Tag Archives: Government shutdown

What Happens Next

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The Senate has voted to end the government shutdown. CNBC posted an article on Monday (updated Tuesday) explaining what happens next.

The article reports:

  • The Senate passed a bill to end the U.S. government shutdown.
  • House Speaker Mike Johnson called for House members to travel to Washington, D.C., so that they can vote as soon as possible on the deal.
  • To end the shutdown, the House needs to pass the Senate bill, and then President Donald Trump must sign it into law.

There are some grumblings among more liberal Democrats that they will try to stop the bill in the House, but I don’t think they will succeed.

The article notes:

House members were told that votes on the deal could begin by 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Before the Senate vote, Johnson refused to commit to the deal’s key guarantee to Democrats: that Congress will hold a separate vote in December on potentially extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. That vote would be on a bill of the Democrats’ choosing, according to the Senate agreement.

“I’m not committing to it or not committing to it,” Johnson, R-La., said Monday on CNN.

Those subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of December, help reduce the cost of individual health insurance plans for more than 20 million Americans.

What the article fails to mention is that the subsidies go to the insurance companies rather than to the people buying the insurance. The insurance companies have no incentive to lower premiums or cut costs. The impact of the subsidies going to the insurance companies on the price of insurance is similar to what happened to college tuition when the government got involved in the student loan program. When you take away incentive to lower prices, prices do not get lowered.

The article concludes:

The Senate deal would fund the government through the end of January; reverse all shutdown-related layoffs of federal employees; and guarantee that all federal workers will be paid their normal salaries during the shutdown.

The deal also includes provisions for a bipartisan budget process and prevents the White House from using continuing resolutions to fund the government.

CRs have been repeatedly used to avoid government shutdowns, but are controversial because they frequently avoid lawmakers having to make decisions about long-term funding of the government that a normal budget would resolve.

The deal would also fund, through September, the SNAP program, which helps feed 42 million Americans through food stamps.

Under a federal law passed in 2019, government employees who are furloughed during a shutdown must be paid for the time they were out of work at their standard rate of pay “at the earliest date possible, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”

The Kabuki Theater Has Ended

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Theoretically, the government shutdown is over. Five Democrats broke ranks with their party to cross over and vote to open the government. The image being presented is that the Democrat party is furious over their defection. I seriously doubt that. The liberal base may be furious, but I still believe we still have some rational Democrats who tend toward the center. The Democrats needed an off ramp, and these five Democrats (along with the three who previously voted to open the government) gave it to them. So let’s look at the five Democrats who ended the stalemate. Tim Kaine of Virginia (currently a very blue state) does not have to run until 2030. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire has already stated that she will not be seeking re-election. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire does not have to run until 2028 (three years is forever in politics).  Jacky Rosen of Nevada does not have to run until 2030, and Dick Durbin of Illinois is not running for re-election.

It appears that the Democrat party is currently trending left. That may continue, but there is also the possibility that as the Democrats see the consequences of some of their more liberal policies, the pendulum may swing back toward the center. The word of the day is ‘affordability.’  While I sympathize with young people trying to buy their first house, most of their parents went through the same thing. However, most of their parents bought what was then called a ‘starter house’ to build equity before they bought their dream house. That may be a concept that needs to be reborn.

So what can we learn from the shutdown? Coincidentally, the shutdown ended when it became apparent that members of Congress might face challenges when they attempted to go home for the holidays–all of the airplanes were not running on schedule, and not every Congressman has access to a private jet. If the airline problem had happened earlier in the shutdown and members of Congress were the people inconvenienced, would the shutdown have been shorter? If members of Congress and their staff were working without pay (rather than the military and government workers) would the shutdown have been shorter?

There is a way to prevent future shutdowns over budget disputes. In North Carolina, if the legislature cannot agree on a budget, the previous budget remains in effect until a new budget can be passed. There is no threat of a shutdown. Another way to prevent a future shutdown is to pass a law saying that if the government is shut down, Congress will not be paid.

The long-term consequences of the shutdown remain to be seen. It may slightly slow down the Trump agenda, but President Trump does not strike me as someone who is easily slowed down. During the shutdown, he continued doing business at home and abroad.

The shutdown was only a part of the very ugly turn American politics have taken in recent years.

Continuing The Shutdown

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On Friday, Fox News posted an article about a recent vote in the Senate. Obviously, the Democrat filibuster is preventing the Republicans from opening the government, but the Democrats won’t even vote to help the people being hurt by the shutdown.

The article reports:

Senate Democrats again blocked a plan by Republicans to ensure that federal workers and the military would receive a paycheck as the shutdown back and forth revs into high gear.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., again tried to advance a modified version of his “Shutdown Fairness Act” bill that would see federal workers and the military paid now and during subsequent government shutdowns. However, the bill failed 53-43 with 3 Democrats defecting to support the bill. Georgia Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico voted for the bill.

Last month, it was blocked over concerns from Senate Democrats that it did not include furloughed workers.

The article concludes:

The GOP’s attempt to pay federal workers amid the ongoing, 38-day shutdown came as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus announced their counter-offer to Senate Republicans’ plan to reopen the government.

Schumer’s offer included attaching a one-year extension onto expiring Obamacare subsidies — the main sticking point of the shutdown — in exchange for the Democratic votes to reopen the government.

But the offer, which a source told Fox News Digital had been made in private to Senate Republicans last week and was summarily rejected, was again not going over well with Republicans.

The Senate is expected to return on Saturday to vote on the House-passed plan for a 15th time. Whether Schumer and his caucus block it once more remains to be seen.

