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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018.U.S. gov't shutdown begins as spending bill fails in Senate
By Richard Cowan, Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker WASHINGTON©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Laguna
Still have mixed feelings about the Dems insisting on DACA in this particular bill, but I understand their logic: they've already compromised plenty and are sure the Repubs will not fold on the issue unless their feet are held over a fire sufficiently hot. My guess is, with some face-saving measures, the GOP will cave over the weekend.
katsu78
It takes a special breed of incompetence to control all three branches of government and yet be unable to pass a budget.
Madverts
Wake me up in November.
The reckless Republican party is insane. It makes perfect sense that a crank like Donald Trump is their leader.
meija
As an outsider looking in, I'm not sure if I completely understand what has happened. I distinctly remember seeing President Trump on TV in a meeting saying he'll sign whatever the two parties agree on, and then he rejected the bipartisan bill not once but twice. On top of that, the Republicans control the house, senate and presidency, so all they have to do is get their own party to vote for a bill and it's clear sailing... yet we're here at a government shutdown and it's ALL the Democrat's fault..? Really?
Laguna
Trump's demands were:
protections for Dreamers;
funding for a border wall;
restrictions on immigration by family members of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents;
elimination of a visa program which increases the diversity of the immigrant population.Democrats agreed. Then came Trump's“sh!thole” comment, and he announced there would be no deal.
Basically, Trump is an albatross around the GOP's neck, making contradictory demands at erratic intervals (likely based on misunderstanding of anyway faulty reporting on cable). Word is he's ceded any pretense of leadership on this issue to Congress, the vast majority of which wish he would just shut up.
CrazyJoe
Even if the Senate could pass a bill by a simple majority of 50 votes (plus the vote of the Vice-President), they could not pass the bill because there are a handful of Republican Senators opposed to the extension and the failure to address the dreamers. Clearly the Republicans are unable to govern.
The GOP "controls" the White House, both houses of Congress, most state houses and state legislatures, and a right-leaning Supreme Court and still they cannot fund the government which "in theory" serves the American people?
And they blame the Democrats?
375sensei
As an outsider looking in, I must say I completely agree with “meija”. The logic of blaming a party (the Democrats) that does not have control of the House, Senate and Presidency for the shutdown just sounds completely ludicrous. The Republicans should be looking at themselves and the actions of their leader for the current situation they find themselves in.
lostrune2
The last US fed government shutdown was in 2013 under the Obama admin with Democrat-led Senate and Republican-led House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States#List_of_federal_shutdowns
FullM3taL
CHIP has widespread popularity and as a standalone bill would pass 100-0 in the senate.
DACA has 70% popularity (give or take) in the whole country.
The Republicans could have brought a bill for these two issues at any time during the past 2-3 months and it would have sailed through.
Instead, they decided to play with the life of children and the Dreamers, and sat twiddling their thumbs for those 2-3 months. Then they attach the DACA and CHIP issue to a deeply unpopular budget and try to force it through. And when the Democrats say no to the budget, the Republicans are saying the Dems don't care for children's health and playing with their lives. I am sorry, but you don't get to play the savior of children's health when you sat twiddling your thumbs for the past few months when you could have actually dealt with that particular issue.
This is beyond cynical. It is sad that these men are playing partisan politics with issues of such importance.
And the worst part is that the Republican base will buy this hook, line and sinker. Because they just want to blame the "liberals".
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Strangerland
But the wall!!
kabukideath
The dreamers are pawns in a chess match. This is about November 2018.
Laguna
FullM3taL - good post, and that's not to mention sequestration, which requires that non-offsetting expenditure changes in either military or domestic expenses be matched by the other. GOP eagerness to boost the Pentagon while cutting other spending violates this agreement. I don't see how it's legally possible.
SuperLib
Well let's not forget that it was Trump who created the DACA crisis out of thin air, and now it's a stumbling block to the budget. Brilliant move.
And as FullMetal said, the CHIP issue was a slam dunk that the GOP never got around to addressing, putting that crisis directly on their shoulders as well.
Oh, and that God forsaken wall, another Trump manufactured hurdle in the process.
