On January 22, 2018, President Donald Trump signed a bill ending the three-day government shutdown.
The closing of the government was initiated by Democratic Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York and the vast majority of the Democrats in the Senate. Pandering to the extreme radicals in the Democratic Party and the senators who are planning to run for president in 2020, Senator Schumer demanded a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) solution with the approval of a Continuing Resolution (CR) of the budget. This was done by Senate Democrats without considering the immigration bill of building a wall in the southern border, an end to chain migration, and lottery visas of the Republican Party and President Donald Trump. The Democrats initiated a filibuster and the 60 votes to end it were not there. Thus began an unnecessary and reckless government shutdown damaging the national security and sending a wrong message to America’s enemies. It was legislative arson of the worst kind!
The Democrats miscalculated badly. If they thought the American people were going to support a shutdown of the federal government over children brought illegally to America by their parents while the men and women of the Armed Forces and first responders went without pay, as well as all federal employees except those who were extremely necessary, they were badly mistaken. Republicans had added to the CR the funding children’s insurance for six years which was something the Democrats wanted.
Holding the government hostage over DACA was a terrible idea by Senator Schumer.
Pitting undocumented youngsters against soldiers, sailors, and marines was a no win proposition. It was utter madness! Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives showed the nation that did not care about the Armed Forces and national security. Democrats in Congress better hope that Americans would forget in the midterm elections what they did disrupting the government over DACA. Democrats are also hoping that Americans would not realize how their once center left party has become a Marxist and pro Muslim Brotherhood party advocating open borders.
President Trump and Senate Republicans held firm and refused to consider any DACA reforms until the government shutdown ended. Polls went against the Democrats. A Harvard-Harris poll indicated 56% disapproval over the closing the federal government over DACA and a 34% approval. Polling also showed a majority of Americans backed the immigration plan of President Trump on ending lottery visas, chain migration, and building a border wall.
The House and the Senate voted on January 22, 2018 to end the government shutdown, extending funding for three weeks, following a deal being reached between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell regarding assurances related to consider a DACA and immigration bill. The House passed the continuing resolution 266-159, with 36 more yes votes than the four-week resolution they passed last week. The Senate passed the CR 81 to 18.
Schumer was severely criticized for caving in and surrendering to Republicans by radicals and some Senate Democrats who wanted to continue the government shutdown until the Dreamers were legalized. Those voting NO were the radical Democratic senators considering running for president in 2020: Corey Booker from New Jersey, Kamela Harris from California, Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, and Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
All of these radical Democratic senators were appealing to the Marxists and hard core Left of the Democratic Party who want to legalize all the illegals knowing that the vast majority would vote Democratic in future elections. If they succeed in giving citizenship to all the millions of undocumented immigrants, the Democratic Party would be in power forever and it will be the end of the Constitutional Republic of the United States and the end of freedom and liberty!
Senator McConnell stated the following: “But we should not let the political feuds or policy disagreements obscure the simple fact that every member of this body cares deeply about the challenges facing our country. It’s evident that this government shutdown is doing nothing, absolutely nothing to generate bipartisan progress on the issues the American public care about.”
President Donald Trump called for Senate Republicans to change the Senate’s rules to resolve the funding impasse as the government shutdown continued. The president wanted Senator McConnell to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” that would allow bill to be approve in the Senate by a simple majority as the Democrats did when Obama was president. This would stop the obstructionism and thereby remove leverage for Senate Democrats.
As CNN explained the “Senate rules impose a threshold of 60 votes to break a filibuster, and Senate Republicans currently hold a slim majority of 51 votes, meaning even if they can unite their members, they need nine more votes to end debate.” The White House is calling for the Senate to change its rules and move the threshold to a simple majority of 51 votes. A spokesman for McConnell said in response to the tweet by the president that the Senate Republican Conference does not support changing the 60-vote rule.
President Donald Trump in a Tweet stated “Big win for Republicans as Democrats cave on Shutdown. Now I want a big win for everyone, including Republicans, Democrats and DACA, but especially for our Great Military and Border Security. Should be able to get there. See you at the negotiating table”!
It will be a very difficult negotiating an immigration agreement with the Democrats. Already Senator Schumer went back on his previous agreement of partially funding the border wall. This writer believes that the president is right and the nuclear option should be adopted by Senate Republicans, after all it was done by Democrats in the Senate before.
Continuing resolutions are hurting the military. Half of the combat aircraft are unable to operate due to lack of parts and proper maintenance. The Air Force needs an additional 1,500 pilots and due to the lack of funds pilots fly 15 hours a month instead of the required 30 hours. Only five of 58 combat brigades are ready to fight today. This situation is extremely dangerous as America is facing many international threats. Former President Obama seriously cut the Pentagon budget as he tried to destroy America as a superpower and now the increasingly extreme radical Democrats in Congress are doing the same.
