Patterico's Pontifications

10/1/2013

Does Ted Cruz Read Patterico?!

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:17 pm



For one brief, shining moment, I thought it might be so — when I saw that he has been urging the very same idea that I proposed here last night: funding the parts of government we like, and ignoring the rest:

The Texas senator proposed on Monday night that the House should begin passing small appropriations bills to keep specific portions of the government running after midnight, given the lack of negotiations between Senate Democrats and House Republicans on passing an all encompassing government spending bill.

“I think we ought to start passing continuing resolutions narrowly focused on each of the things the President listed [Monday,]” Cruz told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” on Monday.

Which, as it happens, is the very same thing I proposed last night as well:

Barack Obama took to the podium to complain about things that won’t get funded. He says: ““One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of an election.”

Well, perhaps not. But we do hold the purse strings, Mr. President, and that too is the result of an election.

So, House Members, embrace the power to do what Barack Obama says you don’t “get to” do — namely, to decide to initiate spending. For those purposes you decide are appropriate.

If you’re worried about a specific program or department not being funded — and if you’re worried about taking blame for that program getting defunded — then here’s an idea: draft a bill to fund that program or department.

For example, the House certainly didn’t want to be branded as keeping soldiers from getting paid. So guess what? They passed a bill to pay soldiers. The Senate has already passed it. Boom. Problem solved. You won’t get blamed for soldiers not getting paid.

So: if there’s anything else you think should be funded, fund it. Think national parks should be operating? OK. Draft a bill. If it’s a very popular program or department, the Senate will pass your bill.

Turns out the “Situation Room” runs at 5 pm Eastern, meaning Cruz made his comments before mine. So I guess he didn’t get his idea from me. It’s a case of Great Minds Think Alike, and Sometimes, So Does Mine.

But it makes me feel a lot better to know that Ted Cruz is thinking the way I am. Makes me feel like he must have his head screwed on straight!

66 Responses to “Does Ted Cruz Read Patterico?!”

  1. It is a obvious solution with hardly any downside. The House offers to fund something and puts the Senate and President in the position of “shutting down” a part of the government.

    Makes you wonder why the eGOP won’t go for it. Whose side are they on?

    WarEagle82 (2b7355)

  2. I don’t know about Ted Cruz, but the House of Representatives tried that.

    One thing that has been caught up in the shutdown is DC minucipal government. Even though it has it’s own budget (it gets a contribution from Congress) but it has it its own budget, it gets caught up in this. The DC delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton complained about this the other day. I think the DC government attempted some time to say all its workers were essential, maybe they were not successful. I read before the shutdown that libraries and the Department of Motor Vehicles were supposed to be shutdown. (incidentally off topic someone told me today that there are almost no billboards in DC)

    So some bills to restore funding to some parts of the gopvernment are brought up. It looks like it was DC government, the veterans Administration, national parks and museum like the Smoithsonian and the Holocaust Museum.

    They were brought up under a suspension of the rules (not clear why – did the Republican leadership want to lose, or was this an effort by some backbenchers?) This requires a 2/3 vote. So the bills lost.

    Harry Reid critizes this whole idea, and President Obama issued a (written, not oral) veto threat saying he would veto any bill that kept only parts of the government going. A day after he signed the one for the military.

    Sammy Finkelman (1190c5)

  3. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/01/waiting-game-pols-brace-for-prolonged-stalemate-amid-partial-govt-suspension/

    The three measures were aimed at reopening parks and monuments, continuing veterans’ benefits and allowing the municipal government of the District of Columbia to function.

    Only Legal Insurrection mentioned they were brought up under suspension of the rules. The radio didn’t.

    Sammy Finkelman (1190c5)

  4. Cruz is thinking pragmatically and outside the politics-as-usual box. Clearly his days in D.C. are numbered.

    Now lifer McCain clearly understands the seriousness of a shutdown. Priorities.

    Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a graduate of the Naval Academy, told reporters that the cancelation of the Air Force-Navy game would be the “defining moment” of the shutdown.

    “The apocalypse is upon us,” McCain lamented.

