That’s not all he’s extending.
Speaker of the House John Boehner has formally offered an invitation to the President to give his annual State of the Union address.
As we work together to end this legislative year by advancing initiatives to help Americans struggling a difficult economy, we must also look ahead for new opportunities to put solutions before politics. In the coming year,. Republicans will continue our efforts to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, and we welcome an opportunity to hear your new ideas for working with the Congress. There fore, I am privileged to invite you to deliver an address on the State of the Union on January 25, 2012, before a Joint Session of Congress.
Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to your response.
You know, I just bet that Speaker Boehner does. Not that Barack Obama dares respond as he would like to; which is to say, with a blistering oath or two.
If you’re wondering why half of Washington DC is chuckling and the other half is muttering, it’s because January 24, 2012 (a Tuesday, by the way) represents the thousandth day that the US government has been without a budget (assuming April 29, 2009 as the start date, and not counting the end date) (H/T to @CuffyMeh for pointing that out). This is, of course, entirely the Democrats’ fault; when in the majority they adamantly refused to pass a budget in order to limit their losses in the 2010 elections (given the 63 House seats and 7 Senate seats the Democrats lost in that cycle, one has to wonder whether that decision was wise). And, of course, since 2011 the Democratic-controlled Senate has notoriously cut and run from passing any sort of budget. Especially the one that House Republicans passed in April of this year.
We will now pause while the Usual Suspects whine about politicians playing political games; oddly, these kinds of complaints always seem directed at the clever ways that shenanigans (particularly Democratic ones) are spotlighted, and never the original shenanigans themselves…
Moe Lane (crosspost)
Gotta dig McCaskill ‘do these glasses make me look smart?’ on Todd’s show–“Hey, maybe we should do this pipeline thing. Or at least pretend to. ‘Cuz, ya know, people are starting to wonder what it is that we actually do, here.”