Schumer’s offer was essentially “You give us what we want and we will allow you to open the government.” That’s pretty much your basic hostage statement. I particularly like Senator Kennedy’s suggestion for a law that says if federal workers are not paid, Congress should not be paid.

Media Bias And The Shutdown

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On Wednesday, Newsbusters posted an article about the media coverage of the government shutdown. The coverage is pretty much what you would expect,

The article reports:

For the past month the big three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have hammered both Congressional Republicans and President Trump with a wall of negative shutdown coverage, while largely shielding Democrats from blame for the now-historic gridlock.

MRC analysts examined every evening newscast on ABC, CBS, and NBC between October 1 and October 31, 2025. Across the 67 reports and news briefs which discussed the government shutdown, 87 percent of the coverage favored Democrats. Analysts found 83 evaluative statements in which anchors or reporters were critical of Republicans, but just twelve criticizing Democrats.

Summary of Findings

    • Broadcast shutdown coverage heavily favored Democrats over Republicans (87% to 13%).
    • Only 12 reports (less than one fifth) even mentioned that Senate Democrats had refused to vote for a clean continuing resolution.
    • Not a single report mentioned that Democrats voted back in March to end the same Obamacare subsidies which they’re now demanding.

The article notes:

Broadcast reporters also frequently laundered common Democrat talking points as their own objective reporting. For example, we found twelve instances in which House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) refusal to call the House back into session was framed as a major cause of the shutdown — a frequent argument by Congressional Democrats.

Republicans received no such friendly treatment. Not a single journalist on any of the three networks voiced the popular Republican talking point that Senate Democrats earlier this year had voted in favor of a continuing resolution which contained the same cuts to healthcare subsidies for which they were now keeping the government closed.

The article concludes:

Back during the 2013 government shutdown, when Democrats controlled both the White House and the Senate, the broadcast networks aired 41 reports blaming Republicans. Just 17 stories blamed both sides, and there was not a single instance in which any broadcast journalist specifically blamed Democrats.

But in 2025, with Republicans in control of both chambers and the White House, there were only ten reports that blamed Democrats exclusively. That’s less than one-third of the blame they heaped on Republicans back in 2013. Wilder still, analysts found four instances in which journalists blamed Republicans for the current shutdown.

Some of the things that should be mentioned in the news reports (but are not) are that the Obamacare subsidies go to the insurance companies. There is no guarantee of any savings being passed on to the consumer. It should also be mentioned that in many cases the money the Democrats want will go to providing medical care to people who are not citizens rather than to Americans.

At this point I am beginning to believe that the shutdown is simply a method to stop President Trump’s economic policies from succeeding. If his policies succeed, it will be a nail in the coffin of the Washington establishment. If President Trump is a successful President, it is quite possible that our next President will be another  Republican who is also not part of the deep state. Preventing that from happening is probably the root cause of the continuing shutdown.

The Latest Proposal

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On Friday, Senator Schumer offered to open the government if the Republicans would agree to his demands. That is not exactly what he said, but that is the essence of it–I will release the hostages if you will give me what I want. That’s hardly a reasonable request.

On Friday, Red State posted an article that included Senator Kennedy from Louisiana’s response.

The article reports:

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) had a savage response to his fellow Democrat leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), offering to reopen the government, and said it involves needing “bail money” if God were to give him strength rather than patience after hearing it.

On Friday, Schumer announced his proposal, in which he said that he and his Democrat colleagues would agree to reopen the government if, and only if, the Republicans extended COVID-19-era Obama-care subsidies for another year, and then they could sit down to negotiate with the GOP to deal with healthcare costs.

…”What Senator Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work. Stupid should hurt more.” “[Schumer’s proposal] means we would have to take $35B of taxpayer money and give it directly to health insurance companies without any commitment of lowering premiums.”

The article concludes:

“I’ve voted more than a dozen times to fund the government—but many politicians are too scared of pressure from socialists to do the right thing,” Kennedy wrote. “I think a missing paycheck would make them grow a spine.”

Kennedy might be right that when Democrats see zero paychecks, like Air Traffic Controllers have experienced, they might snap out of this insanity.

Senator Kennedy has proposed a law that Congress would not get paid while the government is shut down. Good idea.

When Politics Is More Important Than What Is Good For Americans

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On Friday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a recent vote taken in the Senate.

The article reports:

Almost all Senate Democrats rejected a bipartisan bill Friday evening to pay active-duty troops and federal employees reporting to work, including Capitol Police officers, during the 38-day government shutdown.

Lawmakers voted 53 to 43 to advance the federal worker pay bill, falling seven votes short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. The failed vote marks the second time a majority of Democrats have blocked legislation to pay some federal workers during the funding lapse.

I guess they really care about the well being of working Americans.

The article notes:

“Let me be clear about what a ‘no’ vote means,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, the second-highest-ranking Senate Republican, said during floor remarks Friday. “A NO vote is a vote to refuse to pay air traffic controllers who are working. Refuse to pay TSA agents who are working. Refuse to pay military members who are serving around the world. Refuse to pay Capitol Police officers who are here in this building working.”

The article concludes:

GOP lawmakers have been adamant throughout the 38-day shutdown that they will not negotiate on health care policy until Democrats vote to fund the government.

“Democrats want to give $35 billion next year to insurance companies for subsidies with no fraud controls and to benefit the wealthy. Hard no, Chuck,” Senate Republicans’ X account wrote, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

President Donald Trump called on the Senate to stay in session over the weekend to hammer out a deal. If lawmakers do not come to an agreement, Trump called on Republicans to invoke the nuclear option and kill the Senate’s legislative filibuster to pass a funding measure on their own.

