Thursday, January 24, 2019

Yes, The Government is Still Shutdown

48 comments:

John said...

From Sean:
Worth noting that Chuck Schumer's "end the shutdown" bill got more votes in the Senate today than Donald Trump's did.

John said...

Interesting details

GOP Proposal:
Manchin voted yes
Cotton voted NO
Paul & Risch did not vote

DEM Proposal:
Alexander, Collins, Gardner, Isakson, Murkowski, Romney voted yes
No DEMs voted no
Rosen (D) did not vote
Burr (R) and Paul (R) did not vote

John said...

I knew there was a reason I like Manchin, Alexander, Collins, Gardner, Isakson, Murkowski, Romney. :-)

They are daring enough to cross party lines...

Anonymous said...

I just wonder what Trump thought would happen. Did he think federal workers would all write their congressmen and demand they fund a wall? How does stiffing federal workers make wall funding more likely?

--Hiram

John said...

I assume he thought... That in December...

The Senate had passed a bill with $0 for barriers.
The House had passed a bill with $5.7 billion for barriers.
He agreed to sign a bill with $5.7 billion for barriers.

That normal negotiations would yield a bill with $2.7 billion for barriers.

Then the DEMs came in and foolishly drew a $0 red line for for barriers, and called it immoral...

So now we are stuck...

Anonymous said...

Is splitting the difference common among political dealmakers? Is that what Trump did in the private sector?

If I go to a car dealership and they offer to sell me a car for 20,000 dollars, and I counteroffer a dollar ninety eight, does that mean they will eventually sell it to me for 10,000 bucks?

Just because Trump runs a coequal branch of government, doesn't mean he is equal to Congress. The constitution allocates the entire power of the purse to Congress, not just half of it.

--Hiram

Sean said...

"I assume he thought... That in December...

The Senate had passed a bill with $0 for barriers.
The House had passed a bill with $5.7 billion for barriers.
He agreed to sign a bill with $5.7 billion for barriers."

No, Trump agreed to sign the Senate bill, then backed off when Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter jerked his chain and he came to heel.

"Then the DEMs came in and foolishly drew a $0 red line for for barriers"

If Trump wanted $5.7B for barriers, he had two years to do it with a GOP Congress and the powers of reconciliation. Nancy Pelosi ain't bound by Paul Ryan's offer.

Anonymous said...

The reality is of course, that there are all kinds of deals to be made, and that the money really isn't the issue. It would be pretty easy to fashion a deal for border security, one that might possibly involve spending considerably more than 5.7 billion dollars. But in making that kind of deal, Trump would have to give up the idea that he has achieved a political victory over the Democrats. And the reason that deal doesn't happen is that the political victory is the only thing he really wants.

--Hiram

jerrye92002 said...

I think Trump should take the Democrat Colin Peterson's deal.

John said...

Hiram,
I do agree that this simply a power struggle between DEM leadership and Trump.

Nothing more or less.

Anonymous said...

I do agree that this simply a power struggle between DEM leadership and Trump.

I don't know why it would make sense to spend 5.7 billion dollars resolve a power struggle. And the very least we should keep the bill for that in seven figures at most.

--Hiram

John said...

I like Collin Peterson and his common sense proposal. No wonder he keeps getting elected.

Anonymous said...

Collin just wants to throw money at a problem. Not Democrats at their best.

--Hiram

Sean said...

I understand why you like it, because his position is "capitulate to Trump".

Sean said...

And now, he caves, taking the deal he could have had in December. The Master Negotiator strikes again!

John said...

Hopefully the DEMs play nice during the next few weeks or we may be here again...

Anonymous said...

No money for the socialist wall. If you want to build it, privatize it. I don't want my tax money going to pay for the wall.

Moose

John said...

I don’t want my money going to promote having more kids than you care for... But negotiation and democracy have their goog and bad aspects.

Sean said...

"Hopefully the DEMs play nice during the next few weeks or we may be here again..."

Well, that's revealing.

Anonymous said...

Oh John, your and jerry's support of a socialist solution to the "border problem" is cute.

Moose

John said...

What do think it reveals?

I think it just means that during negotiations both sides need to give some of what the other party wants.

John said...

Pelosi drew her red line.

Now she will need to cross this boundary of her own making. Just as Trump did.

Otherwise she will be the creator of the problem.

John said...

Moose,
Do consider policemen to be a socialist solution?

Anonymous said...

