We didn’t get to this impasse in Washington, D.C. in the last two weeks. The situation has been developing since the passage of two versions of a budget back in March, 2013. The timeline so far looks like this:
January 1, 2013: House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announces that he is no longer going to negotiate directly with President Obama. [The Hill]
January 18, 2013: The Republican Retreat at Williamsburg, VA reported as yielding recommendations that a short term debt extension could be a bargaining point, but the “full faith and credit of the U.S.” should not be risked. However, conservatives were divided about the debt limit. [NY]
February 14, 2013: Freedomworks publishes guidelines for a coalition letter including: “Conservatives should not approve a CR unless it defunds Obamacare. This includes Obamacare’s unworkable exchanges, unsustainable Medicaid expansion, and attack on life and religious liberty.” ” Conservatives cannot support a CR that is above the sequester level of $974 billion annually. While many conservatives would prefer reprogramming defense cuts to other areas of discretionary spending (dollar for dollar cuts in the same year), the current sequester savings are better than none at all.” And noting that a “date change” is not accceptable.
March 21, 2013: House of Representatives passes its version of the budget, Roll Call 88
March 23, 2013: U.S. Senate passes its version of the budget (S.Con.Res 8) Roll Call 92
Since the two versions are different, a conference committee is required to work out a compromise version which would be offered to both houses of Congress for their approval. Senate Republicans begin a series of objections to the appointment of members from the Senate to a budget conference committee.
April 23, 2013: Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) objects to the appointment of Senate members to a budget conference committee.
May 6, 2013: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) objects to the consideration on H.Con. Res. 25/S.Con. Res 8 – on budget resolution, and to request a budget conference with the House. [Senate Dem]
May 7, 2013: Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) tries for a third time to get Democratic and Republican agreement to form a conference committee to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of the budget.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected to Murray’s request. He said Republicans would agree only if the conference report would not be used to raise the debt ceiling or taxes.” [The Hill]
May 8, 2013: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 14, 2013: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 15, 2013: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 16, 2013: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 21, 2013: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 22, 2013: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
May 23, 2013: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
June 4, 2013: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
June 12, 2013: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
June 19, 2013: Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
June 26, 2013: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
July 11, 2013: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
July 17, 2013: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members.
July 25, 2013: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stating that they will not support a continuing resolution that funds “future implementation or enforcement of ObamaCare. The signatories are: Senators Rubio (R-FL), Cruz (R-TX), Risch (R-ID), Paul (R-KY), Inhofe (R-OK), Vitter (R-LA), Thune (R-SD), Chiesa (R-NJ), Enzi (R-WY), Fischer (R-NE), Crapo (R-ID), Roberts (R-KS), and Grassley (R-IA).
August 1, 2013: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) objects to the appointment of budget conference committee members. [SenDem]
August 21, 2013: Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) sent a letter (pdf) signed by 80 members of the Republican Caucus to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) demanding the repeal of ObamaCare in its entirety. [NewYorker] [Atlantic]
September 10, 2013: Tea Party Patriots provides their “Defunding Obamacare Toolkit.” They helpfully provide sample tweets for the week of September 30th, such as, “If all of Obama’s friends deserve #Obamacare waivers, don’t the rest of us deserve a one-year delay? #DontFundIt #MakeDCListen” with suggested hash tags.
September 10, 2013: Representative Hal Rogers introduces H.J.Res. 59, the House version of a continuing resolution to fund government. “The CR extends funding for operations for all federal agencies, programs and services until December 15, 2013. The bill provides funding at a rate of $986.3 billion – slightly below the current, post-sequestration level.”
September 20, 2013: House of Representatives votes 230-189 on HJRes 59, a bill to fund government operations through December 15, and to deny funding for the implementation and enforcement of the Affordable Care Act. [Politico] [House Clerk]
September 25, 2013: The National Review publishes the House Republican debt ceiling plan. Calls one year Affordable Care Act delay, tax reforms from the Ryan Budget, enact the REINS bill, approve the Keystone Pipeline, eliminate coal ash regulations, allow more offshore drilling, eliminate EPA carbon regulations, allow more energy production on public lands, block net neutrality, keep Sequester spending levels in place, means test Medicare, repeal Dodd Frank financial reform law, repeal the Public Health trust fund…
September 25, 2013: The Department of the Treasury releases information projecting that the federal government will not have the authority to fund the “gap” between federal revenues and federal obligations as of October 17, 2013. [NYT]
September 27, 2013: Senate passes continuing resolution differing from the House version, removing provisions for the defunding of the Affordable Care Act. [CNN] Senate “amends and approves” the House version. [Senate Appropriations]
September 29, 2013: House votes to delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act by one year, repeal the tax on medical devices. Bill is sent to the Senate. [CNN]
September 30, 2013: Senate votes on continuing resolution, stripping anti-Affordable Care Act language from the House version (54-46); the House puts the language back in (228-201). [CNN]
October 1, 2013: House of Representatives votes to retain the language to block federal subsidies for health insurance, delay the individual mandate, and ask for formal negotiations with the Senate on the budget. [Politico]
October 2, 2013: Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) objects to a proposal to fund the government and form a budget committee. [The Hill] This is the 19th Republican objection to the formation of a conference committee on the different versions of the budget.
October 4, 2013: The Securities Industry and Markets Association begins planning to adjust trading platforms in case of a government default. While platforms may be able to function, no one is sure what the prices* will be. [Reuters] *(See Risk/Default premium)
October 6, 2013: Politico reports Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) wants to tie the debt ceiling issue to the funding of the Affordable Care Act.
Desert Beacon 
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