Thune told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that Republicans lack the votes to nuke the longstanding procedural rule.

“Not even close,” the majority leader said of the whip count.

As the shutdown continues, I suspect there may be more senators willing to end the filibuster. This is ridiculous!

One Way To Cut The Costs Of The SNAP Program

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As I have previously stated numerous time, the federal budget is getting out of hand. We need to find ways to cut the spending. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has a suggestion.

On Sunday, The Daily Caller reported:

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend” thousands of illegal migrants have been taken off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and that there will be drastic reform to ensure those who are truly vulnerable receive benefits.

Concerns about maintaining SNAP benefits began in October 2025 as the government shutdown stretched out. Notably, a handful of Democrats sued the Trump administration to use a contingency fund to continue the food aid. Highlighting how the argument over the benefits shed light on who is receiving SNAP, Rollins was asked to discuss reports of illegal immigrants being eligible for SNAP.

“There’s been a lot of miscommunication out there on the program, but this is one of the first things we did when I walked in. Day One of USDA, February 13th, is we sent letters to every governor in America being very clear that no illegal aliens can use SNAP. Zero, zero, zero,” Rollins said. “We asked every state for the first time in history — and this was in February — to send us their data and let us, with DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] and a war room, actually start going through this data to better understand how this explosion of SNAP benefits happened under Joe Biden. We increased almost 40% on this program in just a couple of years under the Biden administration.”

Illegal immigration was one of the reasons for the increased enrollment in the SNAP Program, but another cause was the inflation caused by the Biden administration’s energy and economic policies.

The article concludes:

According to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memo obtained in September 2025 by the Daily Caller News Foundation, federal officials were directed to scrutinize and weed out migrant applicants deemed more likely to become dependent on government services and programs.

While data on illegal migrants and SNAP usage is limited, USDA data from 2022 shows the program provided benefits to 1.465 million noncitizens, with an additional 2.2 million children living with noncitizens also receiving SNAP benefits, according to the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). Data pulled by EPIC shows California led the nation in this regard, providing 273,000 food stamps to noncitizens in fiscal year 2022, followed by Florida with 238,000, and New York with 218,000.

The Shutdown Is Hurting Americans

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To me, one of the most annoying things about the current government shutdown is that Congress is getting paid while Americans go without. Admittedly, there are some serious scammers on various government programs, but there are also people who genuinely need help to pay their bills, have a place to live, and eat. North Carolina has a part of its budget process that I truly admire–if a new budget is not passed, the old budget remains. The state government is never at risk for a shutdown.

On Sunday, Breitbart reported:

As temperatures begin to drop around the U.S., Democrat lawmakers’ refusal to fund the government may impact the ability of some Americans to heat their homes.                

Jacqueline Chapman, a retired school aide who relies on a $630 monthly Social Security check to get by, presents the real-world example of someone impacted by the shutdown on pace to be the longest in U.S. history.

Chapman told Boston’s WCBB5 that she was already dealing with the loss of her food stamp, or SNAP, benefits when she learned the assistance she receives for heating her Philadelphia apartment may also be at risk.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that aid some 42 million Americans have also been delayed, although a federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday ordered the Trump administration to at least partially fund the program with money held in reserve.

“I feel like I’m living in scary time,” the 74-year-old senior told the news outlet. “It’s not easy to rest when you know you have things to do with limited accounts, limited funds. There isn’t too much you can do.”

Let’s clean up the fraud in the American ‘safety net’ and make sure help goes to the people who need it.

Misleading The Public About The Shutdown

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On Friday, Chris Bray posted an article at Substack about the misleading reporting on the current government shutdown.

The article shows an X post from Senator Amy Klobuchar:

The article explains:

The Galls are among roughly 22 million ACA marketplace enrollees — about 92% of all enrollees — who face the prospect of higher premiums in 2026, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.

Democrats are pushing Republicans to extend the enhanced subsidies that make enrollees’ health premiums cheaper, as part of a deal to end the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1. Republicans have said they want to negotiate any extension of ACA subsidies outside of legislation that would reopen the government.

See the premise? Subsidies “make enrollees’ health premiums cheaper.”

The article points out that the subsidies don’t go to the people paying for the health insurance premiums–they go to the insurance companies (who oddly enough make donations to candidates’ campaign funds).

The article explains:

They (subsidies) make enrollees’ health premiums divided, splitting the cost between the person paying for the insurance and the taxpayers who fund the subsidy, but they flatly don’t make the premiums cheaper. It’s like you go to the supermarket and buy filet mignon, and it only costs you a dollar — wow, filet mignon is so affordable now! — but the supermarket bills the federal government for $25 every time you make that purchase, and the government gets the $25 from you as taxes. The thing costs what it costs. Subsidies don’t make it cheaper. They just hide the expense at the point of purchase. Subsidies shift and obscure.

Why should insurance companies work to be more efficient when the government will support them? This is very similar to what happened to college tuition when student loans became the norm.

The article concludes:

The ACA subsidies are only $91 billion a year, though, so it’s practically nothing.

See also this 2023 CBO report, which projects explosive growth in federal healthcare costs over the next decade.

We’re not having a debate about giving money to Bill and Shelly so they can enjoy their early retirement. We’re having a debate about how much money the federal government — meaning you, if you pay taxes — is going to give to private corporations. Congressional Democrats are servicing their corporate clients.

