What’s happening
right now on Capitol Hill is childish fight between parties. No one side can be
blamed because they both have their faults and in some way contributed to the shutdown.
However, Republicans are getting more of the blame for their lack of willingness
to pass a clean bill through to the Senate and I personally think that blame is
rightfully placed. Yes, debates over the Health care law are important to have
but not when the government is on the verge of a shutdown and especially not once
they are in one. Republicans need to
pass a clean bill, get the government up and running again, and then find the
appropriate channels to fight the Health care law. Yet, not all republicans are
to blame as some are in agreement with the democrats in the Senate.
Senator Schumer had
many words this week for Republicans and specifically Speaker Boehner as the
government came face to face with the shutdown. On Monday before the shutdown
began, Schumer expressed his concerns, which differed from his previous
statements that stated he was confident the House Republicans wouldn’t threaten
the country with a shutdown, stating “the basic line is: No matter how strongly
one feels about an issue, you shouldn’t hold millions of people hostage. That’s
what the other side is doing. That’s wrong and we can’t give in to that.”1
In an interview that same day with MSNBC’S “Morning Joe,” Schumer said that if
Republicans let the government shut down they would be “sacrificing Americans
to the right-wing gods.”2 Although this may seem a little extreme, Schumer
had a point. As he went on to say, by not preventing a government shutdown we
were putting real people at risk and for what? “Do we have to sacrifice the
economy and help for millions of middle class people?” Schumer said. “It’s real
people with real lives at stake, and just to sacrifice them to the right-wing
gods, for the sake of a day or two of showing, ‘Oh yes, we’re serious,’ is a
very cynical operation.”3
Once the shutdown began a lot of Schumer’s
attention pointed to Speaker Boehner specifically as he felt that Boehner wasn’t
doing his job to end the shutdown and was letting other Republicans order him
around. Schumer believes Boehner is being ordered around by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Speaker Boehner’s in this position because, sadly, he’s become a puppet, with
Ted Cruz pulling the strings,” Mr. Schumer said.4 Schumer believes
he has failed to pass this bill because he is allowing tea-party backed
lawmakers, who want to stop the President’s health care law, to run the show
“Senator Cruz
has driven Speaker Boehner to pit kids who should be enrolled in Head Start against
kids who should be enrolled in cancer trials,” Mr. Schumer said. “He’s driven
the speaker to pit families who want to visit the Statue of Liberty against
families who own a small business and need help from the [Small Business
Administration]. He’s pit Americans against one another. He doesn’t mind, but
Speaker Boehner should.”5
If anything, Schumer
is disappointed in Boehner because he has less to lose in this situation that
other Republicans yet others are doing more to help the situation than he is. Schumer
compared him to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is facing
re-election and a challenge to his incumbency yet has been more productive in
this conflict. I have no doubt that as this shutdown continues; Schumer will
continue to criticize House Republicans and their stubbornness. He continues to
stand firm on his beliefs and believes that Republicans will soon realize they
are wrong.
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