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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 0:10:24 GMT -5
"President Trump said late Wednesday that he would deliver his State of the Union address once the federal government reopens, capping a day of brinkmanship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told the president that he was not welcome to deliver the speech in the House chamber while the government is partly closed...The president’s seeming capitulation came even as House Democratic leaders said they were prepared to give him a substantial sum of money for border security — perhaps even the $5.7 billion he has requested — but not for a wall and not until he agreed to reopen the government. That figure is roughly double what Democrats had previously approved." linkLOL, Trump's had to back up all the way now. It looks as if the Dems are gonna give him money for anything but The Wall, and I'm guessing he's gonna find a few million for some fencing, claim that's "a wall" and take the exit ramp to stop the bleeding. Maybe he'll divert some of that cash to Ann Coulter so she won't scare him on TV this time. We'll see. |
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 15:26:19 GMT -5
"Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday said he doesn’t understand why federal workers are visiting food banks during the partial government shutdown, saying they should instead seek low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to supplement their lost wages. 'I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,' Ross said on CNBC when asked about federal workers going to food banks. Ross is a billionaire and a longtime friend of President Trump. His comment drew immediate criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). 'Is this the "let them eat cake" kind of attitude?' she said. 'Or call your father for money?'” linkThis man is an idiot. Apparently he thinks that ordinary federal workers can just call the friendly banker--presumably they know him/her from their frequent lunches together--to get a bridge loan until Ross's boss decided to let them get paid. Yo Wil! We're not all Wall Street billionaires. And guess what: the "little people" can't do things the way you do. I just got back from the grocery store where The Fiancee and I picked up a bag of groceries that I will take to my town square tomorrow to contribute to a food back for unpaid federal workers. Last month we did the same for poor immigrant families. It is shameful that we have to the same for people who nominally have a job, many of them actually are working every day. Only a bunch of wealthy, entitled, cruel idiots would allow this to happen. Trump and Ross are just those kind of people. |
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 15:42:06 GMT -5
The first vote was on cloture to take up Trump's plan. It went down, 51-47, with 60 votes needed. Cotton (AR) and Lee (UT) crossed lines to vote against, Manchin (WV) voted for.
The second cloture vote was on the Dem plan, which did not include money for The Wall. It also went down, 52-44 (actually better than the GOP bill). Alexander (TN), Collins (ME), Gardner (CO), Isakson (Ga), Murkowski (AK), and Romney (UT) all voted yes on both proposals, along with Manchin. Clearly, if there are ranks being broken they're on the GOP side.
Trump is not going to win this fight, he seems to know it, but he also seems not to care.
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 16:49:33 GMT -5
Immediately after the votes McConnell asked an aide to contact Schumer's office. It's pretty clear that The Wall won't pass in either House, and with these votes Trump's leverage has gone down, especially because of the number of Republicans who defected to vote for the Dem bill. Tomorrow Pelosi's going to unveil the House Dem's Homeland Security Appropriation Bill, and it's expected to include at least $5 billion for border security, as requested by Trump, with pretty precise ("evidence-based") spending priorities, including some for physical barriers but not The Wall. The Senate might use that as a basis for a bill that could pass both Houses, and I'm sure McConnell can find a way for Trump to claim some "victory" for his "negotiations" to cover his defeat.
NOTE: How ludicrous is it that Jared Kushner, in addition to all his other Mr. Fixit jobs, now is the WH point man on immigration and the shutdown? Apparently he convinced his father-in-law to make that silly speech on Saturday, and to hold out for some wayward Dems to cross over and support his Wall. It's not gonna happen, and up on Capitol Hill they're laughing about poor Jared.
