Excerpt: "The Republican Party slunk away on Wednesday from its failed, ruinous strategy to get its way through the use of havoc."
House Speaker John Boehner. (photo: unknown)
17 October 13
UPDATE: President Obama signed the bill reopening the government and lifting the debt ceiling early Thursday morning.
he Republican Party slunk away on Wednesday from its failed, ruinous strategy to get its way through the use of havoc. Hours away from an inevitable market crash, it approved a deal that could have been achieved months ago had a few more lawmakers set aside their animus. After President Obama signs the bill, the government will reopen after more than two weeks of shutdown, and the threat of a default will be lifted.
The health care reform law will not be defunded or delayed. No taxes will be cut, and the deal calls for no new cuts to federal spending or limits to social welfare programs. The only things Republicans achieved were billions of dollars in damage to the economy, harm to the nation's reputation and a rock-bottom public approval rating.
"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," Speaker John Boehner said, utterly failing to grasp the destruction his battle caused. It has hurt federal employees and needy people dependent on government programs, and it threatened to alter Washington's balance permanently by giving a fringe group outsize power over the executive branch and the normal functions of government.
