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Day 9 and the situation gets worse.

In his press statement yesterday John Boehner confirmed that he is leading a group of extortionists.

First, the reason for reopening the government is now different from the reason Republicans shut it down. They have switched from Obamacare to deficit reduction. That in itself shows just how unprincipled they really are.

But here’s the thing. The deficit is already going down. Some economists like Jared Bernstein think it may be declining so fast it is hurting the recovery by reducing federal spending too much. The point, though, is that a rising deficit is a non-issue at the moment, plain and simple.

But there is a second way Boehner confirmed Republicans are economic terrorists. They want leverage. Neither Obamacare nor the deficit is really their concern. Shutting down the government and threatening default are in their skewed way of thinking the leverage they need in budget negotiations.

The fact that the President has already said he will negotiate with everything on the table after Republicans stop demanding a ransom shows clearly that this is all about leverage. There will be negotiations. The only question is when. Because the economy is growing and the deficit is declining, and because there never was any chance Obamacare would not be funded, Republicans knew months ago they needed a new bargaining chip. They chose extortion.

So the long and short of the current crisis is that Republicans are willing to hurt the nation and millions of our citizens just for leverage! Words cannot adequately describe how disgusting that is.