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 20:44:00 GMT -5
I don't want to read too much into this, but note how the tone from the WH has changed during the evening: 4:35 p.m.: White House says it wants ‘down payment’ on border wall - White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump would support a short-term funding bill only if it includes a “down payment” on the border wall — something Pelosi has already said is a non-starter. 5:40 p.m.: Trump says he would support a ‘reasonable’ McConnell-Schumer deal - “If they come to a reasonable agreement, I would support it, yes,” Trump said. He added that he has “other alternatives” on the issue of border wall funding, although he did not elaborate. www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/shutdown-showdown-senate-prepares-to-vote-on-competing-bills-after-trump-agrees-to-postpone-state-of-the-union-speech/2019/01/24/7b65e314-1fc7-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html?utm_term=.b366fb354666Note that the first statement did not come directly from Trump, but from a mouthpiece. Trump's own statement is quite different. In fact, it's a repeat of what he said just before the Senate passed the Continuing Resolution in December that he was willing to sign, until Ann Coulter went after him. Of course, now Coulter's gone after him for offering a DACA deal, which means he's stuck between the Wrath of Blondie and the Wrath of the Voters, whichever way he goes. So my (hopeful) guess is that he's now going to save face by letting McConnell and Schumer work out a deal that re-opens the government for the next three weeks (and as a practical matter they're not gonna let it close down again on Feb. 8--they've had enough of that) without funding for the Wall, but with a lot more money for border security, including some fences, and then Trump will declare it's good enough for now, and he's got other ways to finance The Wall, which is not true, but it's the kind of thing he's done many times before. I genuinely hope that happens because we now are getting warnings that the FBI cannot carry out terrorist investigations (can't even pay their informants!), TSA can't guarantee airport security, air traffic controllers are not focused on--often not even at--their jobs, the Coast Guard is having to stand down patrols, and next week the courts will start closing down. Time to end the insanity, and tell Ann Coulter to go to Hell, where she belongs. |
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 24, 2019 23:32:36 GMT -5
If you wonder which party is feeling the most pressure over the Trump Shutdown just consider what happened today, as reported in the WP: Republican senators clashed with one another and confronted Vice President Pence inside a private luncheon on Thursday, as anger hit a boiling point over the longest government shutdown in history. “This is your fault,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at one point, according to two Republicans who attended the lunch and witnessed the exchange. “Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?” McConnell snapped back, according to the people who attended the lunch. Johnson spokesman Ben Voelkel confirmed the confrontation. He said Johnson was expressing frustration with the day’s proceedings — votes on dueling plans to reopen the government, both of which failed to advance. The people who attended the lunch spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a closed-door session. Aides to McConnell, citing regular policy on GOP lunches, declined to comment on the gathering. The argument was one of several heated moments in a lunch that came just before the Senate voted on the opposing plans to end the shutdown offered by President Trump and Democrats. The outbursts highlighted the toll the shutdown has taken on Republican lawmakers, who are dealing with growing concerns from constituents and blame from Democrats, all while facing pressure from conservatives to stand with Trump in his demand for money to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The votes the Senate cast on Thursday were the first on the shutdown since it began Dec. 22, with McConnell and other GOP lawmakers previously refusing to vote on anything this year unless it had Trump’s approval — a policy that has drawn widespread criticism. The day ended with some limited signs of progress. After the votes, McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) engaged in a face-to-face negotiation that senators hoped would lead to a solution in the near future. The first proposal, which Trump put forward, would have allocated $5.7 billion for wall funding in exchange for temporary protections for some immigrants. Only one Democrat voted for it. Two Republicans rejected the plan. One of the Republicans, Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), also spoke out in the lunch. He explained that if Thursday’s votes were merely a party-line exercise, there should be more changes to the nation’s asylum laws, according to one of the people who attended the lunch. Lee also expressed concerns about getting assurances for votes on his amendments. Six Republicans broke ranks to vote for the Democratic plan, which would have reopened shuttered government agencies through Feb. 8, without any wall money. Among them was Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who explained in the lunch why he planned to vote for both bills. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who voted for Trump’s bill but opposed the Democratic plan, started to interrupt him and Romney snapped back, according to one of the people who attended the lunch and another person familiar with it. The exchange was lively but not particularly angry, they said. Representatives for Romney, Tillis and Lee did not immediately comment. Senators also voiced their concerns about the shutdown directly with Pence, who was in attendance. “Nobody was blaming the president,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), speaking about the lunch to reporters afterward. “But there was a lot of frustration expressed about the situation we find ourselves in.” Also during the lunch, McConnell made clear to Pence and others in the room that the shutdown was not his idea and was not working. According to Republicans familiar with his comments, he quoted a favorite saying that he often uses to express his displeasure with government shutdowns: “There is no education in the second kick of a mule.” McConnell started using that saying after the 2013 shutdown, which lasted 16 days and ended after the public largely blamed Republicans. That specific exchange was first reported by the Hill newspaper. |
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 25, 2019 11:42:38 GMT -5
So, the FAA has virtually shut down LaGuardia Airport in New York this morning, with spillovers up and down the East Coast. This is getting worse for Trump as the reality of this government shutdown comes home. Time to sign the legislation opening the government that the House has passed.