“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.”

Why The Seventeenth Amendment Matters

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President Woodrow Wilson did a number of things that reformatted the plan for America our Founding Fathers designed. He signed into law a personal income tax, the federal reserve, and the direct election of Senators (the Seventeen Amendment).

The Seventeen Amendment states:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.[2]

Before the Seventeenth Amendment, Senators were chosen by the state legislators and subject to recall if they did not represent the interests of the state. Without the Seventeenth Amendment, Senator Manchin of West Virginia would not have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. Senator Manchin did not originally vote for the Inflation Reduction Act because he understood that the green energy provisions in the bill would be harmful to the economy of West Virginia. During the negotiations regarding the bill, promises were made that would slightly lessen the impact on West Virginia (the Democrats eventually reneged on those promises). Had the Senator been subject to recall, he would never have voted on the bill.

As I write this, the government shutdown is continuing. Simplified Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be ending on November 1. Do you really believe that Senators who were subject to recall by their state legislators would continue to vote to keep the government shutdown and would have the support of their state legislators in doing so?

I don’t know who will eventually be blamed for the prolonged government shutdown. I do know that it is hurting Americans and that those voting to keep the government shut down do not seem to care for the welfare of their voters. Those are the people who should be voted out of office in the midterms.

You Would Have More Leverage If You Won More Elections

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Our system of government is set up on the principle of checks and balances. The Senate chose to add the filibuster to make sure that whichever party was in the minority would have some say in the laws that were being made. However, I really don’t think the purpose of the filibuster was to allow the whichever party was in the minority to shut down the government.

On Tuesday, Red State reported:

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) just became the second Democrat to say the quiet part out loud as he admitted the Schumer shutdown is “very unpleasant” but the “only moment of leverage” his party has.

You don’t have leverage because the people did not vote for your policies!

The article notes:

“Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage, and although a very unpleasant tool to use, it’s gotten us focused on what we have to do to change direction on health care,” Coons said, referencing the Democrats’ lie about how millions of Americans would be thrown off healthcare in the coming years. 

But here’s what Coons doesn’t say. The Democrat forgot to explain that the shutdown is because Republicans won’t give billions to fund healthcare for illegal aliens. 

In a post from our sister site Townhall.com, it noted that Coons’ leverage comment is truly disgusting given the fact that “42 million Americans are going to go hungry and lose SNAP benefits this weekend… so Dems can have ‘leverage.'”

Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05) was the first one in her party to admit that the suffering of Americans was giving Democrats “leverage,” RedState reported.

If I were not a lady, I would tell them what they could do with their leverage.

The article concludes:

During his appearance on Fox News Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reacted to Coons’ comment and said Democrats think they are playing a “political game,” but it’s not.

“They’re looking at this like it’s some sort of political game,” Thune said. “Where there are winners and losers of the political game. Whereas, we look at this as real impacts on real families and people in this country.”

“It becomes more real and the consequences become more real over time,” he added. “I mean, what they just said, they said the quiet part out loud. These people are looking at this as a political game, Martha [McCallum], and it’s not.”

When someone admits the truth, Americans would be wise to listen. They are playing a game with you — you are expendable as long as they get their way.

Voters, please take some of these Democrats out of office during the midterms.

Not All Democrats Support The Government Shutdown

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On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about one union that is not supporting the current Schumer Shutdown.

The article reports:

Senate Democrats were dealt a severe blow on Monday morning when the country’s largest federal workers union called for a swift end to the government shutdown.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing more than 800,000 government workers, released an open letter calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus to vote for a House-passed bipartisan spending bill to reopen the government. Schumer and a majority of Democrats have voted against a clean funding measure to reopen the government a dozen times — and will vote on a spending bill to end the shutdown for a 13th time as soon as Tuesday.

“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” AFGE national president Everett Kelley said in a statement. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”

The article notes:

Monday marks Day 27 of the government shutdown that continues to stretch on despite mounting financial distress for Americans who receive federal paychecks or depend on federal food aid programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Congress has passed 36 continuing resolutions to fund the government rather than following the regular budget process since January 2009. During the Biden administration Congress passed 13 continuing resolutions. Trump derangement syndrome is about to cost people their food stamps and government checks.

The article concludes:

Senate Democrats, however, show few signs of relenting from their hardball tactics that have kept the government shuttered for one of the longest durations in American history. Schumer continues to demand an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies — in addition to a bevy of costly left-wing priorities — in exchange for reopening the government.

Just three Democratic caucus members have crossed party lines to vote for the bipartisan spending measure. Republicans must get buy-in from an additional five Democrats in order to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for government funding bills and end the shutdown.

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has consistently voted against the bipartisan funding measure, arguing the bill does not do enough to cut spending.

A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Rebuking The Lies

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On Sunday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about an interview of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on ABC’s This Week.

The article contains text of some of the interview:

Martha Raddatz:
And today is day 26. I know you have been over there, but there has been a government shutdown here. People are suffering. Federal employees are starting to go to food banks. Any light at the end of the tunnel on that? Should the President be meeting with Democrats again?

Scott Bessent:
What good does it do, Martha? They’ve dug in. The American people are hostage to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ poll numbers. Because what’s changed between now and the last time there was a clean continuing resolution is Chuck Schumer has tanked in the polls. Both of the two guys from Brooklyn, as I call them, are worried about being primaried from the left.

The article notes:

Bessent went on to remind viewers that Republicans have voted 11 times to reopen the government, while Democrats, led by Schumer and Jeffries, continue to hold the nation hostage for political gain.

