The PA Congressmen You Should Blame When the Gov’t Shuts Down

UPDATE: The federal government is shutting down, as the House, Senate and White House were unable to resolve a budget standoff over the president’s healthcare law. From the New York Times:

The impasse meant that 800,000 federal workers were to be furloughed and more than a million others would be asked to work without pay. The Office of Management and Budget issued orders shortly before the midnight deadline that “agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations” because Congress had failed to act to keep the federal government financed.

The Times also has a handy flowchart to help you keep apace of the inaction.

ORIGINAL: We are officially eight hours away from shutdown time. Recap: Yesterday, instead of voting to keep the government from shutting down, plain and simple, the House of Representatives passed a bill that ties the funding of the government to the delay of Obamacare. (Which officially launches tomorrow.) A bill they know the Senate will never pass. All but two Republicans in the House voted for the bill; all but two Democrats voted against. None of those four were from Pennsylvania. So, if you’d like to contact a Pennsylvania Republican House member to chide him for needlessly shutting the government down–people’s paychecks, health benefits, and Liberty Bells are at stake here, people–here are their names.

• Mike Kelly, 3rd District
• Scott Perry, 4th District
• Glenn Thomspon, 5th District
• Jim Gerlach, 6th District
• Pat Meehan, 7th District
• Mike Fitzpatrick, 8th District
• Bill Shuster, 9th District
• Tom Marino, 10th District
• Lou Barletta, 11th District
• Keith Rothfus, 12th District
• Joseph Pitts, 16th District
• Timothy Murphy, 18th District
• And Sen. Pat Toomey. He’s complicit in this too.

Hm, aren’t I missing someone? Ah, yes, Allentown’s own Charlie Dent. Well, he’s voted to defund and to delay Obamacare, didn’t he? And thus, to let the government wither on the vine, didn’t he? Yes, yes, and yes. But earlier today, he also did an about-face, and implored his colleagues in the House to give up the gun and strike an actual compromise with the Senate that didn’t involve freaking Obamacare.

“At this point, the hourglass is nearly empty,” he told CNN. “I think now it’s imperative that we just fund the government, get on with the business of governing.” “I voted to repeal, delay, defund Obamacare. I have all sorts of problems with the health care law. But I also realize it’s not going to be changed between now and the end of the day.”

Attaboy, PA! That’s a start.