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 25, 2019 13:45:43 GMT -5
Trump will be speaking soon, but the WP is reporting that: "Congressional leaders and President Trump have reached a tentative deal to temporarily reopen the government and continue talks on Trump’s demand for border wall money, Capitol Hill officials said Friday. With Trump’s approval, the pact would reopen shuttered government departments for the three weeks while leaving the issue of $5.7 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall to further talks." linkSo, what happened to make Trump back down? Oh, gosh, it could have been any combination or all of the following: *His bill failing in the GOP-controlled Senate, getting even fewer votes than the Democratic bill. *GOP Senators yelling at each other in the lunchroom over McConnell's failure to get them out of this Trump-created mess. *Public opinion turning sharply against the shutdown, and blaming Trump, sinking his approval rating. *Members of his Cabinet saying ignorant things implying that people making less than $45K a year could simply talk to "their bankers" to float a no-collateral loan, just like any billionaire can get. *Videos showing federal employees going to food banks and talking about how they are choosing between rent, food, and medicines. *FAA, TSA, FBI, and Coast Guard officials warning about growing threats to national security thanks to the Trump Shutdown. *Trump's ditzy daughter-in-law describing all of the employee hardships as a mere "blip" that's good for the country. *Roger Stone getting arrested on an indictment that clearly lays out the collusion between the Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks, which already has been linked to collusion with Russian intelligence. Connect the dots. ***Nancy Pelosi telling Trump he can't give a SOTU in the House unless/until he lets the government re-open. Period. |
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 25, 2019 15:03:54 GMT -5
35 days of Trump Shutdown--and we're right back where we were last December when he was cowed by Fox/Limbaugh. All that trauma, all that economic loss, and for what? What a freaking incompetent.
Editor-in-Chief of The Hill on Pelosi-Trump: "She won, and she won easily."
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 25, 2019 16:06:26 GMT -5
Edward Hardy, Verified account @edwardthardy Fox News poll: Who is better at Washington gamesmanship? Nancy Pelosi 41% Donald Trump 35% That's a FOX NEWS poll, jon. 
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 25, 2019 22:44:23 GMT -5
OK, I've unpinned this now that Trump has signed the legislation to re-open the government. Effectively, the War Over The Wall is over, and the Democrats, behind Generalissimo Nancy Pelosi have won. Oh, yes, I know: Trump's threatening another shutdown or a declaration of "national emergency" if he doesn't get funding for The Wall by February 15. But that's just cover for his humiliating retreat. In fact, they aren't likely to do either. Hill Republicans are not going to allow another catastrophic shutdown, and the WH already has looked at the legal and practical difficulties of going the emergency route, which most conservatives also oppose because, well, next time it could be a Dem President using the same detour around Congress.
What's almost certain to happen is that the bi-partisan bi-cameral Conference Committee that's been appointed will hash out a deal that will include a lot of money for improving border security, with some money for "physical barriers" in some places, and Trump will declare that's the star of The Wall and we won't hear about this again. The face-saving will be too transparent to satisfy Ann Coulter and the other rabidly insane racists at Fox and other right-wing outlets:
Ann Coulter: “Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.”
The Daily Caller: “TRUMP CAVES. A serious reversal.”
Breitbart: “Government Open…And Border...NO WALL.”
Gateway Pundit: “TRUMP CAVES! Ends Shutdown with NO BORDER WALL — Pelosi’s SECOND BIG WIN This Week.”
Mike Cernovich: “Commander-in-Soy” [not sure what that means].
Still, it will keep Trump from stepping back into the quicksand he just escaped, and the government and the rest of the country from further harm. All in all an excellent result!
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Post by Old Badger on Jan 26, 2019 16:22:00 GMT -5
The Trump Shutdown lasted 34 days, 21 hours, and 18 minutes, or 35 work days. It was hell on many, and totally unnecessary. But it did prove one thing: conservative warnings of unintended consequences cut both ways. In this case, Trump's tactics resulted in the practical end of The Wall as a thing, the splintering of the GOP Commentariat, and the weakening of Trump himself among his base voters. Excellent!
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