Members of Congress appear to be on track to fund the government before time runs out this weekend.
A late vote in the House Rules Committee Tuesday night cleared the way for the House to vote on an amendment that would provide aid for the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
“I am happy to see that progress has been made in the House of Representatives with regard to Flint, Michigan. This is a step in the right direction,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). “We will continue to exercise caution moving forward but I’m glad to see progress has been made.”
The deal–which was negotiated by Democratic and Republican House leaders–is on the water resources bill that is moving through the House, but is expected to free up the Senate to move forward with its must-pass spending bill that was held up because it did not include any money for Flint.
“Members should be prepared for votes on the continuing resolution,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday morning on the floor. “Our colleagues in the House made good progress last night on moving forward to help the people of Flint in the Water Resources Development Act , which we’ve said is the proper vehicle.”
Most Democrats had voted against a procedural vote Tuesday that would have advanced the spending measure because of their objections to the fact it included money for flooding victims in Louisiana, but not money for Flint. But, House leaders promised they would pursue the Flint aid in a timely fashion as it worked to finish up its water resources bill.
“We don’t want to create brinkmanship that doesn’t do anyone any good,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan during an event at the Economic Club of D.C. Wednesday morning.
“We don’t want to create brinkmanship that doesn’t do anyone any good.”
Who is “we”, Mr. Speaker? And please explain how kicking this can down the road to December has any meaningful impact beyond election optics.
brinksmanship has been a tried and true tactic for these assholes since Obama’s first term. but they are correct, it does no one any good, least of all their constituents.
What really has Teabaggers frightened is the specter of ‘uselessness’ that is following them around like stink on a skunk.
They have been blamed for every single government shutdown they’ve tried. Then Huelskamp got his ass primaried by a MODERATE in Kansas and Brownback has resorted to trying to hide the latest report showing his economic plan has worked about as well as a North Korean missile launch.
Why do they do this? Funding Flint is a no brainer. Why did they have to be dragged, kicking and screaming all the while, to do the right thing?
It’s like the chicken and the egg situation. Repubs don’t get AA votes because of stunts like this, AAs vote against them, so they come back with even more onerous policies against AAs. Rinse and repeat.
Is there no one smart enough on the other side of the aisle to break this cycle? Or is racism just so ingrained that there’s no desire to do what’s right?
They do it because they don’t care about “the people” that elected them or that they represent, they care about their own fears and small lizard brain selves. Strip them down and they’re just tiny little creatures hoping for Daddy’s approval, and hoping they get laid by a Playboy Bunny.
There was an old Star Trek episode, where Kirk and Friends were trapped in a castle on some planet, with a couple of humanoid aliens and a giant White cat threatening them on a regular basis. But when they destroyed the aliens Projection Machine, turns out they were just a couple of squirmy lizard like creatures and the White cat was a front for the aliens to impress Kirk with their bigly hugeness.
They’re just a bunch of losers, and they always have been, and always will.