Talk about bad leadership. As someone keeps reminding us....all 3 branches of government and over 1,000 legislative seats....and now no government.
Tommy Jones
Wait until the con posters started mouthing off about how this is the Dems fault. Of course, those posters will overlook that 5 republicans voted against the bill. Had those 5 voted for the bill, the bill would have passed with the 5 democrats who voted for it. This means the republicans are at fault.
The con posters will also mouth off about Dems harming national security even though:
"In a shutdown, "essential" employees who deal with public safety and national security would keep working."
This means that neither the military or border patrol will be adversely affected. Kuddos!
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
And before the pro-Trump jump in, let's not forget Schumer even offered wall funding AND the full military funding requested in exchange for DACA protection.
They seemed to agree, until they didn't. Hardly the Dem's fault.
bjohnson23
No pity, the Dreamers need to go thru the process like every other immigrant, the legal way, no special privileges deport them out of the US. Put in the paperwork and do legally, as they do in Japan or get deported. Shutting the government down is good, this way they can clean up and find out once and for all see how much the Obama administration destroyed the US by not passing a 5 yr budget during the last 8 yrs in,office...That is not way to run a government year after year...Shut it down, shrink the non-essentials or out source them out. Pass a 5 yr budget once and for all.
Blacklabel
Why can libs do math? It would not have passed with all Repubs and 5 Dems.
Blacklabel
Yeah schumer conveniently left out the details of what he offered concerning the wall and the military. also didn’t mention what was on his new list of demands that he showed up with. His statement is truthful even if he offered just $1 so obviously what he offered was not enough to get what he wanted in return.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
Less whining and more deal-making.
Same goes for Republicans. Less whining and more deal-making.
Blacklabel
More truthful statements. Does 51+5=60 in liberal math?
Dems the ones who want special treatment for illegals aliens. Repubs don’t need a deal on that. Enjoy your schumer shutdown
bones
I think it's time for a third party!Clearly neither party is capable of doing anything that actually benefits the country they claim to serve.
Tommy Jones
My math was incorrect.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
Oh, I will :)
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/19/16910380/poll-americans-blame-republicans-for-shutdown
What kind of inept leadership can have both houses AND the whitehouse and still can't get a deal?The GOP dogs finally caught their tail and have no idea what to do with it. Hilarious!
Madverts
Republicans don't do arithmetic.
Massive tax cuts always solve ballooning deficits. Fzzzt, fzzzzt......welcome to Republiworld where the insane party have their insane leader in the Whitehouse. It's probably time to start calling it the Madhouse.
Para Sitius
I await the resident Trumpeteer's opinion on how it's all the lefts fault (his cut & paste argument for everything), how Trump is such the brilliant strategist whilst also conveniently forgetting what happened in 2013. Funny thing is, 5 Dem's actually voted for the bill I believe yet 5 Rep's didn't so what does that say?
Madverts
The talking points are in from our Russian paid agiteur . I'm not really sure there's any real Trump voters still defending him.
Blacklabel
Yes the DACA people are being used as pawns in all of this. Mostly by the Dems who are fake pretending they care about them when they just trying to get political points.
My personal feeling is that if someone illegally breaks into my house with their kids I’m not obligated to allow any of them to stay when I catch them.
If others expect me to allow that, they need to give me something else that I want (security to prevent the next family from breaking into my place with their kids cause they heard I allowed the last ones to stay)
if you sneak into Disneyland do they give you lifetime passes and stock options (voting) when you are caught?
borscht
With Corn Chip supposedly the greatest dealer maker on the planet and his moron minions aka Republicans in control of everything maybe it’s a blessing the government has to shut down. Less damage to the people who make less than a billion a year aka 99% of the population.
To quote the Moron in Chief, a shut down is a big black mark against the president; he’s in charge, he’s to blame, he has to lead. (Said when the Republicans shut down the gov’t under Obama.)
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
Wrong. Donny made them pawns when the chucklehead took away their legal protection. He knew what he was doing.
Fortunately for Dems. most people disagree with you.
Blacklabel
so liberals believe that someone who breaks in their home illegally can stay and have all rights of the resurgent?
