Government Shutdown Averted: Trump Wins Round One

Government Shutdown Averted: Trump Wins Round One

Congress managed to buy just a little more time with a one-week funding bill in the final hours.

government shutdown #KevinJacksonThis is not a permanent fix. Basically, Congress put a band-aid on their boo-boo with the resolution that passed 382-30.

Now they have one week to iron out the kinks and fund the rest of the fiscal year (which ends Sept. 30th).

The final budget will be much harder for Democrats to swallow, because let’s face it: Leftists need the money more than we do.

As reported by The Hill:

“The legislation should pass today, and it will carry us through next week so that a bipartisan final agreement can be reached and so that members will have time to review the legislation before we take it up,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said from the Senate floor.

Republicans lawmakers have downplayed the chances of a shutdown as the Trump administration has struggled to score major legislative victories despite winning the first unified GOP government in a decade.

The Senate’s low-drama vote came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blocked a deal on passing the stopgap measure over concerns about the remaining hurdles in the larger deal.

But Schumer signaled on Friday morning that Democrats were willing to back the one-week stopgap bill as they try to lock down an agreement.

“We’re willing to extend things for a little bit more time in hopes that the same kind of progress can continue to be made,” Schumer told reporters.

Negotiators are still ironing out a final agreement even as lawmakers prepare to leave Washington until early next week.

We may very well get to see how President Trump negotiates. You can bet that he’s looking at all the angles on the final budget numbers.

Let’s hope that he backs taxpayers instead of taxtakers.

Schumer touts progress, as he hints at the so-called “poison pills”, like the border wall.

“Not all the poison pill riders have been eliminated, some have, a good number have,” Schumer said. “But we still have a little bit of a ways to go.”

The poison pills that need to go are on the Left. For example, the American taxpayers are not bailing out Puerto Rico. As far as I’m concerned, give Puerto Rico its sovereignty back.

Apparently, the president feels as I do:

 

The president was equally emphatic about ObamaCare.

Trump wants a budget free of this albatross.

 

Do Democrats really want solutions?

Leftists think they will force Trump’s hand. Little do they know, Trumps folds not!

Look at the Left’s strategy.

They craft a stopgap budget, in the spirit of cooperation. This implies they could do the same for the real budget.

In offering this small olive branch, Dems act as if they are being magnanimous. I remind you they control neither the House or the Senate.

But they use the media to project an image of cooperation that is frankly futile. The Republicans don’t need them.

If there is a shutdown, the Republicans will get blamed. Again, I believe President Trump already has the worst-case scenarios worked out. And as his tweet suggests, he will put the shutdown on the backs of the Left, should it occur.

As with Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch, initially the system required 60 votes. Then, the Senate changed the rules.

If enough pressure is exerted, they will do it again.

Nevertheless, the Left suggests otherwise.

But Trump will need Democratic votes to clear the longer spending bill. The legislation will require 60 votes in the Senate, and the GOP has a 52-vote majority. And Republicans could need help in the House if conservative lawmakers balk.

The Trump administration also assured Dems that it would continue making ObamaCare’s cost-sharing payments to insurers to help subsidize low-income health plans, mollifying Democrats who had initially demanded that the money be included in the bill.

government shutdown #KevinJacksonNancy Pelosi chimed in with a very interesting commentary:

“We’ve heard from … the Trump administration that they will be going with the cost-sharing funding. I think we’re in a good place with them on this.”

That’s a sure sign that Trump is winning…again!

 

Copy */
Back to top button