Althouse: "The Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would bring an immediate end to the partial government shutdown..."

January 22, 2019

"The Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would bring an immediate end to the partial government shutdown..."

"... one backed by President Trump that includes $5.7 billion for his border wall and another that would simply extend funding for shuttered agencies through Feb. 8. The plan, a compromise between Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, offers the first hint of a path out of the partial shutdown, which is now in its fifth week and has left 800,000 federal workers without pay. The two announced it Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor."

The NYT reports.

67 comments:

FIDO said...: So it's 'vote for the Wall' or 'vote for no wall'?

Why bother wasting time? We know who will vote for which.; 1/22/19, 3:47 PM
rhhardin said...: They want Trump to veto it.; 1/22/19, 3:48 PM
rcocean said...: The devil's in the details.

Unfortunately, Trump has followed McConnell's lead in practically everything.; 1/22/19, 3:49 PM
rcocean said...: If the WaPo and NYT aren't screaming about how racist/sexist/bigoted the bills are, that's a bad sign.; 1/22/19, 3:50 PM
stevew said...: I'm with FIDO, why two bills? Seems very kabuki like.; 1/22/19, 3:50 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: ...a compromise between Senator Mitch McConnell...

Did you mean a capitulation by Senator Mitch McConnell...?; 1/22/19, 3:50 PM
Lance said...: So it's 'vote for the Wall' or 'vote for no wall'?

To be pedantic, it's actually "vote for the wall" or "vote to temporarily fund the entire government for 2 1/2 weeks and then fight some more about the wall".; 1/22/19, 3:51 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: It's not that pigs can't fly, it's that they don't stay up for very long what with all the anti-aircraft artillery being thrown about by both sides.

If you pay really close attention in D.C. some evenings you can hear the squeals of the burning little piggies falling from the sky. Sometimes if you're really lucky you'll see one of them going down in flames like a little falling star.

You can always tell what's going on, just smell the bacon in the air.; 1/22/19, 3:53 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Yes, it is only temporary, but in this temporary bill, what are the Democrats offering to the Republicans?; 1/22/19, 3:53 PM
Tank said...: What will be different on Feb 8th?; 1/22/19, 3:53 PM
WisRich said...: What exactly is the "Compromise"?; 1/22/19, 3:55 PM
Tank said...: Is this to show which Rep Senators are Cucks?; 1/22/19, 3:55 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Trump should offer a compromise: Fund the government for a month, in exchange for funding for one specific section of the wall, the section that does the most good for ~$250 million.

A serious compromise, the most bang for the buck, re-open the government for a drop-in-the-bucket investment in the wall. If Dems accept, repeat each month. By the end of the year, you could get about half of your 5.7 billion, which I assume was always intended as a starting point in the negotiation, rather than a must-have number.; 1/22/19, 4:05 PM
iowan2 said...: Finally. Forcing a roll call vote, attaching names to policy. My thoughts from 2 weeks ago still holds. President Trump will veto any bill that does not provide the funding he wants. Govt stays closed. Both Houses of Congress must then get 2/3 majority to override the veto. Let the constitution prevail, and make the congress critters do their job. Pass the budget on a timely basis. Doing that takes the power back from a handfull of self appointed power elites.; 1/22/19, 4:12 PM
Known Unknown said...: I was hoping to get a RIF out of this shutdown.; 1/22/19, 4:12 PM
Lance said...: Why would Schumer agree to a temporary resolution? He claims Americans oppose the shutdown and want Congress and the President to reopen the entire government without funding any additional border protection. If that's the case, wouldn't he want to keep up pressure on the President and Congressional Republicans?; 1/22/19, 4:12 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: I sincerely hope the shutdown continues. There isn't enough fear yet. I'm fine with giving libertarians more ammunition for their argument, "What is all this stuff for? What does it do?" In fact, it isn't the libertarians at all, it's the federal employees themselves I want asking those questions.

They haven't looked into the abyss and seen nothing staring back at them yet. Until it's the employees themselves asking the question, "Why does my job exist?" this will just keep happening.

