The House Vote on the Budget

In the back and forth between the Senate and the House with regard to the budget and the government shutdown threatened by Tea Party Republicans unless Obamacare is defunded or radically modified, it should be kept in mind that the votes in the House do not reflect a vote of a majority of House members but reflect a procedural tactic by Speaker John Boehner that keeps the entire House membership from voting on the proposal for funding the government in a pure form, where it would surely pass on the votes of the Democratic minority and reasonable Republicans. What we are witnessing is a gambit based on House rules that permit the Speaker to have sole control of what gets voted on.    So the tiny Tea Party Caucus is able to hold the entire government and country hostage over the budget.   Boehner goes along with the Tea Party Caucus because he is afraid that he will lose their support for his job as Speaker of the House.   The Tea Party House Members know good and well that their gambit is eventually going to fail but they insist on playing to the audience of the voters in their districts.    Essentially, they are willing to let the country default on its obligations in an effort to protect or enhance their own individual political careers.   Boehner and many Tea Party Republicans are basically putting their own personal political careers ahead of the common good.   Absolutely disgraceful.