Better tell that to all the libs who call the police now when that happens. Well at least the ones who don’t have houses with walls around them already to prevent it.
Blacklabel
Rights of the resident. You know, the person who is the legal occupant (a citizen)
mmwkdw
Why can't the ruling party dictate their own Financial plans and execute them without a vote from the opposition - similar to the way the UK works ?
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
Not just liberals. 9/10 people support some type of protection.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-support-daca-but-oppose-border-wall-cbs-news-poll/
And they were kids, they DID NOT choose to break the law.
Some of these DACA kids speak English, the only language they've ever known. How the hell do you expect them to go back to wherever they came from and actually make a life for themselves? Its nuts.
kabukideath
The most important political fact of this latest melodrama is that democrats feel they can get away with it. They are essentially doing what GOP Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee tried in 2013 over repealing ObamaCare: Refuse to fund the government over an unrelated policy issue.
Democrats pilloried republicans for that one, Nancy Pelosi called them “legislative arsonists.” But now Schumer has rallied democrats, or perhaps they’ve rallied him, to shut down the government over an immigration deadline that is still six weeks away and has nothing to do with funding the government.
They want chaos in Washington because they think it will contribute to their emerging campaign narrative that Trump is a dangerous man who can’t govern and must be checked by the opposing party.
For a party that describes Americans as “deplorables” and illegal immigrants as “dreamers,” the audacity is impressive.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
And are they wrong? Where has Donny shown he can govern?
He's too stupid to govern, too lazy to learn, and too dishonest to admit it.
Not Americans. Some Americans. And how else would you characterize those shouting Jew S A at his rallies? Or his white supremecist supporters?
Dreamers indeed inspiring. Look how angry its got his base. I'm loving it :D
kabukideath
Apple repatriates $38 billion of offshore cash, as a direct result of Trump's tax policy.
Walmart raises it's entry level pay to $11/hr and doles out bonuses, as a direct result of Trump's tax policy.
Dow propels above 26,000.
People seem unable to separate Trump's persona from his policy and average Americans concern themselves with the economy above all else.
They are meant to represent ALL Americans. And her insult was far broader than you imply.
As ignorant, belligerent and misguided, but exercising their constitutional right to be stupid.
mmwkdw
I sort of feel sorry for the American's, they just tear themselves apart over their Politics.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
So are the layoffs they announced also a direct result of Trump's tax policy? http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/369329-walmart-carrier-firings-highlight-glaring-flaw-of-new-tax-bill
The Dow has been on the rise for a long, long time. Did you miss that?
And THAT is why many people support him. Its nuts. On the one hand you claim we need to understand his persona, and on the other you claim that idiotic persona is why you love him.
And yet Donny has set a record for low approval ratings. Cute.
It would help if Donny were unable to articulate these ideas. But as surely as women being allowed to give birth in the 9th month is bad, you know that'd be asking too much.
And for what its worth, I sincerely doubt he has any sort of idea on economic policy. The guy at one point suggested lowering minimum wages to "spur" the economy.
I think its a fair description of homophobes, islamophobes, and xenophobes, no?
Just like Hillary was, so?
toshiko
Trump's Wall costs were included in budget. DACA is not budget related but when included, USA closed its operation. Many countries know creating wars in other countries will ruin finance of the countries. But USA need to find more income.
FizzBit
It's a good point, bipartisanship has been tearing us apart for decades.
However, as kabukideath has said, the immigration deadline isn't for another 6 weeks, so the Dems are not concerned about politics or the country, they wanna play "Social Justice Warrior" from the backyard sandbox.
And it's kind of fun to watch the SJW meltdown on here.
toshiko
Today is anniversary of. trump Presidency, One year he lasted. WP is digging his attorney who gave. Moooney to shut. up porno ster' story of Trunp with her before election. Budget crisis. Which countries will buy second hand US military weapooons?
smithinjapan
Blacklabel: "Why can libs do math?"
Better question is why Republicans can't. They have the House, Senate, and an absolute moron on the throne, and couldn't negotiate their way out of a toilet. The funniest is watching you guys parrot Trump say it's not your fault, who said the president is to blame when a shut-down occurred on Obama's watch in 2013. Now he's only got the white supremacists and uneducated left defending him... and Russians.
