Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was quoted last week by Roll Call saying the budget stalemate “isn’t some damn game.”

National Review quotes Boehner telling GOP members this morning he wants something that “puts points on the board.”

Daniel Drezner: “The thing is, in this kind of showdown, true ignorance can yield a bargaining advantage. If Republicans truly believe that their cause is just, their strategy is popular, and nothing bad will happen, then it is impossible to pressure them to come to the bargaining table. In The Strategy of Conflict, economist Thomas Schelling observed that in a game of chicken, one driver could gain an advantage from throwing the steering wheel out the window. It appears that Republicans have come up with an even more extreme version of that gambit — insisting loudly that they are immune to car crashes.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) railed against the “anarchy gang” for shutting down the federal government in a impressive speech on the Senate floor.

It’s more evidence whys she’s become so popular among Democrats.

[Read more…]

Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) told KTVK that Democrats shut down the government in order to raise money for their campaigns.

Said Schweikert: “If you really want to dig down into what’s really going on at base level, the rumor all around Capitol Hill, it’s that this has become a fundraising opportunity. I know this sounds one off, but the reality of it, much of the speechifying, as we call it, you see going on the floor of the House on the Democrat side has been loading up their coffers with online contributions and it’s incredibly cynical because you start to think of why would someone be motivated not to even assign a conference committee just to have a conversation?”

President Obama called Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today “and reiterated his refusal to negotiate on the fiscal impasse that has shut down the government and threatens a debt default,” Roll Call reports.

Wonk Wire: Food inspections come to a halt

“Chaplain asks God to forgive Senate’s politics.”

— USA Today, October 8, 2013

House Republicans “will bring to the floor a bill to create a bipartisan, bicameral committee to address the current fiscal impasse that has shut down much of the government and threatens a debt default,” Roll Call reports.

“A GOP leadership aide said the committee wouldn’t just handle the continuing resolution needed to fund the government. It would have broader jurisdiction similar to the 2011 Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the supercommittee, and would cover the debt limit and other fiscal issues.”

The Hill: “The move is an attempt to highlight what the GOP sees as a refusal by
Democrats to compromise in order to end the budget crisis.”

National Journal:
“The deadline to keep open the federal government was only two weeks
away, when the White House quietly floated plans for a summit between
President Obama and the four congressional leaders. The idea was to show
Obama, his sleeves rolled up, engaged as Congress lurched toward a
shutdown. But when top administration officials reached out to Capitol
Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office had a message for them:
Don’t do it. Reid’s team argued such a meeting would suggest the
Democrats were willing to negotiate when they weren’t. The White House
listened. The summit was nixed. And no serious talks have occurred
since.”