The transcript continues:

Because, Martha, what I can tell you is—we managed to find the money in the middle of October to pay our brave service members, and I think we’ll be able to do it on November 1st. But we’re going to be out of money on November 15th, and for our military not to get paid is a disgrace.

The other thing that’s happening is this is starting to eat into the economy—starting to slow the economy—and we’re also starting to see there’s a problem with air traffic control. So it’s beginning to slow down our nation’s travel.

…Martha Raddatz:
But Secretary Bessent, I should add that the President’s party—your party—controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. You don’t think you bear any responsibility for this?

Scott Bessent:
Martha, what can we do? What can we do for this desperate act? We can call on them to change their minds. Because I can tell you—the $1.5 trillion in spending that they’re calling for—that’s not on the table.

We inherited a mess. We inherited the worst budget deficit-to-GDP ratio when we weren’t in a recession and we weren’t at war. It was 6.4%, 6.5%. We’ve managed to bring that down to 5.9%, and we’re not going to let them be irresponsible with the budget again.

I wonder if Scott Bessent will be invited on the show again! He may be punished for telling the truth!

Let’s Hope This Is Possible

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On Saturday, Breitbart posted an article reporting that President Trump is attempting to make sure our military gets paid during the Sombrero Shutdown orchestrated by Senator Schumer.

The article reports:

President Donald Trump is taking steps to ensure that U.S. service members receive their paychecks next week despite the ongoing government shutdown, directing his administration to find and allocate available funds as congressional gridlock threatens military pay. 

…The government shutdown, now in its second week, began October 1 after Senate Democrats rejected multiple times a clean continuing resolution to maintain funding at prior levels. President Trump has consistently stated that essential national security personnel — including 1.3 million active-duty service members and hundreds of thousands of National Guard members — will remain on duty. However, congressional aides told Reuters that legislation must pass by Monday, October 13, for payroll to be processed in time for the standard mid-month pay date of October 15.

Trump’s post followed comments by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who told Punchbowl News “every day gets better” for Democrats during the shutdown. Trump responded, “I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”

The article concludes:

Despite these pressures, Senate Democrats have repeatedly voted to block a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government. Meanwhile, reports indicate that several members of the Democratic caucus plan to attend a Napa Valley retreat hosted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee set for Monday and Tuesday, October 13-14, prompting criticism from Republicans who contend the party is “vacationing during a shutdown.”

Trump’s latest action aims to bypass the impasse and ensure that military personnel are not left unpaid due to political disputes in Congress. “The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT,” he wrote, “and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy.”

A number of pundits have stated that they expect the shutdown to end after the No Kings protest on October 18. This is a left-wing paid protest with a goal of destabilizing America. The theory is that if the Democrats open the government before the protest, they will be among the people and things protested against. Please understand that the majority of the protesters are paid to protest. This i s not grass roots–it’s AstroTurf!

Searching For The String To Unravel The Sweater

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Corruption is a problem in Washington and throughout America. Instead of Congress passing laws, we have unelected bureaucrats making regulations. People enter Congress with a net worth of a few hundred thousand dollars and become multi-millionaires in two or three years. When that happens in the private sector, there is generally an invention or a product involved. Many of our major cities have become lawless with violent protests against America. Where is the money coming from that pays the protesters and magically appears in the wallets of Congressmen (on both sides of the aisle)? I think we are beginning to get a clue.

The current government shutdown revolves around a number of issues. Most of those issues involve funding cuts made in the Big Beautiful Bill, which was signed into law on July 4th. Why are those funding cuts so important to the Democrats?

Obviously, PBS and NPR function as mouthpieces for the Democrat party. Defunding them cuts down on free campaigning for Democrat policies. But let’s look at the list of other items the Democrats want added back into the budget. Among the things the Democrats want added back are $300,000 to sponsor a pride parade in Lesotho (a small country in Southern Africa), $500,000 to purchase electric buses in Rwanda, and Over $4.2 million for LGBTQ projects in the Western Balkans and Uganda. So why do the Democrats care about these things so much that they would shut down the government to preserve them? Why was funding USAID so important to the Democrats? Generally when dealing with Washington, the answer to a lot of questions is ‘follow the money.’ That is also true here.

The money going to these projects is actually given to non-governmental organization’s (NGO’s) to distribute to the project involved. It is very easy to launder money in this process. How much of the money the federal government paid out for abortions allowed Planned Parenthood to fund Democrat political campaign coffers? The money didn’t go directly there, but created a profit margin that allowed for large donations to various candidates.

As the investigation into Antifa begins, I predict that a lot of the money supporting the protesters and events will come from non-profit organizations and NGO’s. Some of the foundations we have considered benevolent for years may be exposed as something entirely different.

It Pays To Have A Businessman In The White House

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We are in the second week of the government shutdown that began October 1st. I am still predicting that it will end soon, but it really doesn’t look that way. So who is being hurt by the shutdown, and what can be done about it?

On Tuesday, Legal Insurrection reported:

President Donald Trump announced he will use tariff revenue to cover the Women & Infants, and Children Food Program (WIC) during the Schumer Shutdown.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X:

The Democrats are so cruel in their continual votes to shut down the government that they forced the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children to run out this week.

Thankfully, President Trump and the White House have identified a creative solution to transfer resources from Section 232 tariff revenue to this critical program.

The Trump White House will not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats’ political games.

I believe that the shutdown is a losing issue for Democrats. During the next few days, they will attempt to flip the narrative and blame the shutdown on the Republicans. If that doesn’t work, the shutdown will end.

