The extortion game is on and it's "your life or Obamacare." In other words, House Republicans will cause a depression and harm Americans to obtain an outcome they can not get through the democratic process.

EPA cut by one third, renewable energy cut, NPR and PBS destroyed, the list goes on. "We'll kill the hostages unless you agree to destroy Obamacare."

This is terrorism, plain and simple.



Congressional Republicans are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with the sharpest spending cuts in a generation and a new push to hold government financing hostage unless the president’s signature health care law is stripped of money this fall. snip Republicans in Washington are delivering blow after blow to programs he will promote as vital to a more robust economic recovery and a firmer economic future — from spending on infrastructure and health care to beefing up regulatory agencies. snip On Tuesday, a House Appropriations subcommittee formally drafted legislation that would cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 34 percent and eliminate his newly announced greenhouse gas regulations. The bill cuts financing for the national endowments for the arts and the humanities in half and the Fish and Wildlife Service by 27 percent. For the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, Mr. Obama requested nearly $3 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs — a mainstay of his economic agenda since he was first elected. The House approved $826 million. Senate Democrats want to give $380 million to ARPA-E, an advanced research program for energy. The House allocated $70 million. A House bill to finance labor and health programs, expected to be unveiled Wednesday, makes good on Republican threats to eliminate the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. snip education grants for poor students will be cut by 16 percent and the Labor Department by 13 percent, according to House Republican aides

None of this will pass the Senate, but House Republicans could care less. They don't want to legislate; they only want to destroy America, the country that rejected them.

Paul Krugman explains why this is happening:



Well, my guess is that despite being drenched in reality-repellent, Republicans are beginning to suspect an inconvenient truth: Obamacare is not going to be a self-destroying train wreck. Instead, it’s going to work — not perfectly, not as well as it should, but well enough to help far more people than it hurts. And if that’s how it turns out, it will be irreversible. So here comes a last-ditch effort to stop it, at all costs. But think about that for a moment: the cause for which the GOP is willing to go to the brink, breaking all political norms, threatening the US and world economies with incalculable damage, is the cause of preventing people with preexisting conditions and/or low incomes from getting health insurance. Apparently, the prospect that their fellow citizens might receive this help is so horrifying that nothing else matters.



Paul Krugman: To The Brink, Again

They hate Obamacare so much. Think what they'll do if we ever pass single payer. By then the party may be defunct. One can hope.

They want to close down government. Let them. These constant crises harm the economy and the American people. It's time for a showdown.