Republicans Push Congress Closer to Cliff

At times I think to be a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives you either (i) need to be insane, (ii) have had a lobotomy, (iii) be a Christofascist extremist, (iv) be a card carrying member of the KKK, or (v0 some or all of the preceding.  How else to explain the House Republicans' insistence on pushing Congress toward an impasse that will lead to a funding shut down? And right at a time when Islamic extremist groups are claiming that they are going to target the USA, Britain and Canada for domestic terror attacks.  But then I forgot something: being virulently anti-immigrant/anti-Hispanic is now a prerequisite to being a true Republican as opposed to a RINO.  At least when one isn't busy thumping on one's Bible and prostituting them self to the religious fanatics in the GOP base.  A piece in Politico looks at the GOP's continued push for a crisis of its own making.  Here are excerpts:

Republican leaders, racing against the clock to find a tough response to President Barack Obama’s immigration policies, are now left with two messy options: punt or risk getting blamed for shutting down an agency that fights terrorism.  A punt is looking more likely by the hour.

On Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved the Senate toward a standalone bill narrowly targeting the president’s 2014 executive action and sparing the 2012 action aimed only at certain young immigrants. It’s the GOP leader’s first step in trying to disentangle the immigration fight from a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

Senior Republicans said privately earlier in the day that the party may have no choice now but to fund the agency on a short-term basis. The length of a so-called continuing resolution isn’t clear, but McConnell plans to discuss the matter with GOP senators in a closed-door lunch on Tuesday.

The dual efforts — to potentially move a short-term funding bill and attack the immigration bill separately — are meant to signal to [racists] conservatives the GOP will continue to battle the president on immigration without jeopardizing DHS funding. While passing a short-term continuing resolution without restricting Obama on immigration would likely clear the Senate, it faces an uphill climb in the House, where it is unclear if conservatives will view the GOP’s evolving tactics as a run toward political cover.

Both McConnell and Boehner have vowed to avoid any shutdowns — raising the stakes for the leaders in only the second month of a Congress now fully under GOP control.

[W]ith worries growing over national security preparedness in the event of a shutdown, an increasing number of Republicans said the party may have no option other than to extend the department’s funding for several weeks under a Continuing Resolution.

A number of outspoken conservatives — such as Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — are trying to stiffen GOP leaders’ spines, arguing that Democrats will shoulder the blame if the department shuts down. And as McConnell began to search for a way out of the jam and his colleagues expressed openness to punting on the immigration fight, Cruz did little to hide his disregard for party leaders’ tactics.

As the congressional standoff barrels to a climax, the Obama administration revved up its messaging machine. Flanked by nearly 30 employees from across the department and the chiefs of FEMA and Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday up to 80 percent of the department would work without pay in the event of a shutdown, while 30,000 employees would be furloughed, including 80 percent of FEMA.