Don’t expect the traditional media to say so, but whether the federal government shuts down at 12:01 a.m. tonight depends mostly on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Over the weekend, House Speaker John Boehner led the House in passing a revised Continuing Resolution that funds the government through Dec. 15, 2013, including the U.S. military, repeals the medical device tax in Obamacare, and delays implementation of President Obama’s vastly unpopular health care reform program for one year.
Back to you, Harry
The revised CR is now back in the lap of Reid and the Senate Democrats who control the upper chamber. They’ve previously voted to reject the House CR that defunded Obamacare.
Now to protect Obamacare against the latest House action, Reid and his Senate Democratic colleagues will have to vote to retain the medical device tax that they voted to repeal months ago.
Saving Obamacare at all costs
In voting against the one-year delay adopted by the House, Reid and the Senate Democratic majority will also be defending the one-year delay Obama unilaterally granted big corporations and against allowing individuals the same privilege.
It’s rare that so much will be decided in the short space of 24 hours but that’s what’s happening today in the nation’s capital.
In today’s Washington Examiner:
Editorial: Obama programs invade individual privacy on a grand scale
James Jay Carafano: Ed Royce becoming the quiet giant of the House on foreign policy
Sean Higgins: Chris Christie is winning over private sector labor union members
David Freddoso: American public sees no sacred cows in debt limit hike
Examiner Op-Ed: Chris Christie is the conservative most likely to win in 2016
Susan Ferrechio, Sean Lengell: Government shutdown looms as parties jockey to shift blame to each other
Joseph Lawler: The week ahead in economics as the shutdown looms
In the news today:
New York Times: Al Qaeda plot leak has undermined U.S. intelligence
New York Times: Democrats’ left-wing base favors Elizabeth Warren
Washington Post: Faced with a shutdown, federal employees turn to prayer and preparedness
Washington Post: Justice Department to sue North Carolina over voting law
USA Today: Obamacare exchanges open Tuesday, here’s what to do
Lefty Playbook:
Talking Points Memo: Kerry says Iran nuke deal could happen fast
Daily Beast: House Republican hostage takers are unfit to govern
Brad DeLong: The taper and its shadow
Righty Playbook:
RedState.com: A test of your power and influence
The Foundry: Bureaucrats gone wild with end-of-fiscal-year spending
Project 21: Black conservatives speak out on Obamacare launch