When they "don't see anything staring back at them" is when they quietly start saying give Trump his wall...$5 billion is worth moving on an getting our worthless jobs out from under the microscope.; 1/22/19, 4:14 PM
alanc709 said...: The compromise apparently is between the Republican cowards in the Senate caving now or caving later. Just once, I'd like to see the Republican leadership stand for something. I was almost proud of them during the Merrick Garland days.; 1/22/19, 4:15 PM
bagoh20 said...: I think Trump now has ample justification for building the wall by other means. He needs to open the government back up and we need the wall too. I suggest moving money from the Dept. of Education, which certainly shows no results from the billions spent there anyway. Send students to the border to learn masonry. They'll be better off in the long run.; 1/22/19, 4:17 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Absolutely no BS stopgap half-measures to temporarily continue the Kabuki until next month. Faaahk no! We don't want those Democrat party grifters back on the federal tit. We want the full wall, and a reduction in the federal government of 1 million bureaucrats.; 1/22/19, 4:17 PM
bagoh20 said...: The Republicans in the Senate are more or less place holders until a Democrat gets in to do what they do better.; 1/22/19, 4:18 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Thursday? That’s not even tomorrow.; 1/22/19, 4:19 PM
FIDO said...: I think Schumer is scared of a RIF; 1/22/19, 4:24 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Bagoh20, why does he need to "open the government back up"? I haven't noticed that it's shutdown, except for the Fake News sob stories about federal government employees starving to death but for the emergency soup kitchens and bread lines suddenly opening everywhere.
Trump is showing how utterly unnoticed is 1 million federal government employees not working, and how completely unnecessary they are. This federal government should be starved to death, and cleansed of its corrupt Democrat party workforce.; 1/22/19, 4:25 PM
iowan2 said...: RIF?; 1/22/19, 4:25 PM
Yancey Ward said...: This might be the first step of the Republicans stabbing Trump in the back. The leadership doesn't want border security- they never did. I suspect that 1/3 or more of the Republicans in Congress have family- wives, husbands, children, and grandchildren who work in the shuttered offices, or have incomes dependent on the government being fully open. If I were in Trump's shoes, I would veto that temporary bill the instant it hit my desk, and I would let McConnell know that bill is dead on arrival.; 1/22/19, 4:25 PM
iowan2 said...: Reduction of Force. got it; 1/22/19, 4:27 PM
FIDO said...: That is a tweet that would get results: Trump: I have asked all my department heads on how to cut costs on this government shut down and what non-essential personnel can be cut with lists of names, due at the end of the month.

Meanwhile I await, yet again, Schumer and Pelosi to join me at the negotiating table to outline THEIR desires besides my surrendering to their disdain for the rule of law.; 1/22/19, 4:27 PM
mccullough said...: Trump might have other levers to pull. He’s adjustable. He really should make Mexico build it on their side. He has plenty of levers with Mexico.; 1/22/19, 4:36 PM
Dude1394 said...: Wonderful. Now we get to see the spineless republicans in their natural element.; 1/22/19, 4:36 PM
Dude1394 said...: Pelosi and Schumer state “Not one penny for the border wall”. This just kicks the fan down the road. Our “elite” government rules really, truly suck. We shouldnt ever have anyone in office who hasn’t made a payroll.; 1/22/19, 4:39 PM
mccullough said...: The quickest way to shutdown the government is not to pay taxes. Enough people will figure this out just like the illegals figured out the US really can’t enforce its borders.; 1/22/19, 4:41 PM
bagoh20 said...: Michael Fitzgerald said...
"Bagoh20, why does he need to "open the government back up"?

I'm just sayin that is the justification for doing it via executive power now. Before he just wanted to get his wall, but now, according to the Dems, he has a "crisis" to fix, so he fixes it... his way.; 1/22/19, 4:46 PM
bagoh20 said...: You would think Mexico would want to keep its people, but apparently the racist bastards don't like Mexicans.; 1/22/19, 4:48 PM
mccullough said...: Mexico is a third world country. It was the colony of a weak empire.

The US and Canada were mostly British colonies. The Brits were better empire builders than Spain. It’s why Mexico and Central and South America are mostly shitholes.; 1/22/19, 4:51 PM
MadisonMan said...: There are plenty of government workers who are working without pay who deserve to be paid, who deserve not to be held hostage by inept politicians in DC.

Why should NWS forecasters who issue timely tornado warnings (on 19 January, for example, in the Deep South), or winter storm warnings (here! Hooray?), or keep the forecast models running, be doing this with the added stress of no paycheck?

(For those who say "Oh, I'll just use the UKMO or ECMWF or Canadian models, let me suggest you compare all the model runs for the big storm about to hit Madison; and those models aren't going to help with severe weather warnings); 1/22/19, 4:54 PM
n.n said...: Democrats are holding civil rights and government workers hostage.; 1/22/19, 4:56 PM
mockturtle said...: No way are the Dems--or even many Republicans--going to vote for the wall when they can reopen the government 'temporarily'. What idiocy! Worse than Thersa May's offer for Brexit.; 1/22/19, 5:01 PM
mockturtle said...: Bagoh says: You would think Mexico would want to keep its people, but apparently the racist bastards don't like Mexicans.

