John Boehner is stuck between a rock and a teabag. The Tea Party’s fondest desire is about to come true – government shutdown!
President Obama and Congressional leaders cited limited progress but still had yet to reach a budget deal to avert a government shutdown after a emergency late-night meeting at the White House Wednesday.
Emerging from a meeting with Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Obama said the talks were “frank and constructive” but failed to produce the necessary compromises to strike a deal.
“I remain confident that we will be able to complete a deal,” Obama said in an impromptu appearance before reporters. “But it’s going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from those involved that a government shutdown has real consequences for real people.”
Nobody wants a shutdown. Nobody but Republicans, that is:
A second poll today finds that most Americans want a budget shutdown compromise and — like the NBC/Wall Street Journal polls written about here earlier — many Republicans are against one. A new Gallup Poll shows the dilemma facing House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican bigwigs who don’t want to see their party lose independent swing voters in 2012:
With Congress facing a midnight Friday deadline to pass a federal budget before a partial government shutdown occurs, a new Gallup poll finds Americans rooting for a deal. By 58% to 33%, more Americans want government leaders who share their views on the budget to back a compromise and avert a shutdown rather than hold out for a budget they agree with.
A poll showed that the blame for a government shutdown would be spread around.
A plurality of 37 percent say they would blame congressional Republicans if the current budget disagreement leads to a shutdown of the federal government, while 20 percent say they would blame President Obama and another 20 percent would blame congressional Democrats.
This will change when commercials about incidents like this start running, as well as videos of Republicans like Michele Bachmann talking about how they want a shutdown start airing.
House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown. That process includes alerting lawmakers and senior staff about which employees would not report to work if no agreement is reached.
Sure they cheered. Congress will still get paid. In the real world, people will suffer.