The article notes:

CNN mentioned that the tariffs land in a “general fund managed by the Treasury Department.”

Here Is A Partial List

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The government shutdown continues. The fake news is attempting to blame the Republicans (even though they are the ones who voted to keep the government open). And life continues pretty much as usual for most Americans. So what is the purpose of this exercise? What are the Democrats fighting for?

On Saturday, Legal Insurrection reported:

The main topic of the shutdown debate has been healthcare funding for illegal aliens, but there are some other items that Democrats are demanding, and they will amaze you. These demands are mainly coming from AOC and the socialist wing of the party.

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has a way with words, and he recently listed these demands as only he can.

The article quotes The Tampa Free Press:

The list of projects Kennedy claimed Democrats are insisting on restoring includes:

    • $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops for male prostitutes in Haiti.
    • Over $4.2 million for LGBTQ projects in the Western Balkans and Uganda.
    • $6 million to subsidize Palestinian media outlets.
    • $3 million for circumcision and vasectomies in Zambia.
    • More than $833,000 for transgender people in Nepal.
    • $500,000 to purchase electric buses in Rwanda.
    • $300,000 to sponsor a pride parade in Lesotho.

One of the comments on the Legal Insurrection article pointed out how this actually works. Rather than the money actually going to the country listed for the designated project, it goes to an NGO that supposedly will do whatever the money is slated for. Actually, much of the money allocated will be kicked back to the campaign coffers of whoever directed the money to the NGO. That is one of many reasons the Democrats are fighting so hard to get this money restored.

Actions Have Consequences

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In his book, The Art of War, Sun Tzu states,  “Know your enemy and know yourself.” It also pays to know when your enemy has morphed from something you could simply roll over easily into something much more formidable. I believe that this is the mistake the Democrats have made in creating a government shutdown.

On Sunday, PJ Media reported:

The Democrats have backed themselves into a corner again, and this time, it’s not just political theater—it’s a standoff with serious consequences. The Schumer Shutdown is dragging into its second week, and President Donald Trump is done waiting for Democrats to come around. The message from the White House is crystal clear: if the talks with Democrats “are absolutely going nowhere,” as National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett put it, mass layoffs of federal workers are coming.

The shutdown began when Senate Democrats refused to support a short-term funding bill that would have kept government agencies running through November 21. Their justification? They’re insisting on reopening the loophole closed by the One Big Beautiful Bill, which had prevented taxpayer dollars from funding health care for illegal immigrants. On top of that, they’re pushing to spend billions on other radical left-wing priorities.

…Behind closed doors, administration officials reportedly see this moment as an opportunity to do more than just win a standoff—they see a chance to make structural changes. After years of bureaucratic bloat, Trump’s team views this as a moment to permanently streamline the federal workforce, cutting costs and reshaping agencies that have long outgrown their usefulness.

The article concludes:

This shutdown is more than a budget dispute—it’s a test of priorities. The White House is protecting taxpayers and forcing accountability. Democrats, meanwhile, are digging in on giveaways that benefit the few at the expense of the many. The question now is simple: will Democrats end this shutdown before more Americans lose their jobs, or will they keep the lights off in Washington until they get free healthcare for people who aren’t even citizens? The clock is ticking, and Trump just made it clear he’s willing to let them live with the consequences of their choice.

It’s going to be an interesting week.

The View From The Lair

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Thank You!
Mary reminded me that I have been remiss is providing my rants. She is quite correct; however personal issues have interfered. I won’t whine here; I do enough of that to my wife. My daily mantra (okay, throughout the day) is “Suck it up Buttercup. The only easy day was yesterday.”
BUT! I have to say that I was IMMENSELY pleased and offer a HUGE THANK YOU to the Senate Minority leader, one Charles Scheemer!
Of course he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He was responding to the Marxists on his immediate left. GIVE NO GROUND! MEDICAL CARE FOR ILLEGALS! REFUND NPR!
As if the normals in this country actually support such bullschiff. Apparently, he was asleep last November when the country overwhelming voted for PDJT. Normals don’t like their tax dollars and other borrowed funds (plus interest) being used to give medical care to people who shouldn’t be here in the first place. Nor do they want those same dollars used to support indoctrination over the public airwaves. Or any of the other marxist schemes that was included in the Demonrat 1.5 TRILLION dollar addition to the continuing resolution to keep the government running.
So the gubbermint is shut down. Sort of. But that’s a GOOD THING! As several people wiser than I have warned, (but I can learn from them) anytime the government is functioning, your money and your freedoms are in danger. Marxists believe that the gubbermint is absolutely necessary for life as we know it to continue. Not even close. I bought gasoline yesterday. My wife bought groceries today. As well as booze. Drug stores and hardware stores are open. Banks are open. Wall Street is soaring!
There is nothing that a “closed” gubbermint prevents me from accomplishing. Everything that is mandated by legislation is continuing.
That includes the Social Security payments and the Postal Service.
BUT! And this is the good part. All of those “non-critical” parts of the gubbermint are shut down. And since they don’t have funding to justify their existence…why not turn them off? For everyone reading this that has operated a business, how many “non-critical” employees did you keep on the payroll? Okay, how many non-critical, non-family member employees did you keep on the payroll? I suspect not many. And, yes, I recognize “special” circumstances. But that’s in private business. Such special” situations don’t belong on the gubbermint payroll. So, this is the perfect time to remove them. Only a few gubbermint employees. The current estimate is only around 750,000. But it is a good start. Not all of them will go, of course. Some them are actually functional and some aren’t active members of the Deep State. The other benefit is the vast majority of them vote for Marxists. So, we can be rid of non-critical, mostly non-functioning TDS Deep State employees. That’s the multi-functional useful aspect of the shutdown.
Of course, Chucky Scheemer didn’t want this to happen at all. But the left wingnut hard Marxist coalition of his party wanted the shutdown so they could blame it on the Republicans….but uh oh..that isn’t happening. The Demonrats are responsible and even the Lame Stream Media are acknowledging it as such. And A-O-C is aiming to primary Ol’ Chucky. So, he has to prove he actually has cojones by shutting down the gubbermint. He gets to lose both ways. He looks bad to the country and he looks weak to his constituents. But they are in New York, so that may not matter.

