Shutdown Countdown, Part 8

Despite what the GOP leadership thinks, there are more than a few House Republicans who want to hold the government hostage --  Social Security checks, Medicare payments, paychecks to government employees, unemployment benefits, food stamps, border protection, national security, the whole nine yards -- unless Obama gives in to the demands of the minority party and repeals Obamacare.  Naturally, that charge is being led by Iowa Republican Steve King.

In a presentation at CPAC on Thursday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) called on Republicans to hold the government hostage until President Obama abandons his dream of reforming the nation's health care system.

Or to put it in King's words: Republicans should do to "ObamaCare" what Democrats did to the Vietnam War.

Speaking to a small audience in CPAC's auxiliary meeting room -- where most of the social conservatives like King have been pushed this year -- King outlined his plan to use Congress' ability to shut down the government by refusing to fund it as means of pushing the health care reforms into an early grave.

The reform law signed by Obama last year includes what King called "self-enacting appropriations" -- mandatory spending -- which means they'll kick in on their own unless Congress passes a law to stop them. King's plan: tell Obama that unless he agrees to kill that spending, the GOP will refuse to pass new legislation to fund the government, which runs out of money on March 4.

Without that legislation, the government would shut down. And, voilà: a government held for ransom.

In other words, King figures Republicans now run the country because they rule one chamber of Congress.  The fact that Democrats control the other chamber apparently doesn't matter.  Last time Republicans tried this it didn't exactly work out for them, and it ended up putting Clinton in the White House for another four years.  Indeed, this may backfire again.

If enough conservative Republicans join King, it will put House GOP leaders in a tough spot. They've promised a fairly open debate process on spending, and King's plan appeals to some conservatives. It will be hard for him to force his plan into the legislation. But if it's not in the final spending package, conservatives could threaten to defect, and Republican leaders will be forced to rely on Democrats to keep the government funded. That would probably mean breaking their own "Pledge to America" with relatively shallow cuts, and the health care law left largely untouched. 

The GOP House leadership remembers what happened to Newt Gingrich.   They know a shutdown fight is a loser when Democrats can say "Republicans want to take away health care improvements, and they're going to take everything else away from you until you give them up."

Not a battle Orange Julius is going to win when his approval rating is down in the low 30's, and that's just for starters.  He knows he's in trouble here.  So far the Tea Party wing has been causing the Corporate wing of the GOP a hell of a lot of problems, but that's nothing compated to the damage they can do to the Republican brand (not to mention the entire country) starting in three weeks.

Hang on, folks.