Presidential Leadership wrt The Shutdown

.
The Republicans passed the Budget Control Act, so that in the event of a shutdown there would be a steady flow of money to pay interest on the debt. That lets them keep the gov't shut down as long as they like (despite whomever it may hurt) and yet claim they're not destroying "the good faith and credit" of the U.S. gov't.

The Republicans demanded Democrats negotiate with them on a budget. So, Senate Democrats DID, and conceded to accepting the Republican budget numbers. The bill was passed. That was a Dem concession.

The House had passed a budget, but then the House refused to appoint conferees, so the two budgets could be taken to conference and differences resolved. That was about SIX months ago. Republicans continue to refuse to negotiate.

The Senate passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to continue spending at the present levels for a short time, so the House & Senate could negotiate a final budget bill. That's a second whack at the concession. It remains untouched by the House Republicans.

The House Republicans passed a resolution which suspends a normal House rule, so that no clean continuing resolution (CR) could be brought up by the Democrats to get a vote on spending which would keep the government going...in full. They refuse to allow progress in the House.

Now Republicans claim the president isn't supplying leadership. At the same time they say the federal government "purse" is in their hands. They are required to initiate spending and yet they say clearly they intend to NOT fund Obamacare. By defunding the ACA it would essentially negate the law. That's deciding a policy issue via funding. It's not what the founders wanted Congress to do and if the president, or the Democratically-controlled Senate goes along with that there will be no end to this kind of blackmailing in the future. The founders gave the House responsibility to raise taxes (or lower them) and to plan and authorize spending, but not to be able to override the Senate and Executive (the president). These Republicans think they control all of government when it comes to spending. They are WRONG.

Since the president can rise above partisanship this one has said he do just that and will stand for traditional lines of authority and resist the blackmail. The House is to initiate, but not to dictate spending levels to everyone else.

Further, anyone who doesn't think the president and Democrats haven't negotiated on the deficit and how to reduce it haven't been paying attention. The size of the deficit is shrinking. That's what the sequester was about and the Democrats passed a CR with that level of spending.

Republicans have focused primarily on ending the ACA (Obamacare) while saying they want to negotiate on the ACA, the deficit, the budget, and anything that comes to their mind. It's time to fund government and send conferees to settle the budget, as the Congress is supposed to do. The president isn't part of that process.