CrazyJoe
Whom would the American people blame for a shutdown?
The Reublican base would blame Democrats.
The Democratic base would blame Republicans.
Most other people would blame both sides and lament how Washington is broken.
Some people would (rightfully, in my opinion) blame the American electorate for choosing such morons to lead them.Balakrishnan Gurumurti
i wonder how one govt undo earlier government resolutions.. that way Mr Trump and republicans opened up pandora box of such things not indeed desirable in a country like the USA,; if these kinds of chastising the other goes on it is obvious inexperienced men shall not be the president of America any more is my view; such political parties may not be supported by citizens.
Wolfpack
Without 60 votes, Republicans do not control the Senate due to the fillabuster rule. This shutdown is on Schumer. As Obama said, elections have consequences.
Schumer has an easy compromise; build the wall, end chain migration and lottery, extend children’s health program and give the roughly 800k deferred deportees the opportunity to get to the back of the line and have their immigration status eventually made legal. No legal status for their parents- who caused this problem. No amnesty or legal status for the remaining 10 million or so illegal aliens.
Schumer and the Dems prefer to support illegal aliens- who they view as future voters- over the needs of the American citizens that voted them into office. It’s bizarre.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
What did Trump say about shutdowns? ;)
There was an offer on the table. They offered him the money. Chump walked away.
The GOP owns BOTH houses AND the whitehouse, can't get a deal, and its Schumer's fault? hahahahaha
Laguna
Wolfpack, if you pay attention to details, this is the rub. The Dems have already agreed to every item on your list except this. What is Trump's opinion? - well, that changes with the weather (or whatever's recently played on Fox). He's not leading from behind; he's simply not leading.
bass4funk
The govemment never really shuts down, they’ll get paid, medical services as well as social security will all get paid.
Yes, Shumer could have avoided a shutdown, but he decided that these non-Americans were more important than our military and native born Americans, big, big mistake.
But Trump is the one that injected molten lava in it, especially by getting rid of the dreaded Obama regulations and that God awful Obamacare mandate. The last 8 years we never got over 3.0% GDP we had one of the sluggish economies every under Obama.
wtfjapan
My personal feeling is that if someone illegally breaks into my house with their kids I’m not obligated to allow any of them to stay when I catch them. thing is many of these dreamers were born in the US and raised there, most have never committed any crimes while living in the US. If you say these children should take responsibility for their parents illegal doings then every child of the 8million US citizens currently in US prisons should take responsibility also and be deported.
wtfjapan
native born Americans, big, big mistake. many of these dreamer kids are native born Americans, and unless their parents acquired citizenship for them from their parents native countries they are basically stateless. So if there comes a time that they must be deported where are they going to go! if the dont have citizenship of another country and no other country accepts them then what!
SuperLib
Stocks gained as a percentage more in Obama's first year than Trump's. But I don't think you will believe that since you won't want to.
bass4funk
We all get it, but Shumer walked away from Trump’s deal and then Shumer came with another list of demands, they don’t want to fund our military, they don’t get DACA.
Doesnt change the fact that there families came into the US illegally.
Different time, we had recession, now we don’t. The markets see confidence in Trump with Obama they didn’t at least not to the point to bring back jobs into the US. And the Dems were OK with the 1.5 GDP
Not what I want, but what is, I take the personal feelings out of the argument.
Sam Watters
Democrats just committed suicide. Read comments on a Yahoo rather than on this site which is populated with Socialists and you’ll see how popular Trump is. A few mealy-mouthed Republicans will get booted out of office but the American people are furious at the Democrats for putting the welfare (both literally and figuratively) of illegal aliens ahead of US citizens. Yahoo —-a liberal entity that hates Trump—-just ran a survey that puts a Trump approval rating 40% and Congress at 15%.
katsu78
Libs can do math for a variety of reasons: they value education, they consider evidence even if it contradicts their preconceived notions, and they don't put their personal religions fantasies over evidence that can be measured and verified. But probably the biggest reason libs can do math is that they accept that objective facts exist and that reality doesn't randomly morph to conform to the ideology of whoever is in power.