    Dana (121699)

  5. What do you do with an elephant with four balls? Walk him and pitch to the rhino.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. But it makes me feel a lot better to know that Ted Cruz is thinking the way I am.

    Have you paid attention to Cruz’s batting average so far? Is there any part of this master plan of his that has gone well for the right?

    Tlaloc (d061fc)

  7. Tlaloc, your mom is a nice lady.

    nk (dbc370)

  8. Let Obama veto this stuff.

    Let Harry Reid vote it down.

    Now who’s to blame?

    Patterico (6f7a2b)

  9. Why thank you, nk. Of course it has nothing to do with the question at hand. Is there any part of this master plan of his that has gone well for the right?

    Tlaloc (d061fc)

  10. Let Obama veto this stuff.

    Let Harry Reid vote it down.

    Now who’s to blame?

    It won’t come to that the senate will just amend the bill and send it back.

    Tlaloc (d061fc)

  11. Tlaloc, you’re just scrawling graffiti on the posts, here. You tell us, in a persuasive argument, your plans for world peace, end to hunger, and a date on Saturday night for GTA players.

    nk (dbc370)

  12. How did our discussion on Greek culture work out, nk? I went to bed.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  13. The idea may have occurred to you first in your own mind. Ted may have first read it here. But it was not unique to the world since funding of Agencies bill by bill has been around for some time.

    Rodney King's Spirit (5afc40)

  14. Which doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested. If you’ve already been up all night it’s harder to stay up a second night.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  15. #4 John McCain has always taken himself more seriously than his job. Ego First.

    Rodney King's Spirit (5afc40)

  16. My comments are there. Go and read them.

    nk (dbc370)

  17. McCain is “where the ducks are” for the Democrats — they get wins out of him. He’s also “where the ducks are” for a primary challenge should he still be compos mentis enough to sign the candidacy petition by then.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. This is common sense.

    If the dems are preaching about program X, and the GOP has already funded that program, no matter what the dems do, it is their responsibility.

    Unfortunately the MSM firewall will do all it can to prevent the masses from knowing about it.

    Dustin (948952)

  19. speaking of government shutdown this girl got stuck in a bmw and died

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/14/graciela-martinez-dead_n_3926835.html

    the world is not a benevolent place it is dark and it is scary and you can get stuck in cars

    and – this next part is key – no stupid lame fascist government is going to save you

    you really need to realize that you are all alone and you have to fend for yourself and you can get stuck in a car and die so you should focus on important things like not getting stuck in cars and not worry so much about whether or not stupid government flunkies are getting paid or not because how is that even relevant

    happyfeet (4bf7c2)

  20. Tlaloc is working overtime. Who knows why.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  21. here in my car i feel safest of all
    i can lock all my doors in cars

    pdbuttons (0d7937)

  22. Tomorrow it is the turn of the National Institutes of Health.

    What I don’t know is what is the idea of calling it up under suspension of the rules? To make sure it needs Democratic votes?

    Parks funding went down by a vote of 252 in favor to 176 against (not 2/3), veterans programs by 264 to 164 and D.C. government funding by 265 to 163. They needed to be 2-1 in favor to pass under suspension of the rules.

    Sammy Finkelman (1190c5)

  23. looks like the plan failed to get out of the house:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/house-gop-fails-to-pass-partial-government-funding-bills

    Comment by Tlaloc (d061fc) — 10/1/2013 @ 8:10 pm

    Good. Blame is clearer than ever.

    Love it.

    Patterico (a9c670)

  24. Actually, they have already done this with military pay. Under the standard shutdown rules, with non-military government employees, the non-essential ones get furloughed. However, with the military they keep the soldiers on duty, but stop paying them. So, the House and Senate passed legislation, which Obama will sign, that keeps the paychecks going out to the soldiers.

    Link to Politico: http://is.gd/yASG2o

    I suspect that the Dems will not be as willing to go along with with this method of funding for anything else.

    Anon Y. Mous (8ec442)

  25. Glad to see I didn’t give any offense, nk. I had been up almost the whole weekend.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  26. Nie ma problemu, kolega.

    nk (dbc370)

  27. Let’s REVIEW. The LIBTARDS can ram OBAMACARE DOWN OUR THROATS on CHRISTMAS EVE. They can RAM THE PORK-U-LUS BILL down our throats for 5 YEARS and counting, starting 3 weeks after Obama took office. The DEMOTARDS can use their RAW POWER to FECK US. But the REPUBLICANS CANNOT USE THEIR POWER??????