No, they like their Mexicans on our side of the border sending remittances back to Mexico.; 1/22/19, 5:03 PM
Wince said...: Correct me if I'm wrong here:

Trump should invoke emergency powers to cross-fund the non-wall national security programs of the government he wants: ICE, TSA, Border Patrol, etc.

Thus, leaving unfunded more of the stuff the Democrats want.

Seems to me Trump can wait-out a start on the wall better than the Democrats can the other stuff.; 1/22/19, 5:11 PM
mccullough said...: If they aren’t paying you to work then quit and join the private sector. Of course in the private sector you have to compete against illegal aliens.

Trump should offer to re-open the government if Dems all Fire their staff and replace them with illegals.

He should be having more fun with this.; 1/22/19, 5:15 PM
Birkel said...: MadisonMan,
That sounds like a service people would pay for.
Problem solved.
Next?; 1/22/19, 5:25 PM
Anchovy1214 said...: Don't build the wall and let illegal immigrants replace the 800,000 federal workers with cheap labor.; 1/22/19, 5:30 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/22/19, 5:32 PM
MadisonMan said...: Birkel, you don't think a warning of a coming tornado falls under the aegis of the Federal Government? Something like providing for a common defense?; 1/22/19, 5:33 PM
n.n said...: join the private sector

Undercover civil employee?

Of course in the private sector you have to compete against illegal aliens.

Illegal aliens, immigration reform, and outsourcing.; 1/22/19, 5:34 PM
Leland said...: Known Unknown said...
I was hoping to get a RIF out of this shutdown.
1/22/19, 4:12 PM

Lance said...
Why would Schumer agree to a temporary resolution?

See above. By breaking the shutdown, even temporarily, it prevents Trump from exercising additional authorities from such a long, drawn out, shutdown.; 1/22/19, 5:41 PM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
Birkel, you don't think a warning of a coming tornado falls under the aegis of the Federal Government? Something like providing for a common defense?"

Warning of coming tornadoes is a local function MM. The siren does off. You don't need to pay billions for the big picture.; 1/22/19, 5:45 PM
Curious George said...: By the way, we are months away from tornado season. We all will take our chances on a January tornado. Sorry if this effects your "rice bowl", get honest work.; 1/22/19, 5:47 PM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
There are plenty of government workers who are working without pay who deserve to be paid, who deserve not to be held hostage by inept politicians in DC."

Ok, let's pay them both. Trump can take it out of his hamberder pay.; 1/22/19, 5:50 PM
JackWayne said...: This is happening because the Dems and Ryanos are losing a useful weapon - the Kabuki Theatre over a government shutdown. Trump has shown it’s a joke to be concerned about a shutdown. The Ruling Class doesn’t like that at all. Hence the movement. Trump will do us all a big favor to keep it going for a year. And that anonymous post in the Daily Caller saying that the shutdown could lead to a reduction in force was a huge shot across the bow; 1/22/19, 7:02 PM
Fen said...: Nope. The Dems were given a fair and civil offer.

They chose to disrespect the bartender.

(click!)

https://youtu.be/gmHDHwb4vQU

Trump: "Now yous can't leave"; 1/22/19, 7:21 PM
Seeing Red said...: There are plenty of government workers who are working without pay who deserve to be paid, who deserve not to be held hostage by inept politicians in DC.

They’re going to get paid.

Consider it a job hazard.

And when the federal minimum wage increase goes thru, they’ll get a raise.; 1/22/19, 7:24 PM
iowan2 said...: Schummer allowing the vote with wall funding is the Dems cracking. The shutdown is a political nightmare. That would matter if President Trump were a politician. Maybe the Dems are starting to sense that President Trump does not respond to Political incentives. Sense, but still not aware.; 1/22/19, 7:33 PM
Fen said...: "There are plenty of government workers who are working without pay who deserve to be paid, who deserve not to be held hostage by inept politicians in DC."

Bull.

1) its a PARTIAL shutdown. The wife works Department of Labor. They are fully funded. They are all working with pay. And they arent the only Department.

2) Fed workers have ALWAYS gotten their back pay. And the ones at home are literally getting a 4 week paid vacation.