Common Sense From An Interesting Source

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I will admit I was not impressed when John Fetterman was elected to the Senate. His total ignoring of the dress code seemed tacky to me; and for a while, he didn’t really seem to know much. However, he has definitely become a light in a very dark party.

On Monday, The Daily Caller reported:

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman had a blunt message for members of his own party amid tense negotiations over a potential government shutdown.

Democratic lawmakers returned to Washington Monday and vowed to keep the government open, even as they voted against a GOP spending bill in the Senate that would temporarily fund operations. Fetterman had a blunt suggestion for Democrats holding the line in government shutdown talks: “win elections,” he reportedly said, according to CNN’s Manu Raju, who posted the quote Monday on X.

He may be the only Democrat who understands this principle. Actually, the lack of understanding in the Democrat party might partially be the result of the behavior of the Republicans in the past–they rolled over and played dead anytime the Democrats challenged them. Well, things have obviously changed. The Republicans have found their spine!

The article notes:

“John Fetterman, pushing back on Dems’ hardline over shutdown talks, says he has a suggestion for his party as it demands changes on health care policy as part of spending talks: ‘Win elections,’ he told us,” Raju wrote.

Democrats said a government shutdown could impact their constituents. Most of them, though, stood by their vote to block a Republican-led plan to keep the government open.

…President Donald Trump met with congressional leaders Monday in a last-ditch effort to prevent a government shutdown. Both sides left the White House without a deal. Democrats continued to demand health care concessions. Republicans pushed for a clean funding extension.

One of the major health care concessions is funding medical care for illegal aliens. I believe that the Democrat party is on the wrong side of that issue–most Americans have enough trouble paying for their own health care.

Pulling An Ace Out Of A Hole

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The one thing that the Congressional Democrats are really great at doing is not understanding the consequences of their actions. They do not understand that many of today’s Republicans are not as willing to roll over and play dead as their former Congressional members. The attempt to blackmail Americans by planning to shut down the government if budget cuts are not restored may not work out the way Senator Schumer wants it to.

On Thursday, Ed Morrissey posted the following at Hot Air:

The deadline for a government shutdown is fast approaching, and Schumer tried to play hardball this week. He and Hakeem Jeffries demanded a meeting with Trump to negotiate, which Trump initially accepted, but canceled after the pair demanded a massive list of concessions before the meeting took place. Schumer then told the press that Trump was “chicken” and that any shutdown would be his fault — even though the House had already passed the clean CR that Schumer had demanded when Joe Biden was president-ish.

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported:

The White House’s budget office directed federal agencies to draw up plans to permanently reduce their workforces if there is a government shutdown next week, raising the specter of mass firings on top of the customary furloughs during a lapse in funding. 

The new memo sent by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought sharply raises the stakes for funding talks and increases the pressure on Senate Democrats, who are demanding that Republicans restore hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare spending as a condition of their support for keeping the government funded.

…The OMB memo instructs agencies to design reduction-in-force plans for employees who work for programs that have no current funding and have no outside funding source, and that are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” This would be in addition to any temporary furloughs that happen during a government shutdown. 

The memo from Vought says that any cuts made after the funding deadline would be permanent.

Never play checkers with someone who plays three-dimensional chess!

Ending Government Shutdowns (And The Threat Of Government Shutdowns)

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On Sunday, Senator Ron Johnson posted an article at The Wall Street Journal that included a proposal that would end government shutdowns and end the threat of government shutdowns.

The article reports:

The U.S. has experienced three government shutdowns since I entered the Senate in 2011. During that time Congress has passed 55 continuing resolutions and increased or suspended the debt ceiling 12 times. The national debt has grown during those 14 years from $14 trillion to $37 trillion. In 2019 I supported a bill that would have done away with government shutdowns forever. It passed the committee I chaired 12-2, but never passed either chamber of Congress.

With another shutdown looming, I’ve introduced an even simpler bill, the Eliminate Shutdowns Act, that could end the drama and uncertainty of Congress’s budgetary dysfunction. Some argued the 2019 bill would lead to higher spending and prohibit consideration of other measures until appropriations bills were passed. Those were legitimate concerns. My new bill simply provides for automatic two-week rolling continuing resolutions for any department for which an appropriation bill or longer-term continuing resolution hasn’t been passed. This would keep spending flat by prorating the previous year’s spending level.

North Carolina has a similar method in place–until a budget is passed for the current two-year period, the budget for the previous two-year period remains in place.

The article concludes:

The fighting over funding fiscal 2025 lasted six months. No one can predict how long we will be at loggerheads trying to fund 2026. With Democrats demanding spending that increases 10-year deficits by $1.5 trillion as their price for a four-week continuing resolution, a shutdown seems all but certain. At least this time a Republican administration will manage the shutdown in a way that minimizes harm to the nation. Democrats take the opposite approach, looking for ways to inflict as much pain as possible for political advantage.

