On Monday, Congress unanimously agreed to pass a standalone measure to pay the troops during the partial government shutdown, and President Obama signed the bill into law. But today, Senate Democrats blocked votes on House-passed bills to fund veterans, the military reserves and National Guard, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and national memorials.
Democrats have so far displayed a united front in opposing any more House-passed bills. Asked Thursday morning at a press conference if she would vote for the NIH or veterans affairs bills, Senator Mary Landrieu of Lousiana told THE WEEKLY STANDARD, "I would not."
"This cannot be done by piecemeal and should not be done by piecemeal. What part is more important than the next?" Landrieu said.
"Many of us could argue while those might be important issues, and they are," Landrieu added, referring to the programs funded by the House-passed bills. "But what's more important than the millions of small businesses who undergird the economy of the United States?" Landrieu asked, flanked by a group of small business owners.
Landrieu said that "the Tea Party has to understand that they cannot hold government and our private partners, which are many from big companies like Boeing and Lockheed, to small companies who are here, hostage over their inability to get a law that they don't like amended."
"It is my hope--my hope--that many brave men and women in the Republican party will stand up and close this Tea Party down," Landrieu said.
As Politico reported Thursday, during the 1995 government shutdown congressional Republicans and President Bill Clinton were able to agree to a "stopgap bill to assure funding for veterans, welfare recipients and the District of Columbia."
Why won't Senate Democrats and President Obama agree now to any more stopgap funding bills?
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York told THE WEEKLY STANDARD following a press conference Thursday that in 1995, "It was a different world." Why is that? "Because we have a Tea Party," Schumer said without elaborating as he walked away.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid blocked Senate Republican efforts Thursday to vote on bills to fund the National Institutes of Health, veterans programs, and national parks and memorials. On Wednesday, Reid said Congress " can't pick and choose" between funding the NIH, which includes programs treating children with cancer, and other government functions, like an Air Force base in his home state of Nevada.