and bringing the United States one step closer to a government shutdown, House Republicans decided to stomp their feet and hold their breath and demand that the Senate get back to work immediately during a press conference this Sunday -- and of course, once again try to blame the Democrats for the results of not giving into
House Republicans accused Democrats and President Obama of wanting to shut down the government for political gain Sunday afternoon.
A handful of GOP lawmakers gathered outside an empty Capitol building to implore the Senate to come back immediately and consider the funding bill that the House passed late Saturday night to avoid a government shutdown.
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) charged that his Democratic colleagues are playing politics with the government shutdown.
Calling it a "scorched-earth policy," Griffin said that he's learned from "high-level Democrats in town that this has been a plan for a while and I personally believe that Senator Reid and the president for political purposes want to shut down the government."
The fact that the Democrats in the Senate decided not to convene on Sunday is "all the evidence you need to know that they want to shut down the government," Griffin charged.
Holding a football in his hand, Griffin equated the Senate’s decision not to return on Sunday to vote on the House-passed funding bill – which includes provisions to delay parts of Obamacare – with “running out the clock” at a football game.
“This is the old football strategy – when you get to where you want to be in a football game, you run out the clock, because you think you like where you are, that’s exactly what’s going on here,” Griffin said.
“If they really cared if this government shutdown, they’d be back here,” he added.
Earlier in the day, a number of high-ranking Democrats took to the airwaves to hammer a message that the Republicans are employing a "government shutdown strategy." Read on...
The House Republicans know delaying or defunding the Affordable Care Act is a non-starter, but they're going to pretend they're negotiating in good faith anyway.