The GOP Is No Longer Threatening A Government Shutdown And Will Instead Threaten Something Much Wors

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The GOP Is No Longer Threatening A Government Shutdown And Will Instead Threaten Something Much Worse

by Brett LoGiurato at Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-obamacare-2013-8

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Sources tell me the House GOP will probably avoid using a shutdown as leverage and instead use the debt limit and sequester fights as areas for potential legislative trades. Negotiations over increasing the debt limit have frequently been used to wring concessions out of the administration, so there may be movement in that direction: Delay Obamacare in exchange for an increased debt limit.

Under this scenario, the GOP would pass a 60-day continuing resolution that keeps the government funded at existing levels under sequestration through the end of November — right around the time the debt ceiling will need to be raised. Then, House leadership would use Democrats' wishes to get rid of sequestration levels to extract concessions.

It's unclear, exactly, where the Affordable Care Act would fit into this. Republicans could plausibly tie in delays in certain parts of the law — which they still believe is the best strategy at eventually toppling the law altogether — to certain roll-backs in sequestration-level funding, or to some kind of hike in the debt ceiling.

As The Washington Post's Greg Sargent points out, this represents a very strategic risk for House Speaker John Boehner.





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