    This is why the GOP needs to FIGHT tooth and nail.

    GUS (70b624)

  28. I know it’s not your problem.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  29. Tha Govermant must be shot down, cuz, I ain’t getting my STUFF,.

    GUS (70b624)

  30. Survived day 1 without incident.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  31. Dag nab it. C-o-w-e-i-e-i-o.

    Wrong thread.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  32. Actually, they have already done this with military pay. Under the standard shutdown rules, with non-military government employees, the non-essential ones get furloughed. However, with the military they keep the soldiers on duty, but stop paying them. So, the House and Senate passed legislation, which Obama will sign, that keeps the paychecks going out to the soldiers.

    I know; I referenced it in the post.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  33. You’re right, but being right isn’t winning in politics.

    We should hammer Obama and Reid for complaining that individual bills are a “piecemeal” approach and some sort of “game.” Back when the Senate used to do their job, every year there were thirteen separate appropriations bills passed eventually by Congress and signed into law by the President to fund the several departments. That was a longstanding practice, so it is hardly “piecemeal” or a “game” to do it that way.

    I still think the whole gambit is ill-advised, but Obama and Reid’s intransigence can turn a stinker into perfume. The public, being basically brain dead, favors “compromise” over any result. It is the Democrats who won’t even talk now.

    Every President who has faced shutdown threats – and there have been some two dozen of such incidents that were at least close in recent history – negotiated with opposition leaders right to the deadline, and beyond when there were shutdowns. Obama’s refusal is unprecedented.

    He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the military, new Social Security applicants, veterans touring outdoor monuments, or anything else but winning the political fight. The media won’t notice, but America might if we keep on that theme.

    I still think we’d get rid of Obama-Care much faster by letting it take effect and crash hard, but with Obama’s assistance this approach could work out, too.

    But note it is only dumb luck, or a dumb President, that makes that possible.

    Estragon (19fa04)

  34. Is that what it means? I thought it meant no problem.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. So – by some arithmetic …

    432 Representatives were there to vote … 2/3 of 432 is 288 …

    232 GOP … 200 Dems …

    So the Dems could have passed the funding of “continuing appropriations for National Park Service operations, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes” just by having 30% or more voting in favour …

    And it was more important to them that Obamacare be continued for those who are not recipient of crony waivers rather than funding the specific appropriations for “the District of Columbia, veterans affairs and national parks.” …

    You can go with Tlaloc spreading the used TP … or you can go with the reality of who is playing politics …

    We should be spreading the word and the arithmetic …

    Alastor (2e7f9f)

  36. 32. Survived day 1 without incident.

    Comment by papertiger (c2d6da) — 10/1/2013 @ 10:14 pm

    I ran out of Bacon.

    To hell with you, George Bush!

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  37. What I don’t know is what is the idea of calling it up under suspension of the rules? To make sure it needs Democratic votes?

    Sammy, I think it has to do with the process of bringing a bill to the floor while bypassing committee and limiting debate and disallowing amendments. Perhaps it also has something to do with the recent promises that all bills will be publicized for 48 or 72 or however many hours before the actual vote. Because the GOP is violating that promise, they may feel obligated to seek the 2/3 vote to make it ok.

    JVW (93c84b)

  38. I know; I referenced it in the post.

    Yeah, but it wasn’t in the first paragraph, so what do you expect?

    🙂

    Anon Y. Mous (8ec442)

  39. Hard working, that’s what comes to my mind to describe Rico.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  40. Oh, lighten up, SCOAMF.

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/10/best-shutdown-graphics.html

    Too bad for ObamaneyCare all the NSA IT peoples couldn’t put it back together again.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  41. Yeah, maybe you should reconsider your wordage:

    http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/01/sebelius-these-obamacare-glitches-are-a-great-problem-to-have/

    All the supposed traffic implies everyone that was going to sign up at all chose the first morning of the first day to jump right in.

