Remember: it's Republicans that shut down the government

As we approach the end of FY 2015, we are also approaching another potential (and useless) government shutdown. It's looming now because of conflict over Planned Parenthood funding or not (totally a Republican schmissue), ending sequester cuts (which they caused in the first place because they wouldn't budge on a debt ceiling rise), and pissed-offedness about not being able to stop the Iran nuclear weapons pact. The last is particularly galling because they've made it an issue mainly because it would mark a major Obama foreign policy success. The other alternative is WAR, people. The allies were part of this, and if we didn't go along, they were just going to go ahead and lift sanctions anyway, and they probably would have done that with no nuclear deal in place. The ally diplomats have told several Senators that there's no point in even thinking a better deal could be negotiated by returning to the table, because there's no table to go back to. And one measure of how decent this deal is: conservative Iranians don't like it either!

So, as we approach Shutdown Eve, remember and repeat:

It's the Republicans' fault. Always is, every time.

Supporting links:

Meet the Donald Trump of the House of Representatives

"That sentiment could make for a messy fall on Capitol Hill. Conservatives in recent weeks have made their demands of Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): Oppose the Iran deal by any means necessary. Don’t capitulate to Democratic demands to boost federal spending. And, above all, don’t fund Planned Parenthood past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year."

Countdown to shutdown begins

“Many of us who were here in 2013 believe that the shutdown was a disaster for our country and have no desire to see that repeated,” Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a key Senate GOP moderate, said Tuesday. “There obviously are new members and quite a few new members who didn’t go through that learning experience but for those of us who did, I think it has an impact on how people approach the prospect of a shutdown.”

Obama Vows Not To Sign A Budget Bill That Doesn't Fix Sequestration

"The federal budget plan is ultimately just a set of guidelines within which congressional appropriators are asked to operate. But considering the vast differences in approach, it is difficult to see the pathway for bipartisan agreement. Lack of agreement on a future path raises the likelihood that lawmakers would simply pass a continuing resolution in order to keep the government open. Should that happen, sequestration would return on Oct. 1. Since the president has now said he won't sign a bill that allows sequestration to return, it would raise the possibility of another government shutdown."

Yikes. Put on your hard hats, rocks will be flyin'.