Democrats hope to force vote to end government shutdown

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

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[Joe Republic]

What the article doesn't elaborate is that a new discharge petition usually takes 30 days before it can take effect.  Fortunately, Democrats managed to find a bill that was filed back in March, with which to implement the discharge petition in a way that circumvents the 30 day rule.  The bill in question serves as a kind of clean CR; here's a description of it from bill's original sponsor:

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Then all Democrats need to do is get 218 signatures - there should be just enough House Republicans on board by now - to force a vote.

The best part?  The bill was introduced by Rep. James Lankford (R-OK).  That's right... the Democrats are using a GOP bill to end this stupid shutdown.

[The Mikado]

You need to get that many Republicans to not only cross over, but publicly put their name on this, which is a far higher bar to reach.  Outside of the Peter King/Charlie Dent duo, Republicans willing to put their name on a "screw both John Boehner and the Tea Party" document are still in limited supply.

[Space7]

You need to get that many Republicans to not only cross over, but publicly put their name on this, which is a far higher bar to reach.  Outside of the Peter King/Charlie Dent duo, Republicans willing to put their name on a "screw both John Boehner and the Tea Party" document are still in limited supply.

Still, 18 isn't too many when it's out of 232. 16 out of 230 when you count the votes of King and Dent.

Do any Republicans jump to mind right now as likely candidates to make up the extra 16?

[Dave from Michigan]

hopefully this works and 18 Republicans can be found. What other way is there for this too end? It can't just continue indefinetly right? Do Democrats agree to spending cuts but keep Obamacare? Also the polls do show more people blaming Republicans but not by that much, or thats what the polls I have seen show. The CBS poll only shows 44% blaming Republicans and 35% blaming Obama/Democrats. That is not a big gap at all. A lot of people I know are blaming both parties with the "they need to work together" line.  A lot of Democrats seem to think Republicans are going to pay for this shutdown but are they?

[Joe Republic]

It's getting to a point where some House Republicans will have more to fear from the general electorate, than a primary challenge from some idiot in a tricorn hat.

[Space7]

Huffington Post has compiled a list of Republicans who are willing to cross the table. Quotes included in the article. The total is 21, more than enough.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/house-republicans-clean-cr_n_4024755.html

Of course, like Mikado said, these Republicans also have to defy Boehner to use the roundabout mannerism, which is not the topic of this article. That may put off a couple of them, hopefully not too many.

[Mr. Morden]

There may not be 18 who are willing to cross Boehner on this right now, but the discharge petition could still be used a week or two weeks or three weeks down the line.  Eventually, enough of them will crack to make it happen, if Boehner himself doesn't relent.

Even once a CR is passed, that just starts the *beginning* of budget negotiations, not the end.  So if Boehner sees that he's going to lose on a discharge petition, he might cut a deal himself for a shorter term CR, to preserve his bargaining power.

[badgate]

I think if there are 18 Republicans willing to do this, they should just all switch parties and give Democrats a majority. Either way they probably won't be showing up to work January 2015, but their districts' Dem parties are probably more likely to nominate them than the GOP after they sign a this discharge petition.


Anyway what I'm saying is, it would be pretty awesome if that happened. And I hope Democrats can get 18 Republicans to sign the petition.

[The Mikado]

Well, scratch that plan.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/06/2738461/peter-king-republican-shutdown/

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If Peter King won't sign this, no one else will.  No one.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The Democrats should take the $988 billion Boehner wanted off the table for negotiating in bad faith.