As I write, a government shutdown is scheduled for a little under eight hours from now. At this point, it’s dominating the news. If it happens, and it probably will, the fault will rest 100% with Donald Trump and the Republican Party. However they have engineered it in such a devious way, that they may be able to convince voters that it’s Democrats’ fault.
The House approved a stopgap spending bill on Thursday night to keep the government open past Friday, but Senate Democrats — angered by President Trump’s vulgar aspersions and a lack of progress on a broader budget and immigration deal — appeared ready to block the measure.
The House approved the measure 230 to 197, despite conflicting signals by President Trump sent throughout the day and a threatened rebellion from conservatives that ended up fizzling. But the bill, which would keep the government open through Feb. 16, provided only a faint glimmer of hope that a crisis could be averted before funding expires at midnight on Friday.
In the Senate, at least about a dozen Democratic votes would be needed to approve the measure, and there was little chance that those would materialize. Democrats are intent on securing concessions that would, among other things, protect from deportation young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, increase domestic spending, aid Puerto Rico and bolster the government’s response to the opioid crisis.
The Senate held only a procedural vote on the stopgap bill late Thursday night, leaving for Friday a more consequential vote when Democrats are expected to block the measure.
In addition to keeping the government open, the bill would provide funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years, and it would delay or suspend a handful of taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Brian Williams covered the House measure.
Here’s the Republican deceit. CHIP enjoys strong support on both sides of the aisle, and it would pass without having to count votes at any other time. The only reason is has not passed already is that Republicans have kept it off the floor to use it as a tool to to blackmail Democrats. That way, they get what they want, more hits to ObamaCare, in return for something they were going to support anyway!
That is so ludicrous that there is no way Democrats should fall for it. However, since the courts have ordered the Republican Reich to keep the Dreamers safe, their status does not become a critical issue until March, so allowing a short CR would still leave time to hold the line on DACA.
Because funding the government is an immediate emergency, and DACA is a two month emergency, Republicans can make it look like Democrats are at fault for the shutdown. To you and I, it’s obvious that isn’t true, because we understand the Republican scam. However, the US electorate are the least sophisticated and most politically ignorant voters in the world. My proof is this. Donald Trump, albeit with Russian help, was able to get enough votes to steal the White House. Were I not correct, that could not have happened.
Can we afford to leave the judgment of whose fault a shutdown is to the US electorate? I’m just not sure.
RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!
10 Responses to “Countdown”
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I hope that they can come together to prevent this…The blame should lie on the Repugs, and dt. They have the House & the Senate, WH, and they can’t even keep it together.
This just in a while ago:
Washington Post-ABC News poll Jan. 15-18, 2018More blame Republicans than Democrats for potential government shutdown
https://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2018/01/19/National-Politics/Polling/release_506.xml?tid=a_mcntx
Trump has already assigned blame for any government shutdown … TO HIMSELF.
Proven by his own words from an interview on Fox & Friends prior to the shutdown in 2013:
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/trump-blames-himself-govt-shutdown-his
Nancy Pelosi has been widely quoted as likening the bill to “putting a cherry on top of a bowl of doggy doo and calling it a chocolate sundae.” This led one person commenting at Raw Story to say (this is from memory but it is durned close) “I’ve been wondering where Ryan’s balls are. Now I know. An Italian grandmother from San Francisco keeps them in her purse.” I thought that was nice.
Now, alas, I must go delete almost 200 emails.
Oh my, what ever happened to tDump’s famous deal making capacity? If there is anyone left to look back at our time in history, 50, or 100 years from now, he/she might ask, how did the human race survive this bozo?
Let’s just hope the human race will be able to look back “50 or 100 years from now”.
We still have to survive 3 more years of this buffoon.
There’s both an upside and a downside to commenting more than half a day later on things that are about to happen: you get to tell the news (good or bad), but not many will read comments that come in so late. So for what its worth:
And your analysis is spot on, TomCat. Democrats get the blame, but then we all knew they would, Republicans conveniently forgetting to mention that 5 of their own senators voted against (and MCCain didn’t vote), while 5 Democrats (Donnelly, Heitkamp, Jones, Manchin – of course – and McCaskill) voted in favor of the bill. Pundits think it’ll all be forgotten by November because of the fast pace with which one crisis passes another in Congress these days.
Ryan and McConnell plotted together conveniently on this one.They are both conniving liars.The brainless on the right will believe them.
Thanks, hugs and Amen to all.
Democrats did what they had to do. I didn’t think of this yesterday, but had they caved to the CHIP scam, they would have irrevocably offended Latino voters.
You can bet the Dems thought of it … and it helped them to stand strong.
I’m sure you’re right!