RUSH: Cary, North Carolina. This is Sarah, and you’re up next on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hi. I’m having a little bit of a problem with my phone right now. It keeps cutting in and out. So can you hear me?
RUSH: Yeah, plain as day.
CALLER: First off, my husband and I, we both listen to your show everyone morning and —
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: — I’m calling confused, and I’m glad that I’m able to listen to your station while I was waiting. With this whole thing with the shutdown, my husband got the news, he’s a staff sergeant in the National Guard and he’s active Guard so he’s not just a weekend warrior, that’s his job.
RUSH: Right. Yeah.
CALLER: But he gets a meeting this morning saying that, you know, if they don’t sign off on this budget thing that he’s going to be going to work but he’s not gonna be getting paid.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: So I’m confused, I don’t know if I should be angry and, like I said after listening to you now I’m like maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t affect him. So now I’m just confused.
RUSH: Well, I think active duty military will be paid for a week.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Active duty military will be paid for a week and there are bills pending in both the House and Senate to secure military pay even during a shutdown. Now, those bills have not, at least as of this morning when I was prepping the program, those bills have not been brought to the floor of either the House or the Senate. But he’s gonna get paid. If he doesn’t get paid at the time, the back pay will happen. They always have been paid.
CALLER: Not for nothing, you know, he’s been to Iraq twice, it just seems like one of those questions, like, why would that even be a possibility that he wouldn’t get paid, you know? I was thinking that’s outlandish. Why would that even be a question of him getting paid, you know? I would just figure that it would just happen.
RUSH: Well, you’d have to figure they will continue to send out Social Security checks, for example.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: The post office, in its glory, will remain open. And your husband will get paid.
CALLER: Okay. Well, you know, like I said, I’m glad that I was able to listen to some of it —
RUSH: If it were Thanksgiving and Christmas and you were gonna miss the turkey, you would get the turkey later.
CALLER: Yeah. (laughing)
RUSH: No, no, no, I mean it sounds funny, but that’s what happened in 1995.
CALLER: All right.
RUSH: He is gonna get paid. But I want you to be prepared for something.
CALLER: Yeah?
RUSH: Somewhere out there, there are Democrats listening to your call going, “Yeah, yeah, this is what we want. We want military wives upset at the Republicans that their husbands aren’t gonna get paid in the National Guard.”
CALLER: Well, I mean, you know, my husband and I, we both are Republicans —
RUSH: I know that.
CALLER: — and not for nothing, that was the first thing I thought of when he was telling me about it, like, why, when we’re just starting to get the majority, would Republicans do something like that, you know? Like, I mean that’s just outlandish, you know, like it just doesn’t make any sense.
RUSH: The Republicans aren’t doing it.
CALLER: Well, you know, after listening to you now I’m starting to get a little bit, you know — I’m reading online, though, and I’m trying to look at news channels, and I can’t find anything, and this is the first time I’ve ever called a radio station before ’cause I just want to know what’s going on.
RUSH: Well, what specifically have you been trying to find out? Whether or not your husband will get paid?
CALLER: Whether he’s getting paid, why exactly that would even be a possibility that he wouldn’t get paid, I mean I’m just confused. But, you know, I’m getting a little bit more clarity after listening to you.
RUSH: The Democrats are players here, and the Democrats have a little say so here, too. Democrats haven’t even done a budget. What they’re doing, the Democrats are holding back on defense precisely to create pressure such as action from people like you.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: There are teachers and librarians at the federal government that are gonna get paid. But they’re gonna have to refuse to pass the budget, or Obama has to veto it, one of the two. So whoever is to blame here is a Democrat. The Republicans are the only ones taking seriously the responsibility for a budget whereby the money to pay your husband would come. The Democrats are punting. The Democrats are trying to thwart all this for political gain. You can listen to ’em, old people are gonna die in the streets, Republicans are gonna kill old people, Republicans don’t care about the military. It’s all a crock.
CALLER: Yeah. Well, one thing that I didn’t realize was, you know, government shutdowns have happened before, you know —
RUSH: Oh, jeez. How old are you?
CALLER: Not to sound completely ignorant, you know, I do try to follow the news and stuff like that, but, you know, I think it’s exactly what you were saying, they’re trying to target certain areas, they’re trying to create hysteria, and, well, it kind of worked today, you know?
RUSH: How old are you?
CALLER: I’m 31.
RUSH: You’re 31. You know that’s how old Jackie Kennedy was when she was first lady?
CALLER: (laughing) Oh, wow.
RUSH: Pretty close to that.
CALLER: Wow.
RUSH: Yeah, imagine yourself being first lady, having to redo the White House, you know, check all the rooms to see what your husband’s doing in the White House.
CALLER: I’d go with paisley. Paisley definitely. (laughing)
RUSH: (laughing).
CALLER: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make a joke like that.
RUSH: Now, I want to point something else out to you, Sarah. The bills that are pending in both the House and Senate to see to it that the military get paid during the shutdown are Republican bills. They have not been offered by Democrats in the House and Senate. In the Senate the Democrats are the ones holding the bill to keep it from coming to a vote. The Republicans are not the ones responsible if your husband doesn’t get paid immediately here.
CALLER: Not for nothing, you know, like I don’t care who’s responsible.
RUSH: You’ve got to start caring.