    Sure.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  42. The morons who signed up for this will now have a obama health care card to go along with the ebt card they stole.

    mg (31009b)

  43. Oh noes!

    Because of the Fukushima nuclear disaster the Japanese are now growing feathers! What’s worse is they seem to be having fun with it.

    http://www.asakusa-samba.org/

    And what’s up with the glowing sparklies?

    Horror. Sheer horror.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  44. Mutant ninja feather dancers are now marching the streets of Tokyo, the city that brought us mothra and the ginzu knife.

    Can total disaster be far behind? I think not.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  45. Thzt is a troubling sign, Ghidra coming up.

    narciso (3fec35)

  46. You know, right now there’s a soldier walking his post at the tomb of the unknown. And his shoes are shined, and his uniform is perfect, even though no one will ever see him.

    Steve57 (234b9e)

  47. Bless those soldiers.

    mg (31009b)

  48. Have you paid attention to Cruz’s batting average so far? Is there any part of this master plan of his that has gone well for the right?
    Comment by Tlaloc (d061fc) — 10/1/2013 @ 7:23 pm

    — And exactly WHICH part of ‘standing on principal’ is it that’s going badly?

    Icy (f2f564)

  49. I still think we’d get rid of Obama-Care much faster by letting it take effect and crash hard
    Comment by Estragon (19fa04) — 10/1/2013 @ 10:50 pm

    — Let’s check the news headlines, shall we?
    “OBAMACARE TAKES EFFECT, CRASHES HARD”
    Is it gone yet?

    Icy (f2f564)

  50. RIP, Tom Clancy,

    narciso (342f74)

  51. I’d bet you’d be surprised (or maybe not) at who secretly reads your blog, Pat.

    This is true of other sites also.

    Home of the Politically Correct,

    Land of the “SHUT UP RACIST”

    Jcw46 (ca1d05)

  52. Yea, I’m sure a large open expanse of space next to the National Mall must have staffers around in order for it to be open to the public. Yep, that setup is totally identical to the one for the White House, where public tours also require the presence of staffers to keep an eye on enclosed spaces and security doors.

    America, your chickens are coming home to roost.

    dailycaller.com, October 1, via drudgereport.com: The White House and the Department of the Interior rejected a request from Rep. Steven Palazzo’s office to have World War II veterans visit the World War II memorial in Washington, the Mississippi Republican told The Daily Caller Tuesday.

    Palazzo helped the veterans commit an act of civil disobedience against the Park Service Tuesday, when the heroes stormed through barricades around the closed memorial.

    “We got the heads up that they will be barricaded and specifically asked for an exception for these heroes,” Palazzo told TheDC. “We were denied and told, ‘It’s a government shutdown, what do you expect?’ when we contacted the liaison for the White House.”

    Palazzo’s office was in touch with the heads of the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and the Capitol Police. He says all these officials rejected his request to allow the veterans, many of whom are octogenarians and some of whom are in poor health, to attend.

    Palazzo, a Gulf War Marine veteran who has participated in all five of the Honor Flights, blames the White House for making it harder on veterans and playing politics. “At first I thought it was a huge bureaucratic oversight,” Palazzo told The Daily Caller, “but having talked with the officials I can’t help but think this was politically motivated.”

    Mark (58ea35)

  53. Some disappointment in Mr. Ken this morning.

    His tweets indicate a belief that Republicans were not specifically elected to give as much trouble as they can with regard to unwieldy ACA and the executive’s unilateral rewrites of its provisions.

    They are “petulant”, not principled, for resisting improper “pick and choose” enforcement of bad law that is broadly unpopular, and passed with zero bipartisan support. Excercise of their own constitutional powers, and the will of their own constituents is, apparently, just bad manners.

    It is bad manners on a scale far exceeding that of the fool of a fool who decided it was important to create a bullshit barrier to the open spaces relatively untended compared to the gates, signs, and police presence now surrounding the WW11 monument plaza, insisted on as necessary to save money somehow.

    Sarahw (b0e533)

  54. Ted Cruz is the GOP’s foremost advocate of the full court press. Full court presses are hard work, exhausting if you’re not adequately prepared and fit. But if you start from the beginning and just press, it will drive your opponents crazy.

