President Trump Tweets About The Looming Government Shutdown

Let’s cut to the chase.

On Thursday, the House passed a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, which will go into effect midnight tonight if the Senate refuses to act. The House measure passed 230-197. Even the House Freedom Caucus jumped on board.

The majority of the @freedomcaucus has taken a vote to support the CR effort this evening

— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) January 18, 2018

The measure kicks the can down the road to Feb. 16, but it gives Congress more time to waste, so there’s that.

The measure would require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and Republicans don’t have anything near that. They only have 51 seats, and Republicans like Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham have said that they will not support the measure.

Schumer and McConnell have been fighting back and forth.

“So what our friends on the other side are saying here is they’re prepared to shut down the government over the issue of illegal immigration,” McConnell said last night. “Now on that issue, there is a bipartisan interest in solving the DACA problem, but the president has given us until March. Last time I looked this was January.”

Meanwhile in Schumer’s head…

Democrats & Republicans have been negotiating for months across several issues. A bipartisan deal is within reach & now is the time to reach it. Now. Not a month from now.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2018

We have been skating by on continuing resolution after continuing resolution for almost 6 months. First, we passed a 3-month CR, then a 2-wk CR, then a 1-month CR. Now we are offered another month-long delay of the inevitable. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2018

I support an idea floated by my @SenateGOP colleagues: pass a clean CR for a few days to give us a hard, final deadline & keep both sides at the table. We’ll reach a deal that fully funds our military & the opioid fight, CHIP, vets, pensions, disaster aid & protects Dreamers.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2018

Nobody wants to shut down the govt, not Dems, not the GOP.

The only one who has ever rooted for a shutdown is @realDonaldTrump who said our country could use “a good shutdown” – only he could come up with that. But no shutdown can be good for the American people.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2018

McConnell is ticked at Republicans who won’t support the measure.

“This is an irresponsible position to take as everything from pay for our military to processing social security checks will be affected. I hope not a single Republican is inclined to join them,” McConnell wrote in an email. “I know we are all frustrated by the pace of negotiations on spending, but joining Democrats to shut down the government plays right into the Democrats hand.”

“We are strongest when we stick together — that will produce the best spending deal and the best DACA deal — one that has a chance of being enacted into law,” he added.

Basically, Republicans are confident they’ll be able to blame the shutdown on Democrats, and Democrats are confident they’ll be able to blame the shutdown on Republicans.

Needless to say, I see a government shutdown on the horizon. President Trump is urging Congress to act.

House of Representatives needs to pass Government Funding Bill tonight. So important for our country – our Military needs it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

Government Funding Bill past last night in the House of Representatives. Now Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate – but they want illegal immigration and weak borders. Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2018

That’s actually a smart angle to take. If the government “shuts down,” it WILL be the left’s fault. They’re using illegal immigrants as a bargaining chip. The easy solution? Remove Democrats from positions of power by voting them out. Vote more Republicans in.

I should add– I think MSM goes a little overboard with this government shutdown stuff. No. Shutdowns aren’t great, but it doesn’t mean the function of the entire US government screeches to a halt. (I bet a lot of low-fos believe that.) It really affects “nonessential” government employees, and they’re basically always paid retroactively.

Will there be a shutdown? I’m thinking yes, but this is Washington we’re talking about. You never know.