Of course. It's socialized cost for the benefit of all. Something Republicans hate.

Moose

John said...

Sorry for missing words. I am at Alton alps watching the girl race. And I hate typing on my phone. 😁

John said...

Actually the GOP loves police, law and order.

Thus our support for a barrier to dissuade law breaking and law breakers.

Sean said...

"I think it just means that during negotiations both sides need to give some of what the other party wants."

Well, Trump needs to do the same. (Re-opening the government doesn't count.) But, of course, that's not mentioned.

Sean said...

"Actually the GOP loves police, law and order."

Have you heard the guy you voted for talk about the FBI?

John said...

Actually opening the government and swallowing his pride was a major concession.

Let’s see how well Nancy does at doing so.

Laurie said...

about:

"Pelosi drew her red line.

Now she will need to cross this boundary of her own making. Just as Trump did.

Otherwise she will be the creator of the problem."

It is not normal to shut down the govt to try to get your way. Obama did not do this to get a path for citizenship for the dreamers. If congress does not support or go along with the president's priorities so sad to bad. He should have funded the wall when he had a GOP congress.

I hope they pass a lwa that prohibits shut downs.

Sean said...

"Actually opening the government and swallowing his pride was a major concession."

No, it isn't.

Anonymous said...

"Actually the GOP loves police, law and order."

You changed the subject. Try again to respond to me on topic. Okay? Thanks.

Moose

jerrye92002 said...

Interesting. Trump gives Pelosi what she craves in exchange for "real border security" according to the "experts." Now Pelosi has to deliver on HER promise, no more excuses. Care to bet $5.7 billion she does what is good for the country, rather than more bombast and intransigence?

John said...

I don’t think Pelosi will negotiate in good faith. Hopefully I am wrong.

Thankfully the GOP controls the Presidency and Senate.

John said...

I am so HAPPY to have divided government back!!! 😁

John said...

She is already posturing about the state of the union date.

This does not bode well.

jerrye92002 said...

Seems to me that the SOTU will be "check" on Pelosi. He can tell the world HE cares about border security, HE cares about goverment workers, and HE cares about disaster relief and HE cares about the DACA kids, and she does not. Then he can say he is waiting for her to prove that she cares, rather than raw politics. And he can blame the delayed SoTU on her, too. 5 moves ahead.

Anonymous said...

He can TELL the world that, but since he has proven to be a liar, nobody but the True Believers(TM) will believe him.

Moose

jerrye92002 said...

Hooray for us 50 million True Believers.

John said...

Unfortunately I don,t think Trump is that smart to self controlled.

Odds are he will blame exaggerate and possibly lie instead of capitalizing on this wonderful opportunity.

He really has to cut those far right nut jobs lose if he wants to make effective deals.

John said...

To be more specific which far right nut jobs in this case...

Those who want to not give DACA & Temporary refugees a path to citizenship.

jerrye92002 said...

THAT is how you define "far right nutjobs"? That is the LAW as it stands! What Trump is doing is enforcing the law that Obama arbitrarily suspended! You need to adjust the center on your "nutjob meter" WAY farther to the right, until at half or more of elected Democrats fall off the other end.

John said...

Jerry,
What the law is today is not as important as where the perspectives are today to determining who are the far right nut jobs.

Sixty-five percent of Americans said they favor giving legal status to DREAMers, as a deadline set by President Trump quickly approaches for when temporary status will run out for hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients. That includes 81 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents. (DACA, or Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals, is the executive order signed by former President Obama and rescinded by President Trump.)

The big problem right now is the Far Right Half of the GOP.

jerrye92002 said...

Disagree. The problem right now is that Trump has offered such status to the current DREAMERS and more, but Democrats repeatedly refuse to accept yes for an answer.

jerrye92002 said...

Oh, and "where the law today is not as important..."???

John said...

Wrong ... VOX List of Proposals

It is the far right who is preventing us from solving this.


Let's consider the whole sentence. Not just cherry pick.

"What the law is today is not as important as where the perspectives are today to determining who are the far right nut jobs."

jerrye92002 said...

Ah, the famous liberal "situational ethics." "far right" is exactly where it has always been. The center has been allowed to creep far to the left of the rational.

John said...

Not situational, just fluid and improving.

Our society is not some static thing, or slavery would still be legal and only white men would be able to vote.

And please remember that US immigration policy is much more conservative and protectionist than it was in the past.