Congressional Republicans Violate Their Oath of Office, Terrorize Americans

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From In These Times:

By shuttering government and threatening default, Republicans in Congress are saying they will not perform the job given Congress in the Constitution. They’re just not going to do it, oath or no oath.

The government closed [October 1] because Congress didn’t pass a resolution financing federal operations. Republicans in the U.S. House have refused to do that unless Democrats pay a ransom in the form of de-funding or delaying the Affordable Care Act. Republicans swore they’d defend the Constitution that establishes the U.S. government. What they’re doing, however, is wrecking that government.

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If Congressional Republicans mulishly persist in refusing to do their jobs, the government could be shut down through Oct. 17 when it’s projected that the U.S. Treasury will no longer have enough money to pay bills that Congress has already racked up. If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling before then, the U.S. government could, for the first time ever, default.
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Reaction on Wall Street would be violent. Stock prices would nosedive. That would shrink pension funds and individual workers’ retirement accounts. Some economists predict the cost could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

That’s what Republicans are threatening to terrorize the American people with by refusing to do their basic job as members of Congress—pay the government’s bills.

Like with the government shutdown, Republicans say they’ll do their job only in exchange for ransom. They’re demanding a long list of changes that they’ve failed to achieve because the public did not elect them to the White House or as majority in the Senate. These include: delaying the Affordable Care Act, approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, eliminating regulations on coal ash, allowing more offshore oil and gas production, blocking new regulations on greenhouse gas production, eliminating some financing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and limiting medical malpractice lawsuits.

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