Saturday, January 20, 2018

Shutdown

Via the Washington Post:

The federal government shut down for the first time in more than four years Friday after senators rejected a temporary spending patch and bipartisan efforts to find an alternative fell short as a midnight deadline came and went.

Republican and Democratic leaders both said they would continue to talk, raising the possibility of a solution over the weekend. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Friday that the conflict has a “really good chance” of being resolved before government offices open Monday, suggesting that a shutdown’s impacts could be limited.

But the White House drew a hard line immediately after midnight, saying they would not negotiate over a central issue — immigration — until government funding is restored.

“We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators. When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform.”

It seems pretty ironic to blame this on the Democrats since the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the White House.  And why should the Democrats negotiate with Trump?  After all, the policy has been pretty simple all along: we don’t negotiate with terrorists.

The more the Trump folks try to pin this on the Democrats, the more you know that they know this shit is on them.

So as of now, Saturday, January 20 — the first anniversary of the Trump regime — a lot of people who work in the government are furloughed.  That means sent home without getting paid for the time off.  But it also trickles down to private contractors who get paid for working for the government; everyone from the folks who provide food service to the various departments to the military contractors who are providing material for the Department of Defense.

Stay tuned.

3 barks and woofs on “Shutdown

  1. Not to worry. Those who get furloughed will get back pay when things return to what is known as normal. This hissy fit is getting so habitual there’s actually a protocol for how to handle it. Make you feel better?

    • Oh, and by the way — it’s sort of pathetic that we have to brag that it’s been four years since the Republicans shut down the government.

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