CALLER: I’m glad it’s not, but at the same time it’s like I don’t understand why — (crosstalk)
RUSH: I know, look, I understand that, but you’ve got to start caring.
CALLER: Yes, definitely.
RUSH: This stuff does matter. What is your husband — this is none of my business.
CALLER: I’m sorry, what was that?
RUSH: Well, I don’t feel comfortable. I was going to ask what kind of money we’re talking about here —
CALLER: No, yeah, that’s irrelevant.
RUSH: — in a week. Well, no, it’s not irrelevant, it’s not my business, but —
CALLER: It’s our main salary so —
RUSH: It’s important to you guys.
CALLER: I’m very sorry but my phone is cutting up again. I can’t hear you now. I don’t know if you can still hear me, but I do want to say thank you and I’m gonna try to go online and listen to your show more. I don’t know if you heard that or not but —
RUSH: If you do that, you’ll never have another question. I’m glad you called, Sarah. Don’t give up here, don’t give up. She can’t hear me.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, Sarah. Sarah was calling, she’s got the husband, the last caller has the husband in the National Guard. She’s calling me. I’m flattered. But, Sarah, if you could, the people you should be calling are President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. They didn’t pass a budget. Now, let me go through this, very simply. The only reason there is going to be a shutdown, if there is, and I still don’t believe there’s gonna be a shutdown, but if there is a shutdown, it will be because Democrat senators will have refused to pass the budget, or because Obama vetoes the budget. Whoever is to blame here is a Democrat. The Republicans have presented a budget. Last fall the Democrats and the president did not present a budget, which is required constitutionally. The Democrats did not present a budget because they didn’t want their plans to be seen during an election year, because Democrat budget plans are not what the American people want. They do not want continued unfunded spending, deficit spending, debt upon debt piled up.
So the Democrats punted. The Democrats voted “present.” The Democrats chickened out. That’s why we’re even doing continuing resolutions every week, pass another stopgap bill that keeps the government running for a week or two, all because the Democrats didn’t do a budget. So the Republicans have presented a budget. The Democrats and Obama are trying to stop the budget. They are the ones causing the shutdown. It’s really that simple. It’s just as Bill Clinton vetoed the 1995 budget. Bill Clinton caused the 1995 budget shutdown. It was Clinton’s veto that shut down the government. The Democrats are trying to use the military just like they use teachers and nurses and librarians and doctors and so forth, the cops at the local level, “Oh, cut the budget? Okay, we’ll have to let the cops go and we’ll have to let the firemen off.” No, no. This is the trick, and now at the federal level Democrats use the military, the National Guard, in their budget negotiations. When have the Democrats ever cared about whether the military gets paid or not?
So, Sarah, your complaint would best be answered by President Obama or Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. They didn’t pass a budget. That’s how we got here. Listen to me, look at me: don’t doubt me. The reason we are talking about all of this gobbledygook in the first place is because the Democrats did not pass a budget. But there are other reasons. Obama’s stimulus bill failed. Jobs were not created. Tax revenue has dried up. They did not cut spending. The budget is not balanced. The only group of people in this country who are in fat city right now happen to be public sector unions, federal and state. They are the chosen people. If the Democrats had passed a budget, if they had presented a budget, if Obama had had an economic plan to create jobs, we wouldn’t be here, none of this would be on the table, we wouldn’t be talking any of this. The only reason we are here is because of the irresponsibility of the Democrat Party.
I know what you’re saying. Some of you say, “Rush, I know you’re right but you’re just driving people away. You can’t just keep blaming everything generically on the Democrat Party.” Sorry. If the shoe fits, then wear it. We are exactly where we are because of the Democrat Party. And they want this shutdown. That’s the next item. Sarah, you still out there? They want the shutdown. They are happy to hear you call this program and complain because they think that you’re gonna end up blaming the Republicans. That’s what happened in 1994, they are convinced it’s going to happen again. That’s what Obama wants. That impromptu press conference he had yesterday, what ineptitude. That alone is evidence that they want the shutdown. Then today he leaves? Supposedly we’re getting down to the wire, negotiations are continuing at a breathtaking pace. What does he do? He flies off to break bread with Al Sharpton, the National Action Network in New York.
You notice how much this outcry from the Democrats about Paul Ryan’s budget plan came out yesterday? The CBO has even published an attack on it. “CBO: Big Health Cost Shift to Elderly in GOP Plan.” The CBO has published an attack on Paul Ryan’s budget. Ryan’s budget is 73 very densely written pages long. At two o’clock yesterday afternoon he presents it. So how could any of these people have had the time to read it and do the in-depth analysis that they are supposedly known for at the Congressional Budget Office? The CBO published their analysis less than four hours after Ryan presented his budget, and they rip it to shreds, particularly on the notion that the elderly are hardest hit and could die. If anybody thinks the CBO is a bunch of nonpartisan people, you got another thing coming.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Sarah, I’m still thinking about your call. She says she doesn’t care. Sarah, the Democrat Party sought the defeat of the US military in Iraq. Harry Reid, “This war is lost. This war is lost.” They were out there doing everything they could. They believed made-up stories in TIME Magazine about the Marines being mass rapists in Haditha. The US military was constantly ripped and impugned by the Democrat Party in this country. They don’t care whether you get paid or not. They care about whether or not you’ll blame the Republicans. That’s what they want.
END TRANSCRIPT
*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.