Tag Archives: partial government shutdown

Sharing The Pain

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On March 19th, I posted an article about the Democrat plan for the partial government shutdown. The idea was to cause so much pain for the voters that they would put pressure on the Republicans to cave to the Democrats. In the process of doing this, they also exempted themselves from the pain. I am still  not convinced this was a wise move. Even if it was successful, they might win the battle and lose the war.  However, not everyone is willing to play along with their game.

On Tuesday, The New York Post reported:

Delta Air Lines is punishing Congress for failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The airline company has temporarily yanked its special congressional desk service to lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill until Congress finally funds the DHS, which has been in a partial shutdown since Feb. 28.

“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” the company said in a statement first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

…“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”

Delta’s perks to members of Congress included benefits such as airport escorts and red coat services. Its Capitol Desk reservation line is still open, but lawmakers will be “treated as any passenger based on their respective SkyMiles status” for the time being.

Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian delivered a fierce rebuke of Congress for allowing funding for DHS to lapse, which has resulted in Transportation Security Administration employees going without full pay for over a month.

Bastian called the situation “inexcusable” and railed against lawmakers for using TSA workers as “political chips.”

As everyone is aware, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees have been sent to airports to help keep the waiting lines moving. That is helping with the lines, but it also gives people a chance to see ICE as a positive force helping people. 

Rules For Thee And For Me

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On Friday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a law passed in the Senate that would exempt lawmakers from special treatment at airport security lines–lawmakers would have to wait in line just like everyone else.

The article reports:

The Senate passed a bill to end lawmakers’ special privileges to bypass airport security lines late Thursday night while security personnel continue to manage hours-long lines while working without pay through a partial government shutdown.

The End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act was introduced by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn and approved by unanimous consent because no senators were present on the floor to object to the legislation. The bill passed as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) shutdown prepared to enter its 35th day — tied for the second-longest in American history — with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers struggling to manage a surge in spring break travelers.

…“Maybe, just maybe, if Congress has to live under the same laws that everybody else does, it will motivate us to get our work done. In other words to fund the [DHS],” Cornyn said on the Senate floor Thursday night. “So no American, no air traveler will have to suffer the disruption and tribulations that many, many travelers are having to experience now. It’s not too much to expect that Congress will be subject to the rules as everybody else.”

…The legislation now awaits passage in the House, and then would go to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature. The TSA is an agency of the DHS.

I hope this law is passed in the House and signed into law in as short a time as possible!

The article concludes:

Air travel worker unions, airlines have called on Congress to resolve differences and restore funding as stress mounts on workers, and TSA specifically called on Democrats to stop withholding their votes to end the shutdown.

“The shutdown is having very real consequences, and hardworking federal aviation workers, the airline industry and our passengers are being used as a political football once again. This is simply unacceptable and un-American,” Airlines for America president and CEO Chris Sununu, a former Republican governor of New Hampshire, said in a statement.

Cornyn is currently locked in an extremely expensive runoff primary contest against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that President Donald Trump and Cornyn’s Senate counterpart, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have chosen to stay out of. Trump said he will make an endorsement soon, and Paxton said he will drop out of the race if the Senate passes the SAVE America Act. Soon after, Cornyn advocated to eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold despite defending the protective measure in 2022.

No Democrat who continues to vote for this shutdown should be re-elected!

This Is No Way To Treat Voters

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about the continuing partial shutdown of the government. This is a government shutdown brought about by petulant Democrats who have decided that they want to control how the Executive Branch administers border control and immigration enforcement. At the present time, Congress is not inconvenienced by the long lines at the airport because people who serve in Congress are immediately escorted to the front of the line. They don’t have to deal with the consequences of their actions. But it gets worse.

This was posted on X:

It should not be to goal of elected officials to make the people who elected them hurt!

Another X post included in the article:

The article concludes:

Whoever told the Democrats that this was a winning strategy doesn’t understand the American people. With the exception of the Leftist loon fringe, most of us do not approve of being used as political pawns, and we do not like it when the Democrats inflict pain on us for their gain.

More than that, after years of seeing illegal immigrants kill our citizens, increase crime in our cities, and flout American laws, we’re not going to look kindly on returning to the policies of the Biden years.

This will backfire on Democrats.

No Democrat who has supported this shutdown deserves your vote in November.

Now Is Not The Time To Leave DHS Unfunded

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On March 13th, The Daily Caller posted an article about one Democrat Senator who is now willing to vote with the Republicans to end the partial government shutdown. It only took a terrorist attack in her home state for her to change her mind.

The article reports:

Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin changed her tune on funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Friday after a Lebanese national attacked a Metro Detroit synagogue.

DHS identified the deceased suspect who attacked the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, as Ayman Mohamed Ghazali, a Lebanese native who became a U.S. citizen in 2016. Slotkin, who voted in favor of continuing the partial shutdown of DHS on Thursday, said during a press conference that DHS needs to be funded because it is an “essential” agency.

The article concludes:

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only member of his party to support the full-year appropriations bill for DHS.

Ghazali allegedly rammed his vehicle into the synagogue in West Bloomfield while several explosives were in the trunk. He then engaged in gunfire with the building’s security team, which caused him to die at the scene, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said Thursday. The vehicle caught fire after “something ignited” inside.

The partial shutdown has caused lengthy lines at airports during the spring break travel season, which prompted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to call on Democrats to end the shutdown. The partial shutdown marks the third time TSA employees have worked without pay in nearly six months.

We have had a number of violent ‘incidents’ in the past few weeks. I don’t know whether any of them would have been stopped by having a funded Department of Homeland Security, but I think it is necessary to admit that right now is a really good time to stop playing games and fund that department.