Friday, April 8, 2011

Developing Shutdown

Dear everyone,


Hey, how are you? Good, great. So, the government might partially shutdown at midnight tonight. Last night, Obama said he expected word from Congress in the morning. That word is: "Well . . ." The government is still on track for a shutdown. I'll have the full write up around 5, since this story is still developing. Until then, here are the key players:


President Barack Obama



  • President of the United States
  • Potential Muslim/Immigrant/Terror hybrid sent to destroy the United States
  • Has a lot of street cred for smoking marijuana
  • Has promised to veto any short term budget solutions known as "stopgap resolutions" and "CRs" or "Continuing Resolutions" forcing Congress to pass a budget to avoid government shutdown
House Speaker John Boehner
  • Speaker of the House, the bigger chamber of Congress
    • Fun fact: The House of Representatives has 435 members, not including the "delegates" from American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Guam who have no voting rights
  • Insists his name is pronounced "Bay-ner" not "Boner"
  • Cries on camera at least once a week
  • Republican from the 8th District of Ohio. 
  • Leader of the Republican majority in the House
Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid

  • Majority Leader in the Senate, the small  chamber of Congress with 100 members
  • Democrat, from Nevada
  • Probably pretty good at poker
  • Pretty much has this attitude the entire work day (see picture above)
  • Decides which bills are presented in the Senate, thus setting the priority of bills as he sees fit
    • Will pull a bill off the floor of the Senate if it has no chance of passing or if it will be filibustered (held up with talking)
  • Was majority leader in October 2010 when the budget for this year should have been passed
    Representative Mike Pence 

    • Looks good in pictures
    • Original proponent of defunding Planned Parenthood
    • Still wants to defund it
    • Republican representative of Indiana's 6th District. 
    Obama, Reid, and Boehner have been discussing the budget and ways to avoid government shutdown. 

    The shutdown will occur if no budget is decided on and passed. 

    One of the biggest issues at this point is a rider on the budget bill that asks for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. 
             Riders are add-ons to bills that are often unrelated to the main word of the bill

    Republicans are adamant on defunding Planned Parenthood since it will cut spending. 

    Democrats believe it will do more harm than good by eliminating healthcare services for women across the country and only saves a small amount of money.


    I'll do my best to keep you updated.

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