No compromise in sight as U.S. gov't shutdown deadline nears

The debt-ceiling has been raised over 170 times continuously. Over 23,000,000 American households are on foodstamps yet the politicians are risking national bankruptcy just to score points.

These idiots need to act responsibly and maturely and sort this BS out properly, this political point scoring for their egos does nothing to serve the people.

The BS has been going on too long regarding this debt ceiling rubbish.

“Either pass a clean CR or shut down the federal government,”

It should be noted that representatives and senators will continue to receive pay, if the Government shuts down.

The nation is a mess. The banks were no help financially. Obama called 9 trillion dollar debt "Criminal" while campaigning in '08' and now we have nearly double that in less than 5 years. We have realistic unemployment in double digits. No financially suitable job creation to brag about. Welfare up, Disability up, bankrupt cities and towns up.......

And yet, we had millions of dollars a day to retaliate on Syria.

Great job those in office!

They should shut it down. This needs a crisis befoere any progress can be made.

Not this nonsense again. This BS is getting old.

What's BS is the never-ending "kick the can" game that's been played for decades. Now, though, the end of the road is fast approaching. Well past time to stop kicking the can. Other people's money is running out.

Even Republicans are shaking their heads at their own party. They have nothing -- at all -- to gain from shutting down the government. They are just going to suspend services to ordinary Americans to shut down a health care plan that won't be affected by a government shutdown. Senseless.....but in a way I support it. It shows just how insane the party has become. You reap what you sow.

So Cruz is calling on Senate Republicans to filibuster the funding bill - the SAME bill he had called for, one - written by members of his own party - which continues sequestration and defunds Obamacare! Where is the logic there? Say he succeeds; the result is no budget.

He'll fail, of course, and a "clean" CR will be sent back to the House. What will they then do? Rewrite it to add the original language and send it back to the Senate? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing while expecting different results.

My guess is Boehner will yield to reality and bring up the Senate version for a vote, where it will pass with majority Democratic support. Of course, Boehner will then probably lose his speakership, but that's better than financial Armageddon. What a mess.

You reap what you sow

And nearly 50% of Americans voted for the republicans. So the country deserves this mess for voting them in. No sympathy.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing while expecting different results."

Is that like voting 41 times and still failing to repeal Obamacare?

The Republican party are long past mere insanity. They are domestic terrorists.

The disillusioned democrats are the problem here. The real numbers do not lie. The spending is unsustainable! Open your eyes. Stop listening to the Pelosi propaganda as well as others.

Laguna: So Cruz is calling on Senate Republicans to filibuster the funding bill - the SAME bill he had called for, one - written by members of his own party - which continues sequestration and defunds Obamacare! Where is the logic there? Say he succeeds; the result is no budget.

It seems that a lot of these Republican votes are meant to serve as a referendum on a congressman's conservative credentials. You don't vote to repeal Obamacare 40+ times because you think it will work, you do it to tell your base that you tried to stop it over 40 times. And if you tell the world it's silly and a waste of time and you aren't going to vote anymore? You've just placed a big target on your back where other Republicans will say that you didn't try to stop it.

Cruz is already saying that anyone who votes to stop his filibuster is in fact "voting for Obamacare" which was a message for other conservatives. Either play my game or I'll use it against you. It's all about being primaried.

The disillusioned democrats are the problem here. The real numbers do not lie. The spending is unsustainable! Open your eyes. Stop listening to the Pelosi propaganda as well as others.

Democrats (capital 'D' here, please) are anything but disillusioned. The right has eviscerated so much of those conditions that supported the middle class that they find no more room for retreat. Do your homework: spending is plummeting (not necessarily a good thing - austerity in a fragile recovery is dumb), and at any rate is well within the ability of the US to finance. Obamacarenwill, by any reputable economist's judgment,lower total healthcare spending, leaving more money for consumption and rebuilding.

Open your eyes, my friend. The lies the GOP has been spreading are coming home to roost.

Both sides are playing politics rather than trying to work out some sort of compromise. There' enough blame to go around DC multiple times. What amusing is all the partisan claims that it's the other side that's wrong....

It's easier to believe the problem rests with one man when you've built him up as a radical liberal Muslim socialist from Kenya hell-bent on taking your guns and destroying America. The mood of the party hit home when several Congressmen brought up the idea of impeachment during their town hall meetings over the break while never actually bringing up an impeachable offense. It's an irresponsible tactic that lacks any basis in fact but it shows how comfortable they are manufacturing fear and outrage. Now you have odd situations where Republicans find that agreeing with Obama on something means they have to flip-flop to the other side.

The opposition to ObamaCare is built up as some kind of doomsday scenario that will end America as we know it. Why? Because there's really no more of a paranoid position you could take. The destruction of the entire country is as far to the edge as you can go. The financial consequences, both good and bad, are pure speculation at this point and there are arguments on both sides. Defaulting on our debts and destroying our financial standing in the world isn't speculation and that's the only guaranteed disaster on the table. Yet the former seems to worry Republicans more than the latter and that's not logical thinking.

gelendestrasse: Both sides are playing politics rather than trying to work out some sort of compromise. There' enough blame to go around DC multiple times. What amusing is all the partisan claims that it's the other side that's wrong....

Even members of their own party are saying that Cruz's actions are "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." We're well past the point of saying everyone does it.