Posted on 10/15/2013 11:31:30 AM PDT by cotton1706
Lurking at the very bottom of Conn's summary of the House's (final?) counter-offer to the Senate is this intriguing nugget:
If the bill passes, House Republicans may adjourn leaving Senate Democrats and President Obama with a final take-it-or-leave-it offer. First, "if the bill passes" is an open question, though it's sounding like House Republicans have mostly rallied around the Speaker's plan. They opened their meeting this morning by singing "Amazing Grace," then telegraphed their next volley. Whether they have the votes to pass it without any Democratic support -- Pelosi will likely whip hard against it -- remains to be seen. But if it passes, might Boehner gavel the House closed, with members leaving town? Ramesh Ponnuru hears rumors:
This would be a highly risky take-it-or-leave-it strategy. The GOP would argue that they gave Senate Democrats everything they asked for in their latest deal, but added a delay of a job killing tax that 79 Senators have already voted to repeal altogether, as well as a somewhat stripped-down Vitter Amendment. This would force members of Congress, but not staffers, to forego the president's special subsidy carve-out. The bottom-line message: "We've agreed to Harry Reid's plan, plus a few small additions that the American people support. We've bent over backwards to accommodate the other side. We've done our jobs. And we're outta here." That...might work. But it also might add to the (largely unfair) perception that Republicans are the obstinate, unflinching actors in this crisis. Harry Reid is likely to say "stuff it" to the House-passed bill -- if it passes. That's been his consistent position on almost everything, no matter how reasonable. If we hit the technical default wall with Republicans effectively AWOL, I'm not so sure those optics would work well during the ensuing, intense blame-game. Especially since the drumbeat GOP critique of Democrats over the last few weeks has been that Obama & Co are unwilling to negotiate. At the moment, nothing is certain. Votes and coalitions are fluid. And the clock is ticking. Stay tuned.
UPDATE - A concession from Democrats? A tax delay that would have benefited Big Labor might be gone on the Senate side:
UPDATE II -The GOP may be (surprise!) divided on the "leave town" gambit:
UPDATE III - White House rejects the deal. Does Boehner even have the votes?
GOP leadership may be re-writing their counter-deal already, under pressure from conservatives. Shades of the "Plan B" fiscal cliff fiasco, which eventually resulted in a worse outcome for conservatives.
UPDATE IV - Reid angrily rejects the House GOP plan (such as it exists), even though it's not that different from his own. Chuck Todd:
Great idea!
After passing this surrender bill, they leave the lion’s den of Washington... straight into the arms of the base, who are mad as hell.
Can a branch, Senate or House, adjourn without consent of the other branch? I know they can go
into recess but adjournment I’m not sure.
Maybe someone can explain......
Any article with the word 'default' used in any sense other than 'Debt ceiling does not equal default' is not worth reading.
What have they been waiting for? They should have done this two weeks ago. There is no bargaining with radical Marxists bent on bringing this country down.
If the GOP fails to kill Obamacare, they might as well go home.... and stay there.
What they should have done from the beginning is to publicly posture as seeking negotiations, and then offering little to nothing to the Communist-in-Chief in private.
"We've tried and tried to negotiate with the Democrats." Meanwhile, Obama and Reid's public position has been not to negotiate.
“Can a branch, Senate or House, adjourn without consent of the other branch? I know they can go
into recess but adjournment I’m not sure.
Maybe someone can explain......”
Not for more than three days. They would not adjourn because the president has the power to call them back, and he would love that!
The House and Senate control their own timetables.
Absent With Out Leave
When the Speaker gavels the legislative session closed, House Members are On Leave.
Do it!
Do it!
Do it!
Do it!
Pelosi rejects the plan before she read it ??? Isn’t that what started this whole mess in the first place ???
Actually, they don’t have to do anything. Just adjourn. The Senate has tabled all of the appropriations bills. That puts everything in the Senate’s lap - either have the “catastrophe” of the fictional default, or fund the government without Obamacare. It’s that simple.
What they should have done from the beginning is to publicly posture as seeking negotiations, and then offering little to nothing to the Communist-in-Chief in private.
I like your plan but the GOP should have also continued to pound on the Congressional subsidy and pushed for an individual mandate delay. They should have run some TV ads against vulnerable Dems. Reid went ballistic over the subsidy issue because he knew it was a winner for the GOP.
The GOP scoring points on offense would have reduced Dem appetite for this crisis. Under pressure they may have cut a deal more favorable to the GOP. Now a timid GOP leadership has fumbled away any chance of that.
Thanks... I went to look it up...
Article 1,
Section Five:
Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for
more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei
But 3 days puts us pass the Armageddon deadline, so that could be a useful tactic.
Yup. If they did this, the Senate would simply reject the House plan, send its plan to the House, and Obama would convene the House. Skipping town accomplishes nothing when Obama can just call them back.
Name it to the church house door and run!
It it my opinion that the RINOs and tea party folks know something awful about this administration-something they cannot say to the public -yet. Not sure what it is, but they are trying harder then usual to stay the course. It remains to be seen if someone leaks whatever it is...hard to believe it is just about the obivious. Are the teaparty folks that powerful that they can sway a majority of the party or is this smoke and mirrors...this is very odd.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.