    That’s working quite well as a strategy for the GOP. We can’t afford to spare this man, Cruz, he fights.

    TMLutas (0876a3)

  55. If it fails, it will not be called Obamacare. Just a fact.

    Rodney King's Spirit (5afc40)

  56. #58 It will be called TedCruzBushHitlerCheneyHalliburton Awful Care Act.

    Rodney King's Spirit (5afc40)

  57. Patterico,

    Hugh Hewitt has had Ted Cruz on his radio program several times during the past number of weeks, and I believe they discussed the potential of the House passing a budget by piecemail, just as you have proposed.

    In other words, great minds (Hewitt, Cruz, Patterico) do think alike.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  58. Can total disaster be far behind? I think not.

    Comment by Steve57 (234b9e) — 10/2/2013 @ 4:03 am

    There’s that bacon shortage, but with the war and all you have to expect some sacrifices.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  59. 61. Comment by Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 10/2/2013 @ 9:29 am

    Patterico,

    Hugh Hewitt has had Ted Cruz on his radio program several times during the past number of weeks, and I believe they discussed the potential of the House passing a budget by piecemail, just as you have proposed.

    In other words, great minds (Hewitt, Cruz, Patterico) do think alike.

    Ted Cruz said something like this Sunday a week ago (September 22, 2013)

    September 22, 2013 / Fox News Sunday transcript

    …if Harry Reid kills this bill in it the Senate, I think the House should hold its ground, and should begin passing smaller resolutions one department at a time. It should start, continuing resolution focused on the military — fund the military, send it over, and let’s see it Harry Reid is willing to shut down the military because he wants to force ObamaCare on the American people. I think that would be a very perilous decision for Harry Reid to make and if the House can keep driving this — look, the House is the only body where the Republicans have a majority and so the House has to lead on this….

    I mentioned this in comment 29 in response to comment 4 by
    Elephant Stone in the September 23 It’s Official: Old Guard GOP Senators Will Shoot Down Cruz’s Attempt to Make a Filibuster Possible on the Issue of ObamaCare thread:

    The endgame is, the bill dies (so he really does oppose the bill) then the House passes a dozen separate continuing resolutions, that, combined, continue spending for everything except Obamacare.

    Except that if Harry Reid can amend the big bill, why can’t he amend any of the little ones? Why can’t he take any of the little ones and make it an all purposes continuing resolution?

    I suppose this could come closer to working if the House waited for the Senate to pass the bill(s) unchanged before passing more partial continuing resolutions, so in the end it might be down to only one, where they might be willing to tolerate no more spending in that category, but the Democrats would have assumed they wouldn’t.

    Cruz could be more consistent, BTW. by not opposing a vote on the bill, but merely opposing any kind of limitation on the ability to filibuster amendments, or any unanimous consent agreement to allow a vote on the Harry Reid amendment.

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman (8eda0c) — 9/23/2013 @ 10:09 pm

    So you may have read it all here.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  60. Five large classes of funding areas exist.

    The first are those for which there is a strong bipartisan approval, such as the park service.

    The second are those the Republicans approve of and wish to see funded.

    The third are those the Republicans can never approve.

    The fourth are those the Democrats approve of and wish to see funded.

    The fifth are those the Democrats can never approve defunding.

    Sixth and seventh arguably exist – things R’s can never defund and things D’s hate. I am not sure those categories are big enough to consider.

    As we identify items in the first class we should appropriate funds to keep them rolling.

    As we identify things in the second and fourth classes we should start pairing them up and approving of them.

    Then we reach the third and fifth classes. The House controls the purse. So in that sense the Democrats are SOL on the third and fifth classes unless they can identify something in the sixth class to use in a compromise.

    That is the process of good compromise. Unfortunately the Democrats are taking a dog-in-the-manger approach and insist “compromise” is do it my way or nothing moves.

    This latter attitude is very childish and immature. This should be highlighted in those terms on every interview program R’s appear for the next several months.

    {^_^}

    JDow (d8539e)

  61. Sammy,

    Sorry, but I heard it on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
    Hugh has been talking about that strategy for a really long time.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)


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