The Storm

The tumultuous whirlwind of political games continued this week as Senator Barbara Boxer was once again accused by fellow Environment and Public Works Committee member, Senator David Vitter, of an ethics violation regarding a healthcare amendment elaborated on in my previous post.  Vitter, for the second time, approached the Senate Committee of Ethics to file a complaint against Barbra Boxer and Senator Harry Reid after a similar one from last week was dismissed.  The Boxer camp termed the complaint “baseless” in a statement following Vitter’s second complaint and followed up by criticizing Vitter for “using the Ethic Committee to launch political attacks”.[1] 

This battle is an offshoot of the larger Democrat-Republican battle in Congress following the Republican-controlled House’s vote to defund the Affordable Care Act by attaching a provision to a continuing resolution to fund the government. [2] On Friday, the Senate removed this provision to defund the Affordable Care Act and passed H.J.Res. 59:Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014.  This amended legislation would continue funding the federal government until November 15^th without the GOP amendment to defund healthcare.  The original bill the House passed also included “construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, eliminating funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and rolling back several Environmental Protection Agency regulations” before its revision in the Senate.  Senator Boxer was one of the 54-44 yea votes all of which were Democratic and Independent legislature votes.  The remaining 44 votes were Republican votes with two GOP members refraining from voting.[3]  Boxer’s yea vote, along with her Democrat peers, displays an example of the gridlock that may result from separately controlled Chambers.  Saturday, the House once again sent the bill back to the Senate with the healthcare measure reinserted.   In this specific case, the casualty of neither chamber compromising is the shutdown of certain government entities. The House made virtually irrelevant concessions, adding a delay in funding of the Affordable Care Act instead of complete defunding, and a “repeal of a tax that helps pay for it”.[4]  While the government shutdown would only be partial, its occurrence would be political ammunition for both parties and still have an effect on the American public, making voter approval of Congress even lower.

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[1] http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/vitter-files-new-expanded-ethics-complaint-against-reid-boxer/

[2] http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/28/20732222-shutdown-nears-as-house-passes-funding-bill-that-delays-obamacare?lite

[3] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2013/s209

 

[4] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-government-shutdown-house-20130928,0,6090370.story