Poor baby: Shutdown headache for Republican Speaker John Boehner

[cali]

John Boehner has spent most of his House speakership trying to keep the various factions of his Republican majority together. With the recent government shutdown crisis, Boehner's ability to manage his caucus is once again being tested.

On 26 September, the US was days away from a deadline to pass legislation funding the government. A small group of House Republicans gathered to plot strategy on a conference call with Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

According to a report in the National Review, the congressmen - some of the most conservative in Washington - asked Mr Cruz for advice on how to respond to House Speaker John Boehner's proposal to keep the government open.

They hoped to tie it to the uphill battle of defunding President Obama's health care reform. The first-term senator, a darling of the conservative Tea Party movement that gained prominence opposing Obamacare in 2010, told them to oppose it.

The Republicans took the message to the floor of the House, and the speaker's plan died that evening without a vote. Five days later, Mr Boehner was throwing all his efforts behind the drive to end Obamacare, and the government was shuttered.

<snip>

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24388669

[cali]

1. this article lists the most wacko of the "wacko birds"

<snip>

This group includes Justin Amash of Michigan - who has voted against his party's leadership 126 times, more than any other Republican House member. At the end of last year, he was one of four Republican congressmen stripped of committee seats because of political apostasy.

<snip>

Steve King of Iowa is another thorn in Mr Boehner's side, working all year to round up votes to block a bipartisan immigration reform bill passed by the Senate - if it comes to the floor of the House. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana helped kill a leadership-backed agriculture bill because it contained funding for food stamps. Scott Rigell of Virginia was one of the first to demand that a reluctant Mr Boehner call the House back from recess in August to vote on strikes against Syria.

Paul Broun of Georgia, who is currently running for a Senate seat, said he would not vote for legislation that "does not fit the Judeo-Christian biblical principles that our country was founded on".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24388669

[napkinz]

2. toon ...

[Laelth]

3. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth