cutting spending but in really turning the tide on other things," Ross told The New York Times. "We can’t lose all that when there’s no connection now between the shutdown and the funding of Obamacare."

"I think now it’s a lot about pride," he added.

Washington Dramas

Around the National Mall in Washington last week, signs of the government shutdown were unavoidable. Some were actual signs, like the ones posted in front of museums and monuments that are free and open almost every day of the year, saying those sites were now closed “due to the federal government shutdown.” Outside the National Air and Space Museum, a family of Japanese tourists took pictures of one another standing by the sign. Solitary joggers replaced the noisy busloads of kids who would ordinarily be swarming the Mall. The Library of Congress was closed; even its Web site was shut down. The Capitol police weren’t being paid, but they were on duty, and, fortunately, the crowds were sparser than usual when, on Thursday afternoon, a driver who had rammed a barricade outside the White House led police on a high-speed chase. “The timing on this was really kind of scary,” Representative Blake Farenthold, of Texas, said. “Capitol Hill police are at a lower personnel level because of the shutdown.”

The Shutdown Prophet

In a merciful twist of fate, Juan Linz did not quite live to see his prophecy of the demise of American democracy borne out. Linz, the Spanish political scientist who died last week, argued that the presidential system, with its separate elections for legislature and chief executive, was inherently unstable. In a famous 1990 essay, Linz observed, “All such systems are based on dual democratic legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two actually represents the will of the people.” Presidential systems veered ultimately toward collapse everywhere they were tried, as legislators and executives vied for supremacy. There was only one notable exception: the United States of America.