A lot of the shutdown effects are mitigated by those who are “essential”. I’m a contractor working for a law enforcement agency who agents are still working without being paid. If the shutdown affected federal government law enforcement agents, there would be a bigger outcry.
Are you suggesting that “they” are shutting down the government selectively to maximize inconvenience to the public? Because it seems like exactly the opposite. Airline flights are still flying because air traffic controllers, TSA agents, etc are still working (for no pay). Law enforcement is still working. Even passport applications are being processed, as I understand.
TSA?
Not so much.
News reports suggest a 40%+ plus walkout, because no pay.
Department of Defense will run out of money in September, so even Lindsey Graham’s hair will be on fire by then.
I suspect the IRS will also have a harder time providing the House with Trumps tax returns. Because, ya know, those dead beats are on ‘strike’ too.
I feel very sorry for those that are affected. But I sure as hell don’t want to give one thin dime for a wall to support a deranged mans ego. THAT’S what this is about. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about boarder security.
Here is my current prediction (but I am not the real Hari Seldon and even he was wrong since he didn’t predict the Mule). Sometime around around the end of January McConnell will come out of his shell and announce a vote on the HR bill. It will overwhelmingly pass and His Asshole will be faced with the possibility of a veto overridden. He will sign it and announce that it includes funding for the wall. 35% of the voters will believe him.
Doubtful. Most likely the Democrats will eventually cave. There is no incentive for the Republicans to budge.
Why would the Democrats cave? They didn’t initiate the shutdown—that’s all
on Trump. There is no incentive for the Dems to budge.
The idea that a wall is needed is utter nonsense. That it could be built for $5B is either fantasy or a flat out lie.
One would hope that denying needed government services, in pursuit of such goals would eventually provide incentive to an elected official with a shred of decency. I still keep wondering what happened to the decent R politicians.
The optics for this are going to get bad enough, that some sensible Rs (assuming there are any) will eventually decide the risks outweigh remaining under Trump’s thumb.
The Democrats in Congress are passing (or will soon pass) bills to open the government, at levels compatible with those the Senate voted unanimously at the end of last year. The Senate is doing absolutely nothing. The Democrats will continue to do this, point to their work, and say “we are doing everything we can to open the government – we’re passing funding bills that Senate Republicans voted for last year. But the Senate is doing nothing.” When the Senate is doing nothing, and Trump is Trump, I think that will be a pretty effective argument.
The safety and security of American nuclear assets is a matter of some concern.
The other day I heard McConnell say something like, The House should work w/ Trump to pass a budget, after which the Senate will do a “final sign-off” on it.
Can anyone explain how this could impress anyone as anything other than an abdication of responsibility? I thought the House initiated budget legislation, after which it went through the Senate and was presented to the president for signing… :dubious:
Just trying to figure out how this appeals to the R base.
My longstanding opinion is that people generally disfavor those aspects of gov’t they do not perceive themselves as personally benefitting from. I wonder what aspects of the closed agencies will start to be felt by Trump supporters (whom, as has been observed, are well represented among welfare recipients.)
What I don’t understand is why Trump publicly announced that getting the wall built is critical to his re-election. And he needs Democratic votes to get it. Huh?
When is it is a good strategy to loudly tell your opposition about your weakest position and ask them to help you fix it? Regardless of the value of the wall (very little as far as I am concerned), this seems like a very bad way to get what he wants.
But he hasn’t shown himself to be a very accomplished negotiator. This is just one more example.
Just a reminder, during the 2013 shutdown, the Republican House passed bill after bill to relieve certain aspects of the Republican Obamacare-inspired shutdown. For example, there were bills to pay the military, reopen national parks, etc.
Obama and Harry Reid, as Senate Majority Leader, opposed these bills and they were never brought up for a vote in the Senate. Would you contend that Reid was abdicating his responsibility?
I do not believe so. I would say the issue here is that it is not inherently stupid to fight and die on a hill (for the Senate not to vote on something that the House passed). However, I think it is stupid to fight and die on this PARTICULAR hill (keeping the government closed in order to build a stupid, expensive, and silly wall).
The default answer is “Because he’s a moron”. That covers everything he does.
No, because as you yourself point out, he was rejecting Band-Aid patches designed to cover up the problem. Yertle Turtle is rejecting an actual solution to the problem. The two are not comparable.
So, the problem is NOT that the Senate is under an obligation to take up House-passed bills, and if that doesn’t happen, the Senate is acting unconscionably.
Instead, it seems that you and I agree that the Senate ought to take up good House-passed bills, and it is totally fine for the Senate to take a pass on stupid House-passed bills. And in this particular case, McConnell is not taking up good House-passed bills.
The key difference is that, in the current situation, rejection of the House plan evades the basic responsibility of coming up with a budget, whereas in the earlier situation, rejection of the House plan enforces that basic responsibility by keeping the immediate bad effects of malfeasance front and center in the public awareness.
I think the real distinction you are grasping for is IOWADDI.
Maybe not, it seems as though both sides have strong incentives to remain dug in. I still think long term the dems will face more heat from their constituents than Trump will from his. I could be wrong.