3) If you choose to live below sea level in New Orleans but don't have a plan for Hurricsn season then you deserve no sympathy. EVERY year EVERY Federal Agency prepares a "Plan B" for the assumed shutdown. If you are too incompetent to get the message and put some money aside for the inevitable shutdown then maybe you should be let go

4) With the partial shutdown NOT resulting in the Apocalypse, the wotking Feds should be grateful they are deemed "essential" because everyone is now wondering why not just dump the non-essential. Be thankful you have a job! The private sector would have replaced you with bots by now.; 1/22/19, 7:35 PM
Fen said...: Oh the pooor federal employees.

Talk to the 1 in 3 migrant women getting raped on their way up from Honduras.; 1/22/19, 7:37 PM
Hagar said...: It is Pelosi who is saying Trump's wall is not negotiable.

Schumer, by going along with Cocaine Mitch, says yeah, well, perhaps we can negotiate something.
And Jim Clyburn just chimed in to say that this is how negotiations start in politics.
And Steny Hoyer made it clear days ago that he was not with his leader.

So Pelosi is now out there by herself.; 1/22/19, 7:44 PM
Fen said...: Now that you mention it... Since corruption of the Federal Government goes all the way up to DOJ and FBI, and we need to drain the Deep State swamp of an unelected unaccountable bureaucratic administrative state...

Term limits for all federal employees.

10 years max.; 1/22/19, 7:49 PM
JML said...: FFE here. (Furloughed Federal Employee.) First I'll say: Build the wall. Second: I am eligible to retire in eight days, so I figure I can be more free in what I say.

Known Unknown said...
I was hoping to get a RIF out of this shutdown.

There are a lot of moving parts and process to go thru before a RIF can happen. That said, if anyone can make it happen, it is Trump. Below is a story I heard. Background. In most, if not all Fed Agencies (DoD included, Acquisition (AQM) employees report to an AQM Professional. This makes sense - if your boss is your customer, that presents a huge conflict of interest when the boss wants the AQM person to buy something in a way that is against the Federal Acquisition Regulations. And in the Forest Service in many Regions, AQM folks work for their customer. Until a very short time ago, I worked for a Forest Supervisor - a customer. Key Point: USDA is the Parent Agency of the Forest Service.

The story is this: SecAg Sunny Perdue and his senior staff was being briefed by the FS Director of AQM regarding a major contract that went south. At the end of it, Sonny turned to his Director, Office of Procurement & Property Management and asked, "What are you going to do to fix this?" His Director said, " Nothing. FS AQM reports to the Forest Service Chief, not me. I can't do a thing." Sonny glares at the FS Chief, then the FS AQM Director, then turns back to his Director and says, "Then fix that first."

A few months later, FS AQM reports to USDA, then a few months after that, I report to an AQM Regional Director who reports to the FS AQM Director. It is starting to get interesting. I'm looking forward to it.; 1/22/19, 7:54 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/22/19, 8:03 PM
mockturtle said...: I think most of the Border Patrol here [who are currently working w/o pay] support Trump and the wall. But I pray the shutdown will be over soon. They currently have no medical insurance!; 1/22/19, 10:00 PM
mockturtle said...: So Pelosi is now out there by herself.

Why did they vote for her again? Would their arms get broken if they didn't?; 1/22/19, 10:02 PM
FIDO said...: She has the Golden Purse; 1/22/19, 10:12 PM
Fen said...: "But I pray the shutdown will be over soon. They currently have no medical insurance"

Agreed. I also pray that no more Americans are robbed, raped, or murdered by foreign invaders while we wait for our bodders to secured.

I know you know. I'm just reminding everyone.

Because I'm a sanctimonious asshole ;); 1/23/19, 12:02 AM
JML said...: Mockturtle, most, if not all furloughed employees have medical insurance. There is no loss of benefits. That may change at 6 months, but for now, it is not an issue. That said, build the wall. And yes, I'm ready to get back to work full time. (I am excepted, on call, so I have to do some duties.); 1/23/19, 12:19 AM
FIDO said...: Once again, for the Democrats to know: Trump asked for one HALF A DAY of Federal Spending for his Wall and that is what all this pain is over.

Now, yes, I get the 'Not one cent for tribute' but it isn't tribute and we have spent money on walls and fences before. We have MILES of the stuff.

So that 'principle' doesn't hunt. If the only 'principle' is 'stop Trump from getting anything', than you care more about hurting our institutions than the nation. See Chuck.; 1/23/19, 12:34 AM
RobinGoodfellow said...: Blogger Ignorance is Bliss said...
Trump should offer a compromise: Fund the government for a month, in exchange for funding for one specific section of the wall, the section that does the most good for ~$250 million.

Ignorance, you magnificent bastard, that’s brilliant!; 1/23/19, 10:32 AM