Perhaps the real question is, why can't conservatives do math? It's honestly not that hard.
theFu
Don't think it will matter at all to me. Actually, 1 week a month shutdown for non-essential people would be good.
National parks are open. That's about as close as I get to any federal functions 48 weeks a year.
Amnesty for border hoppers is wrong and worth this small inconvenience, though I won't see any inconvenience at all.
mukashiyokatta
Gee, that's strange -- Trump had something completely different to say about the 2013 shutdown. What was it he said then? -- VTR, start!
FizzBit
What country wouldn't except a US passport? Confusing comment. The parents get their kids a US passport, then GO HOME, then get them a permanent residency, wait until they're 18, or change their citizenship. Easy peasy.
meija
Trump publicly stated that he would sign whatever agreement the Republicans and Democrats agreed to. The Republicans and Democrats agreed not once, but twice, and Trump rejected both. Clearly this is the Democrats' fault... #logicfail.
SuperLib
Right. The purpose of the rule is to form a compromise that gets bipartisan support. The issue is that there are such extreme factions in the GOP that in order to get their votes the result is too toxic for moderate Democrats to get on board, so they shift to the right and lose the Dems, they shift to the left and lose the fringe Republicans.
So the Republicans delivered a recession to the Democratic President and the Democratic President delivered a solid, growing economy to the Republicans? And what is it exactly you're taking credit for? Putting the top on the pyramid?
Obama cut the unemployment rate by nearly half, all private sector jobs. Read about it sometime if you're interested, or don't if you want to stay in the dark. You can always default to random drive-by insults of the Left if you run out of researched talking points.
Midnight Sun Tribe
Why is "the wall" part of a budget when Mexico is going to pay for it?
bass4funk
This is what scares me about Democrats, to them anything under 3% GDP they think it’s just swell. I mean, highest corporate tax rate, uncertainty in the market, less than lackluster investments, sluggish economy overall, lowest labor participation since the 70’s, worst recovery since the 40’s, lowest home ownership since the 40’s, 43 Million living in poverty, 13 million on food stamps,over 95 million out of the labor force and yet, they call it solid. Dear lord....help these people....
Yes, so we can put it back in the people’s pocket, like Apple or BofA or Aflac or Walmart.
wtfjapan
Doesnt change the fact that there families came into the US illegally. so there are far worse US citizen law breakers in US prisons eg rapists and murderers, should their children also take responsibility and be punished also!? Some people seem to think that illegal immigration is worse of all crimes and anybody related to these people should be dealt with just as harshly , innocent or not! If these dreamers dont have citizenship of any country and there parents country wont accept them, what then, throw them in prison for the stateless!? US cant force deportation of people that another country wont accept.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
So Democrats (not in power) just committed political suicide and the proof is reading comments on an annonymous comment section? That's hilarious man. The actual polls say just the opposite.
This is nothing new, congress typically does worse than the president. But hats off to DjT, it takes a,special kind of moron to have a 40% approval rating and a "booming economy." ;)
ZENJI
Oh dear, never mind, I will fix this.
DONALD TRUMP.
President of the United States of Trump
the queen & I
The poor nations AKA 3rd World Nations can reduce immigration to the currently industrial nations by becoming industrial nations. The USA has hegemony over other nations in both standard of living and military strength. Mexico should become a military and economic superpower. Many Americans and immigrants to America believe what's good enough for the USA is too good for anyone else.
bass4funk
I'm not talking about US citizens, I am talking about NON-US citizens. Focus.
The law is the law and if you don't enforce the laws in any society, you have anarchy and chaos, that argument doesn't fly. You can't force these people out, that is obvious, but the repercussions of putting illegals over citizens is not going to fly this time and the Democrats bit off more than they can chew this time. They don't want to fund the military, they don't want the wall, they don't get DACA.
This time around, the Dems are taking the heat for the shutdown. Shutting the government and prioritizing illegals over our military, over US citizens? The Dems snagged themselves this time.
It's always about the economy as James Carville said about the GOP and their witch hunt on Bill Clinton, when the economy is great and functioning, nothing else really matters.
theFu
wtfjapan
Most countries involved pass citizenship to the children of the parent(s) when they are outside the country of birth. I think jus sanguinis is the legal name for this.
Mexico does. El Salvador does. Japan does.
There's also leges sanguinis countries which allow citizenship from older relatives, not direct parents. Italy is famous for this. Know some people in Argentina used this to gain EU citizenship.
There are probably exceptions, but over 52% of illegal immigrants come from Mexico (according to data from 2012). 15% from Central American countries, which all recognize the parents citizenship.
I looked at the laws for 5 central American countries and all recognized citizenship for children of parents with citizenship in the country.
Few, if any, children would be country-less.
wtfjapan
I'm not talking about US citizens, I am talking about NON-US citizens. Focus. many dreamer children were born in the US have only know a life in the US, but because their parents come there illegally theyre the ones being punished for it. Like I stated there are far worse American criminals in US prisons who have murdered , raped, stolen but we dont hear Trump wanting to deport their children. Crimes are punished by their severity . you need to focus on the whole picture not just a topic your messiah decided he didnt like because Obama got it passed
wtfjapan
*Democrats just committed suicide. **hows that!? Reps shut down the government under Obama and that didn't stop them gaining the white house*
wtfjapan
And what is it exactly you're taking credit for? Putting the top on the pyramid? built by a former entity putting the Trump logo on it and calling it Trumponomics. LOL
bones
So now that they have a shutdown I guess trumps can spend more time golfing!
gogogo
Why are they all smiling in the photo? It's like they want to screw up their own country, if they think they are punishing Trump or something all they are doing is taking money away from hard working citizens and the expense of some stupid childish political mind game.
arrestpaul
According to the attached story -
Most voters are aware that being the majority party only means that one party holds more seats than the minority party has. It does not mean that the majority party has enough seats (60+) to pass this type of legislation.
Elected Democrats have chosen to put the "rights" of illegal aliens above the needs of U.S. citizens. Elected Democrats have chosen to turn U.S. citizens into 2nd-class citizens IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. I suspect that these very same U.S. citizens will remember how elected Democrats treated them during this Schumer shutdown. The elected Democrats are betting that the voters will forget.
arrestpaul
wtfjapan - *Democrats just committed suicide. **hows that!? Reps shut down the government under Obama and that didn't stop them gaining the white house*
Elected Democrats just shut down the government in order to support the "rights" of illegal aliens. Elected Democrats did not shut down the government to support U.S. citizens.
arrestpaul
How would that even be possible? What would be the basis of their economic superpower?
arrestpaul
Not in power? The Republicans hold enough seats to be considered the majority political party. They do NOT hold enough seats to pass this type of bill without some support by the illegal-alien-supporting Democrats. This bill needed 60 votes in the 100-member Senate but fell short, with only 50 supporting it. Elected Democrats do hold the power to prevent the U.S. government from being funded in order to promote illegal alien's "rights" over the needs of U.S. citizens.
Strangerland
No they didn't - they won the following election.
Obstruction has been proven to be a winning strategy. This is the new USA. It's here to stay. Sucks while your team is in the ruling party, but makes it easier to win your way back into power if you are the obstructionist team.
nishikat
It's the president's fault. There is proof about that.
arrestpaul
LOL. The U.S. Constitution says otherwise. Where is your proof?
Strangerland
Why, the proof is the president's own comments that it is his fault:
A shutdown falls on the president’s apparent lack of leadership. He can’t even control his party and get people together in a room. A shutdown means the president is weak.
Donald Trump, 2013
nishikat
The above poster just proved it and beat me to it. It's Trump's word. So in the eyes of the Trump voter it's the word of God. Trump is never wrong.
arrestpaul
I'm shocked. Not. Neither Obama or Trump could/can get the U.S. Congress to fulfill their constitutional duty.
The funding bill needed a minimum of 60 votes in the 100-member Senate in order to pass. The Republicans only hold 51 seats. In 2018, elected Democrats still hold the power to prevent the U.S. government from being funded. And what are the elected Democrats holding out for? They have placed the rights of illegal alien's over the needs of U.S. citizens.