Government Shutdown Starts Today: Popcorn Rating, Zero

January 21st, 2018

Awake Goy

Right around midnight, Senate Democrats killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept agencies functioning for four weeks. Democrats were seeking a stop-gap bill of just a few days in hopes that would build pressure on Republicans, and were opposing a three-week alternative offered by GOP leaders.

Democrats have insisted they would back legislation reopening government once there’s a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting about 700,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children. Each party believes it had a winning political hand, and the day’s first words by party leaders underscored that so far, neither side believe it was time to give ground.

“The American people cannot begin to understand why the Senate Democratic leader thinks the entire government should be shut down until he gets his way on illegal immigration,” said McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said voters will fault Trump and the GOP. He blamed Trump for reneging on a near-deal that Schumer said the two men had approached during a White House meeting Friday.

“Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jello,” Schumer said.

The last shutdown came in 2013. Tea party Republicans, in a strategy not unlike the one Schumer is employing now, sought to use a must-pass budget bill to try to force President Barack Obama to delay implementation of his health care law. At the time, Trump told “Fox & Friends” that the ultimate blame for a shutdown lies at the top. “I really think the pressure is on the president,” he said.