In my post from yesterday when the GOP and the Dems were in talks for the spending bill to avoid a government shutdown I asked the question….

“This is a problem….do they show backbone and fight the new spending bill which they will be accused of causing a government shutdown or do they support and betray a lot of what they say the are for?”

Last not my question was answered and answered predictably….

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that he’ll vote to advance the Republican funding bill and bring enough Democrats with him to avert a government shutdown. “For sure the Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer said, per the Washington Post. Democrats have called the bill a power grab by President Trump and Republicans. “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take … much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.” He added, “I will vote to keep the government open.”

The only other Senate Democrat so far to clearly state he’ll back the GOP bill is Sen. John Fetterman. But Schumer’s decision will give political cover to other Democrats, the Hill reports. He said that there weren’t enough votes in his caucus to pass the measure as of Wednesday but that many members were undecided. Schumer announced his switch during Democratic luncheon, shocking many of his senators, per the New York Times. Democrats in the Senate, House, and elsewhere, as well as party activists, have been pushing hard for Schumer’s caucus to block the bill and defy Trump.

But there are fears among Democrats that a government shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk an opening to make greater cuts to the government, by decreeing which employees are essential and must work through a shutdown and which are nonessential. Senate Democrats have been wrestling with which option is worse. “For Donald Trump,” Schumer told the group, per the AP, “a shutdown would be a gift.” The procedural vote to which Schumer committed is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The passage is not set in stone….but the leadership of the Dems proved my point ….time for a change.

In answer to ,y and others criticisms Schumer has taking to pen and paper….

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised enough Democratic support to pass the Republican funding bill that will avoid a government shutdown, despite admitting the bill is “terrible.” In a guest essay at the New York Times, he explains himself while calling President Trump a “nihilist” who’s “taken a blowtorch to our country” and now “wants full control over government spending.” Though the Republican bill is “deeply partisan” and, yes, “terrible,” it is the lesser of two evils, Schumer writes, arguing a government shutdown would give Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk—who is reportedly very much in favor of a shutdown—”permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”

The administration “would have wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential” and “congressional Republicans could weaponize their majorities … to reopen only their favored departments and agencies while leaving other vital services that they don’t like to languish,” writes the New York Democrat. In other words, fighting the six-month government funding bill would be playing into Republicans’ hands. In backing the bill to avoid a shutdown, Democrats can at least avoid piling more suffering for “the most vulnerable Americans, those who rely on federal programs to feed their families, get medical care and stay financially afloat.”

But Schumer’s arguments are unlikely to sway some Senate Democrats, particularly those in the party’s liberal and progressive wings, who Schumer has ironically worked hard to appease over the last five years, per Politico. Elizabeth Warren said the bill, with $12 billion in cuts to non-defense programs, offers Trump and Musk “a blank check to spend your taxpayer money however they want,” while Bernie Sanders said it would “literally take food out of the mouths of hungry children, take healthcare away from seniors, and give a huge tax break to the wealthiest people on the planet,” per the Hill. One senator anonymously tells the outlet, “I think people will see this as a massive sellout to an authoritarian president. You don’t stop a bully by handing over all of your lunch money.”

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”