So much for the lame Democrat excuse that piece-wise opening of the government is a bad thing.  Remember Harry Reid lambasting Dana Bash for considering the idea of opening the government one in stages!

REID: Listen, Senator Durbin explained that very well, and he did it on the floor earlier. As did Senator Schumer. What right did they have to pick and choose what part of government is going to be funded? It’s obvious what’s going on here. You talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow.

Emphasis mine, I plan to reuse Reid’s words later. And so the Democrats ignored the constitutional budget and spending process – where normally 12 bills are crafted, each funding a segment of the government:

According to the Origination Clause of the United States Constitution, all bills for raising revenue, generally tax bills, must originate in the House of Representatives … Traditionally, though, appropriation bills also originate in the House of Representatives. …

Annual appropriations are divided into 12 separate pieces of legislation:

1. Agriculture,
2. Commerce, Justice, and Science,
3. Defense,
4. Energy and Water,
5. Financial Services,
6. Homeland Security,
7. Interior and Environment,
8. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education,
9. Legislative,
10. Military and Veterans,
11. State and Foreign Operations,
12. Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

And that gives the House of Representatives the right to select what gets funded. Of course, Harry Reid would not know a proper appropriations bill if someone b-slapped him with one. His Senate as failed for 4+ years to perform their constitutional duty and pass the appropriations bills that came from the house

Talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow!

So how do those same Democrats explain how the Obama administration is now opening up federal parks – piecewise and using state funds to pay federal employees (something I am pretty sure is illegal):

On Saturday, the barricades at Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument disappeared, allowing visitors to return to the tourist draw despite the government shutdown. They also came down at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, Arizona’s Grand Canyon and New York’s Statue of Liberty.

What began as a sort of modern Sagebrush Rebellion — with Utah county commissioners threatening to bring in a posse and dismantle federal barricades themselves — has become an intense negotiation between Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and governors across the country eager to reopen public lands that generate valuable tourism revenue.

…

After initially seeking permission to reopen the park and staff it with volunteers and others provided by the state, he agreed to pay for federal employees to return in order to revive the tourism that sustains several local communities near federal lands.

So Obama can negotiate piecemeal park openings with the states, but not the House of Representatives? What right did they have to pick and choose what part of government is going to be funded?

Given the Senate Dems prior excuses on partial funding the government, it would seem Obama has cut the legs out from under Reid and the Senate. There are no more excuses left to not pass the House bill on Parks and Veterans. Not after already folding on so many other fronts – piecemeal.

And remember what this Shutdown was all about? It was because the GOP wanted Obamacare to be delayed because it was going to negatively impact Americans. And guess what – Obamacare is an epic and chronic fail, which is not going to be fixed anytime soon.

As I noted before – and now confirmed by reporting in the New York Times no less – Obamacare has more than just glitches, it is fatally broken.

“These are not glitches,” said an insurance executive who has participated in many conference calls on the federal exchange. Like many people interviewed for this article, the executive spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he did not wish to alienate the federal officials with whom he works. “The extent of the problems is pretty enormous. At the end of our calls, people say, ‘It’s awful, just awful.’ ”

Interviews with two dozen contractors, current and former government officials, insurance executives and consumer advocates, as well as an examination of confidential administration documents, point to a series of missteps — financial, technical and managerial — that led to the troubles.

…

Confidential progress reports from the Health and Human Services Department show that senior officials repeatedly expressed doubts that the computer systems for the federal exchange would be ready on time, blaming delayed regulations, a lack of resources and other factors.

Deadline after deadline was missed. The biggest contractor, CGI Federal, was awarded its $94 million contract in December 2011. But the government was so slow in issuing specifications that the firm did not start writing software code until this spring, according to people familiar with the process.

…

One highly unusual decision, reached early in the project, proved critical: the Medicare and Medicaid agency assumed the role of project quarterback, responsible for making sure each separately designed database and piece of software worked with the others, instead of assigning that task to a lead contractor.

Some people intimately involved in the project seriously doubted that the agency had the in-house capability to handle such a mammoth technical task of software engineering while simultaneously supervising 55 contractors.

I have been a federal contractor of one form or another for a quarter of a century, and I am not surprised or shocked at this turn  of events. As I noted in the prior post, only a few government entities can pull this kind of technical deployment off, and HHS just is not one of them. My experience in fixing programs like this (which is what the government hires me to do in essence) is Obamacare will not be operationally ready for some time to come. The New York Times has provided confirmation to my speculation.

Obamacare has sky high premiums, IRS fines and penalties for non-compliance, impacts to everyone’s health care plans AND it is not functioning. And this is why Obama and Reid went through a Shutdown?

Really?