Saturday, April 29th, is day 100 for trump. I'll go on record as seeing this first 100 day crap as completely arbitrary. Its like looking at a magazine that has as a headline, '432 ways to please your partner'. Where do they get those numbers, anyway. I could care less if it's his first day, his first 52 days or his first 1,000 days. Ooooops, I do care if it's his first 1,000 days, because I expect his crappy ass to be out of office by then and relegated to the dung heap of history.
Here is something that I would like to see on this magical arbitrary day; I'd like to see the federal government shut down. A nice defeat for trump in some way is what I'm aiming for.
Although the fiscal year starts on October 1st, for the federal government, many federal agencies run out of money to operate on April 28th. So what is happening here amounts to a referendum on trump's proposed budget. Even if it remains as is and passes through the House, there is no way in hell it would move through the Senate. The story is a familiar one. The senate requires a super majority of 60 votes for passage, which means six democratic senators need to vote for whatever budget comes their way.
If Senator Schumer does not like what he sees, he will lead a filibuster on the bill until it reads satisfactorily. I sincerely believe that McConnell does not have the balls to use the so called nuclear option a second time within a month and also to set up a precedent for the future with reference to either party having the ability to filibuster an appropriations bill.
Last week, during the Congressional recess, Chuck Schumer told reporters, “our Republican colleagues know that since they control the House, the Senate, and the White House that a shutdown would fall on their shoulders, and they don’t want it.” Ya think??1?! Schumer continued, by saying that “we want to make sure it’s a good budget that meets our principles, but so far, so good.”
For everyone who thought that the current loyal opposition (the Democrats) had no power to wield, think again. The following items will not have any place in this appropriations bill:
- $1.4 billion for trump's wall, not a penny
- the $18 billion in cuts to domestic programs to offset the increase in military spending that trump wants
Let's think this through a little more. Let's say that the House does move a bill to the Senate. Let's say that the bill is in a position that Democrats in the Senate will pass it on to trump. Game over! trump either signs it and therefore does not fund his initiatives or he doesn't sign it and the government shuts down. Of course, I'd prefer the first scenario, but I'll except the second one as well. I will be concerned for all of the federal employees that will suffer if our government shuts down. I will be concerned for all of the citizens in our country that will suffer from the services they need, but will not be available. But.......I'll know that this is what has to happen in order for these agencies to retain all of their employees and assist the citizenry of our country.
Something of great concern to me is public broadcasting. trump is looking to remove all funding for public broadcasting. In a previous post, I pointed out that public broadcasting costs each tax payer $1.85 per year......$1.85! Removing this important service from the budget amounts to an attempt to silence truthful reporting and quality family programming. This cannot be allowed to happen. Of course, science and arts must retain their funding as well.
As usual, I have made my phone calls to my representatives and to the leaders of both houses. Also as usual, I am providing links to look up contact information of representatives in both houses. Please take a few moments to find your Congressperson's phone number and call them. Calling your state's senators and the leaders of both houses will also keep the pressure on Congress to know what we expect this week's results to be. Back to work for Congress and back to work for us.
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/how-trumps-first-100-days-could-end-in-a-government-shutdown/523434/
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