Fortunately, this turmoil can be avoided permanently by passing the Eliminate Shutdowns Act. Anyone voting “no” is voting to continue budgetary chaos and should be held accountable by the American people.

S.2806 – Eliminate Shutdowns Act was introduced in the Senate on September 15th.

Stumbling Toward A Government Shutdown

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On Friday, Breitbart reported that the House of Representatives had passed the Continuing Resolution (CR) and passed it on to the Senate. The CR would keep the government funded until November 21. There are two bills proposed in the Senate to keep the government open–one by the Democrats and one by the Republicans. Both bills are expected to fail because 60 votes are needed to pass either one. Personally, I think the possibility of a shutdown depends on whether or not the Democrats think the media will join them in blaming the Republicans. If the Democrats believe that they will be blamed for the shutdown, there won’t be a shutdown.

The article reports:

Now the bill moves on to the Senate where it faces strong headwinds.

The Senate is expected to vote on two bills: first, a Democrat alternative to the CR that is a non-starter for Republican majorities in the House and the Senate as well as the Republican White House, followed by the House-passed CR. This two-step approach is designed to give appropriators more time to reach a bipartisan deal.

Both bills are likely to fail, with the Senate expected to recess afterward until September 29 — hours before the deadline of October 1.

The short-term CR expires November 21, using a tactic often employed by Congressional leaders to schedule must-pass votes before Thanksgiving or Christmas to encourage recalcitrant members to vote yes and return home for the holidays.

I have hope that someday Congress will get back to the budget process the law requires them to follow.

The Impact Of A Government Shutdown

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A government shutdown was avoided. A deal was reached at the last possible moment because no one wanted to be blamed for a shutdown. The brinkmanship got something down. Time will tell how good that something was.

On Friday, The Western Journal posted an article about government shutdowns and their impact.

The article reports:

One can hardly contain one’s astonishment. In fact, my own “shocked” expression might remain forever frozen.

Ready for this? The establishment media colludes with Democrats, and the federal government swindles Americans. Who knew?

Thursday on social media platform X, with the prospect of a government shutdown looming, independent investigative journalist and former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson shared what she called a “[q]uick story about govt. shutdowns and the theatrics behind them.”

Attkisson recalled that around 2013, she and CBS News colleagues searched in vain for a government shutdown’s “real life impact.”

“When we couldn’t find any, *that* should have been part of the story. Instead, we kept trying to create the appearance of an impact,” she wrote.

…“Anyway, the Ds were blaming Rs for the shutdown, so we were calling Ds and the Obama administration for ideas to report what was the real impact. Taking our cue, these officials fabricated impact that we could report,” she wrote.

The fabrication came in the form of cordoning off public monuments in Washington, D.C.

“We knew and even discussed in the newsroom that this made no sense. These monuments weren’t ‘manned’ to begin with,” she wrote.

Attkisson characterized this incident as simply the most memorable among multiple acts of shutdown-related theater and deceit.

The article notes:

First, the establishment media will stoop to any degree of dishonesty, provided it helps Democrats.

CBS’s own “60 Minutes,” for instance, got caught doctoring an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris in October during her failed presidential campaign.

Second, Democrats and their allies in the Republican establishment desperately want Americans to regard the federal government as essential. After all, the federal government functions as the mechanism by which the establishment plunders American citizens.

According to U.S. News & World Report, suburbs of Washington, D.C. accounted for five of the 10 wealthiest counties in America by median household income in 2023. Only a massive transfer of wealth to the nation’s capital can produce a statistic like that.

Hopefully, the times are changing.

Shutting It Down Isn’t Really Shutting It Down

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Right now the mainstream media and the Democrats (actually the same thing) are trying to scare Americans with the idea of a government shutdown. Somehow they fail to mention that in a government shutdown, only about 17% of the government actually shuts down. The rest remains open to provide Social Security checks, military pay, and other essential services.

On Friday, Mark Levin posted an article at The Daily Signal.

The article reports:

Hey, Republicans. The sky will not fall if there’s a government shutdown. The government was shut down six times during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Over 20 times since 1974. Yet, recent presidents have avoided it like the plague.

The nation survived, Reagan won massive landslides, and, in the end, the public didn’t give a damn despite all the media-Democratic Party hype at the time.

The bureaucrats wound up getting their money. Social Security checks and Medicare payments continued without a hitch. So did veterans’ benefits. The active military was unaffected.

…When you think of it, since the biggest entitlements are unaffected and they make up the overwhelming majority of government spending, it makes sense. And, by the way, no one, and I mean no one, will discuss reforming any of the big entitlement programs. Not even the self-anointed fiscal conservatives.

We are talking about a pittance in relative terms. Nonetheless, the Republicans need to take a stand somewhere. At least it’ll be a beginning. And they should explain to the people that the Democrats (and too many of their fellow Republicans) spend, borrow, and steal like pirates—which will bankrupt the country for their children and grandchildren; further drive up inflation, including the cost of food, clothing, and energy; destroy the value of their paychecks and pension checks; eventually collapse the government altogether—and that this drug-like spending addiction must be broken before it’s too late, which it already may be.

The Republicans shouldn’t act defensively or out of fear but boldly and proudly. They should speak up and speak to the people.

Government shutdowns (and the threat of government shutdowns) are a political strategy that needs to end. We have seen this play before.

Shut down the government if necessary, but please do not continue to spend American into oblivion.