Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
You need to read more about this story.
What is happening in the US right now is totally different than proroguing parliament. Virtually all US public services that are funded by the federal government are closed. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been told to stay home without pay. This isn't congress taking an extended summer recess (the equivalent of proroguing parliament); this is a near-total shutdown of the American government.
|
Clinton called Gingrich's bluff back in late 1995 and rode his success to a landslide electoral victory in November 1996. Obama is hoping to ride this shutdown to a mid term election win in Congress so he can implement his agenda in the last two years of his term, which would be very unusual - usually the President is a lame duck for the last two years of an extended term.
The Democrats received 59,626,252 votes total in Congressional races compared to only 58,212,650 for the Republicans. Yes, the Republicans won the house 234-201 but it is very disingenuous for them to argue that they have a mandate from the public to shut down the government in order to stop Obamacare from being implemented when the only reason they won more seats in the House is due to gerrymandering.