U.S. HOUSE - Republicans Loss of Control to Tea Party

The our-way-or-no-way Tea Party dictators who are disregarding governing our nation.  Also, the Republican Party loosing control because they allowed Tea Party members to join.

"Chaos in House Over Obamacare Fight" by Christina Bellantoni and Terence Burlij, PBS Newshour 9/12/2013

Excerpt

Remember that time House Speaker John Boehner's Republican members put him in a tough spot?  When lawmakers wanted to pressure him to go farther on a fiscal matter, no matter the consequences?

Yeah, that's happening. Again.

Republican leaders on Wednesday pulled a measure that would have funded the government beyond the end of September, delaying a scheduled Thursday vote on the spending bill until next week.  The current continuing resolution expires at the end of September, leaving little time for a compromise plan to pass both chambers and make it to President Barack Obama's desk.

Tea Party conservatives demanded that any funding be paired with a measure to defund the president's health care reform law.  The bill in question does that, but has a legislative escape hatch that would allow for the Obamacare provision to be stripped out by the Senate.  And party leaders were forced to admit they didn't yet have the 218 votes needed to pass that plan.

Some of the most conservative members of Boehner's caucus want to see leadership go the distance.

Rep. Steve Scalise, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said that lawmakers "must use every legislative avenue available, through the CR, the debt ceiling, and sequester conversations to free the country from the president's train-wreck of a healthcare law."  Scalise vowed he would "continue pushing for a CR that delays Obamacare for one year."

Politico reports:

A clearly frustrated Boehner seemed to realize that he leads a conference where no plan is quite good enough.  There are frequently about 30 Republicans who oppose leadership's carefully crafted plans -- just enough to mess things up.  A reporter asked him whether he has a new idea to resolve the government funding fight.  He laughed and said, "No."

"Do you have an idea?" he asked the reporters.  "They'll just shoot it down anyway."

And The Hill captures two lawmakers who illustrate the deep divisions within the GOP these days:

Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio) said proposals from conservatives that had more teeth and would directly defund the healthcare law stood no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

"Find me 60 votes in the Senate," Tiberi said.  "That's what I would say.  I'm with them philosophically -- completely.  But show me how you get 60 votes in the Senate.  That's the key."

On the right, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voiced frustration at what he characterized as a watered-down version of the policy that conservatives wanted:  a single spending bill that would withhold funds for the healthcare law.

"Wouldn't it be ironic if the government shuts down because our leadership won't offer a bill that Republicans will vote for?" Massie said.  "I mean, that's what happened this week.  Now we're a week further into this because they put forward a bill that Republicans won't vote for."