They’re Lying to You: Appropriations and “Shutdown” Lies

Thomas R. Eddlem
New American
September 30, 2013

As Democrats and Republicans squabble over federal funding and a partial shutdown of the federal government looms, many in the press are mindlessly parroting Democratic Party’s talking points about the shutdown. But what’s the reality? Following are three false claims regarding the looming shutdown, and why they are lies.

Image: Government shut down.

False claim #1: Republicans are shutting down the government.

“So far, the Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to move forward…. The House Republicans are so concerned with appeasing the tea party that they’ve threatened a government shutdown or worse unless I gut or repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

— President Barack Obama, press conference, September 27

Why it’s a lie: The House Republicans have twice passed bills to fund nearly all the functions of the federal government through December 15. Congress must fund appropriations for nearly all federal programs each year by the time the fiscal year begins on October 1, or the programs will face shutdown. But the President and Democratic Senate have threatened to veto the House-approved spending unless the House passes a bill that also includes funding for ObamaCare. The White House and Senate Democrats do not object to any spending that is in the House bill, they are only objecting to funding that’s not in the bill. The reality is that President Obama is holding the federal government — and federal employees’ paychecks — hostage in order to extort more funding from the House.

False claim #2: Republicans must fund ObamaCare because it’s the law.

“That’s not really the American form of government. You [Host David Gregory] outlined the American form of government. The test by which we submit any new legislation and it’s submitted, the President signs it, and it’s reviewed by the courts. It’s the law.”

— Chris Matthews, on Republican strategy to defund ObamaCare, on Meet the Press, September 29

Why it’s a lie: While it is true that Congress enacted ObamaCare in 2010, the original bill contained zero funding. The original ObamaCare law was not self-funded, and funding of ObamaCare is what’s at issue in Washington today. ObamaCare requires new appropriations spending each year, as Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution requires that “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” Generally, this means annual spending bills passed by Congress, though in some rare instances Congress passes spending for more than a year.

The Congress has complete discretion about whether to fund — or not fund — the programs it sets up under law, and Congress defunds laws all the time — such as pork barrel purchases for the military weapons systems that are never funded. In fact, Congress is doing precisely the same thing right now under the sequester law, to the utter silence of Democratic Party mouthpieces like Chris Matthews. And no one argues that these are inappropriate uses of Congress’ discretion of what to fund.

Regarding ObamaCare, there’s a stronger case to deny funding than most pork barrel military weapons projects. President Obama proposed the law with a price tag of $900 billion over 10 years, but the Congressional Budget Office recently projected that costs would be roughly double the price estimated by Congress at the time it was passed into law.

False claim #3: House Republicans are bluffing, and President Obama holds all the aces in the budget debate.

“They said, “Yeah, we negotiate with everybody and we don’t like where it came out.  We want our way.  It’s our way or the highway.  And if you don’t do it, we’ll shut the government down.”  I think there are times when you have to call people’s bluff.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, on Republican claims, to George Stephanopoulos in This Week, September 29

Why it’s a lie: Republicans hold a constitutional royal-straight-flush on funding, as they control a majority of the House of Representatives. Under the constitutional appropriations process, funding for just about all programs ends automatically every year. Thus, funding for all programs must pass the House of Representatives every year or the programs will die. Therefore, House Republicans an absolute, veto-proof constitutional stop on spending.

Democratic Party talking points for the past year are that the GOP House has voted 30- or 40-odd times to defund Obamacare, to no effect. The reality is that House Republicans don’t need to vote at all to defund Obamacare; they simply need to avoid passing a bill to fund the program and it will die.

When Bill Clinton told George Stephanopoulos that Obama should “call people’s bluff,” Clinton was projecting from experience. Clinton bluffed against Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s royal-straight-flush back in 1996 with the same pair of deuces which today Obama holds, and the GOP folded its winning hand. Look for the same likely outcome this time. The real bluff may be that the GOP is pretending to have a spine, and it’s not there.

The reality is that the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has been the lifeblood of ObamaCare thus far, always granting it full funding up until this point. If the GOP finds its spine, Republicans will have to convince the American people that true compromise must not be based upon what is absent from a bill, but instead on what is in a bill. In short, Republicans need to embrace constitutional “reductive compromise” and reject the White House extortion strategy, initiating a compromise strategy that involves only spending money that is agreed upon by both parties.

Views: 766

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by truth on September 30, 2013 at 2:39pm

fyi the new american site owner is a member here, and he sends thanks to us for sharing their work ...cheers

site:12160.info thenewamerican.com

http://tinyurl.com/Thenewamerican-com

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted a blog post
57 minutes ago
tjdavis posted blog posts
18 hours ago
Doc Vega posted photos
yesterday
tjdavis posted a blog post
yesterday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Is this proof that the story about Charlie Kirk's assassination is false?
"Les prone, Thanks Buddy! "
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted a blog post
Tuesday
tjdavis posted a photo
Tuesday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Is this proof that the story about Charlie Kirk's assassination is false?
"Less Prone as usual the official version of the truth does not match the evidence and is labeled…"
Saturday
Less Prone commented on Doc Vega's blog post This Memorable Anthem Given by Nick Freitas Hit the Nail on the Head Please Listen!
"Charlie Kirk was getting very critical against Israel and had turned down a lucrative deal from the…"
Saturday
Doc Vega's blog post was featured

The Army of Government Launched Psychopaths

They walk among us in most college towns. They seem relatively reasonable until political…See More
Saturday
Less Prone favorited Doc Vega's blog post Is this proof that the story about Charlie Kirk's assassination is false?
Saturday
Less Prone commented on Doc Vega's blog post Is this proof that the story about Charlie Kirk's assassination is false?
"Have to sign in to YT for this. So. What I do is to go to https://ytdown.io/en/ and download…"
Saturday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Was a Planned Civil War Averted?
"cheeki kea, you are spot on. The old guard is about to collapse! "
Oct 2
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Alligator Creek and a Japanese Massacre
"cheeki kea, the Japanese thought they could expand their empire and exact enough damage on the US…"
Oct 2
Michelle Reichert favorited Burbia's video
Oct 1
cheeki kea posted a video

NEW DOCUMENTARY - Dissent Into Madness

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: https://www.corbettreport.com/dissent-into-madness/What if the delusions of the dissidents are in fact real? What if their paranoid f...
Oct 1
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Alligator Creek and a Japanese Massacre
"Japan served themselves up no favours by inching out into the South Pacific as they soon found out.…"
Oct 1
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Was a Planned Civil War Averted?
"Their plans did not work out because we are the news now, and the old news is the enemy. "
Oct 1
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Alligator Creek and a Japanese Massacre

The year is 1942 just a few months after the Pearl Harbor disaster. Despite losses suffered by the…See More
Sep 30
Doc Vega commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

CHARLIE KIRK WAS CNP! JOSH REEVES 9-11-25

"With all due respect this guy comes off as a drunken asshole and he didn't even  know who…"
Sep 29

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted