Shutdown

[Isgrimnur]

Note the quote for context. Conservative groups, not Republican Congresspeople.

[pr0ner]

The House passed the spending bill.

On to the Senate, now.

[El Guapo]

My understanding is that any one senator can slow it down so as to basically force a partial / temporary shutdown.

[ImLawBoy]

My understanding is that Rand Paul can slow it down so as to basically force a partial / temporary shutdown.

Mortoned.

[El Guapo]

My understanding is that Rand Paul can slow it down so as to basically force a partial / temporary shutdown.

Mortoned.

Yeah, I almost wrote "any one Senator (aka Rand Paul)".

[Moliere]

[tjg_marantz]

And passed in Senate.

[Kraken]

On the bright side, it contains generous increases for all of the sciences except the EPA, which is flat-funded. The Trump budget would have cut science drastically across the board with special hatred for the EPA. I'm glad that Congress can still trade horses when it comes to spending increases. I wish they could do the same for raising revenue to pay for it. Hello, trillion-dollar deficits.

NASA numbers are rosy. The article is a couple of days old but I think the numbers held.

[malchior]

The WH had said they'd be signing the spending bill but now Trump has announced he may veto it. He is complaining about DACA -- for real -- and the border wall. His party runs the whole thing so this would be magnificent incompetence. What a fucking moron for waiting to threaten a veto until *after* it was done.

[Octavious]

I hope he does veto it. It will just be more ammo for the midterms. What a f'n idiot.

[pr0ner]

A key part of a WaPo article about this:

Lawmakers have left town for a two-week recess, some of them on overseas trips and with no plans to return to Washington. The House passed the bill midday Thursday, and the Senate cleared the measure shortly after midnight.

Oy. My agency is safe, but oy, that looks bad.

[malchior]

As an aside...talk about petty. Possible shutdown of the government due to naming of a monument. Only the *best* elder statesmen.

For several hours Thursday night, a senator’s disdain for a deceased political rival threatened to spark a government shutdown.

According to two congressional aides familiar with the dispute, Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) demanded that a provision renaming the White Clouds Wilderness in central Idaho after former four-term governor Cecil D. Andrus, who died last year, be removed from a fast-moving omnibus appropriations bill.

[Isgrimnur]

And here I was worried when I posted the news in the Shutdown thread that I might be overselling it.

[El Guapo]

A key part of a WaPo article about this:

Lawmakers have left town for a two-week recess, some of them on overseas trips and with no plans to return to Washington. The House passed the bill midday Thursday, and the Senate cleared the measure shortly after midnight.

Oy. My agency is safe, but oy, that looks bad.

It would be bad for the country and at least a hassle for me as a government employee, but man I really kind of hope that he does. What an f'ing mess that would be for the GOP. Good luck messaging that shutdown.

[Chaz]

A key part of a WaPo article about this:

Lawmakers have left town for a two-week recess, some of them on overseas trips and with no plans to return to Washington. The House passed the bill midday Thursday, and the Senate cleared the measure shortly after midnight.

Oy. My agency is safe, but oy, that looks bad.

It would be bad for the country and at least a hassle for me as a government employee, but man I really kind of hope that he does. What an f'ing mess that would be for the GOP. Good luck messaging that shutdown.

The message will be that it's the Dems' fault for not giving him a deal on DACA, which he really honest wants to fix, and he cares SO MUCH about the dreamers that he had to veto until they bring him a deal.

His followers will buy this reasoning completely. The GOP will quietly go along.

[El Guapo]

A key part of a WaPo article about this:

Lawmakers have left town for a two-week recess, some of them on overseas trips and with no plans to return to Washington. The House passed the bill midday Thursday, and the Senate cleared the measure shortly after midnight.

Oy. My agency is safe, but oy, that looks bad.

It would be bad for the country and at least a hassle for me as a government employee, but man I really kind of hope that he does. What an f'ing mess that would be for the GOP. Good luck messaging that shutdown.

The message will be that it's the Dems' fault for not giving him a deal on DACA, which he really honest wants to fix, and he cares SO MUCH about the dreamers that he had to veto until they bring him a deal.

His followers will buy this reasoning completely. The GOP will quietly go along.

I get that would be the pitch, but it was passed by GOP majorities in a GOP Congress. It's not really possible to justify the veto without simultaneously blaming the congressional GOP for passing it. And even if the base goes along, you're going to lose a lot of the "soft GOP" voters.

[LordMortis]

It's not really possible to justify the veto without simultaneously blaming the congressional GOP for passing it.

Oh, you were serious?

[Zaxxon]

It's not really possible to justify the veto without simultaneously blaming the congressional GOP for passing it.

Oh, you were serious?

That was my reaction. It's adorable that folks think there's something Trump/the GOP can't sell to their base.

[Remus West]

While there is a hard core center to his base the edges wear a little thinner all the time. Even if it only costs him a single vote in each state every time he does something stupid by the time November gets here he will be down to just the Deporables and have lost the angry white portion of his base.

[El Guapo]

It's not really possible to justify the veto without simultaneously blaming the congressional GOP for passing it.

Oh, you were serious?

That was my reaction. It's adorable that folks think there's something Trump/the GOP can't sell to their base.

No, I mean, I'm not doubting their shamelessness. It's just that in order to justify the veto, you are necessarily saying that the bill is bad (that it should not become law), right? That in turn is necessarily blaming those who passed the law. I'm sure that they'll come up with some bullshit to blame the Democrats for it (they hypnotized us into voting for the bill!), but that story can't be simple - it's not like the shutdown earlier this year, where the Democrats stopped the bill by filibustering. It has to be some complicated procedural excuse that no one's going to remember. The headlines would be "government shuts down after Trump vetoes budget bill".

Point is that it's a big unnecessary mess, and prone to leading to lots of GOP infighting. Also each time Trump creates a big headache for GOP leadership it gives them another reason to pause before bailing him out on Mueller when the time comes. And to fix the mess, they would need some democratic votes, which would give the democrats a fair amount of leverage over whatever the 'fix' would be.

[El Guapo]

While there is a hard core center to his base the edges wear a little thinner all the time. Even if it only costs him a single vote in each state every time he does something stupid by the time November gets here he will be down to just the Deporables and have lost the angry white portion of his base.

Yeah, that's the other thing. They can hold 100% of the GOP base, but if that's all they have they'll lose.

[El Guapo]

My guess is that he's going to sign it, though.

[Kraken]

Yeah, this feels like a routine Trump tantrum to me -- little man acting tough.

[Skinypupy]

My guess is that he's going to sign it, though.

He goddamn well better.

[Octavious]

He will not sign it. He loves to create things about him. This will keep him entertained for weeks.

[El Guapo]

Can Fox & Friends put together an emergency special on how great the budget bill is, and how amazing it is that Trump was able to get the bill put together?

[El Guapo]

Yeah, this feels like a routine Trump tantrum to me -- little man acting tough.

One other cynical explanation would be that he wants to get the democratic base mad at the democrats for there being no DACA fix in here. Though I'm skeptical of those three dimensional chess type arguments.

[Zaxxon]

No, I mean, I'm not doubting their shamelessness. It's just that in order to justify the veto, you are necessarily saying that...

There you go with logic again. Any--any--logical reading of the current situation leads one to conclude that Donald Trump is not fit to be President, and that the GOP should be voted out en masse. Clearly that's not how the electorate works in America today.

I look forward to being proven wrong in November, but am not holding my breath. I was with you until November of 2016.

[El Guapo]

No, I mean, I'm not doubting their shamelessness. It's just that in order to justify the veto, you are necessarily saying that...

There you go with logic again. Any--any--logical reading of the current situation leads one to conclude that Donald Trump is not fit to be President, and that the GOP should be voted out en masse. Clearly that's not how the electorate works in America today.

I look forward to being proven wrong in November, but am not holding my breath. I was with you until November of 2016.

I wonder why educated voters are abandoning the GOP in droves.

[msteelers]

He will sign it. Remember, Trump thinks he’s on the highest rated reality tv show of all time. He recognized that this weeks episode ran short, and he is trying to inject some drama to keep viewers tuned in until 10 o’clock.

[pr0ner]

Looks like we'll find out today in the 1 PM hour what's going to happen.

[Smoove_B]

Wow. I didn't think he'd say anything. I assumed he'd be packing for his weekend trip to Florida, though that's not happening until later this evening so I guess anything is possible!

[pr0ner]

Looks like he's signing it. Just wanted to make a big spectacle out of it all, as usual.

[Moliere]

Looks like he's signing it. Just wanted to make a big spectacle out of it all, as usual.

I know. Because no previous President made a big deal about signing legislation. Stupid Trump. Always making a spectacle of being President.

[Smoove_B]

Looks like he's signing it. Just wanted to make a big spectacle out of it all, as usual.

To clarify he IS the spectacle. Also, he's weak on immigration. Sad.

[pr0ner]

Looks like he's signing it. Just wanted to make a big spectacle out of it all, as usual.

I know. Because no previous President made a big deal about signing legislation. Stupid Trump. Always making a spectacle of being President.

Can you point to a previous President who said he was going to veto a spending bill then made a big deal out of signing it just a few hours later?

[Octavious]

Ah damn I'm usually pretty good at predicting what captain asshat will do. Must be having an off day.

[Isgrimnur]

[Chaz]

According to the speech he just gave, this bill consists of a bunch of military funding, immigration enforcement, way too little funding for the badly needed wall, and a bunch of wasted spending on things the democrats wanted, but that he had to take because the system is broken. He called for an end to the filibuster and for him to have a line item veto for every government spending bill. He also again claimed that the GOP is 100% with DACA recipients, and the Dems are all against them, and that he wanted to do something on DACA, but as you know, DACA is tied to the $25 billion in wall spending, so he couldn't do anything.

I need a goddamn drink after watching that.

[Isgrimnur]

Your sacrifice is appreciated.