Another Super-Committee? Really?

The government shutdown demanded by the Republicans in Congress is now in its second week. And the crazy thing is that it did not need to happen. The Republicans claim it is because the Democrats won't compromise, but that is ridiculous. The Democrats did more than compromise -- they capitulated, giving in to the Republican demand to continue government at sequester levels (a funding level that has stunted economic growth).

But the Republicans, buoyed that that Democratic capitulation, mistakenly thought they could hold the government hostage and destroy the Affordable Care Act -- something they have tried to do at least 40 times and failed. They were wrong, and now they find themselves painted into a corner with no way out except to agree to the Democratic capitulation and drop further demands. But they know that now they have gone this far their ignorant teabagger base would consider that to be surrender (and show their displeasure in next Spring's primaries).

This could all be ended immediately, if the Speaker would just allow a vote on the "clean" continuing resolution passed by the Senate -- a resolution which continues funding at sequester levels. That resolution could pass the House. But the Speaker is afraid of some members of his own party, and will not allow a vote. Instead, he continues to allow the crazies in his own party to play political games -- games like funding only the things they like and leaving other things without funds. These are not serious efforts to get the government moving again, but only an effort to give the Republicans some political cover (because they know they have angered most of the public).

The Senate has refused to go along with these GOP attempts to provide themselves with some political cover. They are demanding a vote to end the shutdown completely. Now the Republican House leadership (a term that implies a very loose definition of the word "leader") has come up with another insane idea instead of just allowing a vote on the Senate resolution. They want to create a "super-committee" to "negotiate" a solution.

That ought to scare Americans -- first because the Democrats have already capitulated and there is nothing left to negotiate, and second, because of what happened the last time a super-committee was created. It resulted in the draconian sequester cuts that damaged the economy and stunted economic recovery.

This is just a stupid joke. It is not a serious proposal, but an effort to get Americans to think they are trying to find a "solution" -- when in reality it is just a way to delay a vote on the clean continuing resolution and continue the government shutdown. The truth is that the American people want a vote on the clean resolution, and that is verified by a new survey.

It is the United Technologies / National Journal Congressional Connection Poll (taken between October 3rd and 6th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of 3.7 points). That poll shows that 65% of the American people oppose the GOP's tactic of trying to tie Obamacare to the funding bill (and only 24% like the GOP tactic). And when it comes time to raise the debt ceiling (which must be done in a couple of weeks), they also oppose trying that same tactic of holding it hostage to get some kind of political ransom -- whether it be to hurt Obamacare, cut more from spending, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, or cut benefits for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

The Republicans have tried to get what they could not win at the electoral polls, and the people don't like it. It's time for them to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling -- and then try some real negotiating and compromise to fix the economy and create jobs. But I'm not going to hold my breath for that to happen. They have denied reality for so long that they no longer even know what it is -- and they don't care about this country or most of its citizens (only for their teabagger base).