Update (5:20 pm CST) The House of Representatives, under Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership, passed a bill to prevent a midnight shutdown.
THE BILL passed 366-34-1.
● 170 Republicans voted yes.
● 196 Democrats voted yes.
● 34 Republicans voted no.
● A total of 0 Democrats voted no. Democrats saved Republicans here.
● ON TO THE SENATE.
The United States has experienced FOUR major government shutdowns since 1981.
● Twice in 1996.
●Another one in 2014.
● The longest one was 34 days in 2019.
A combined shutdown death toll total was 0.
The Biden-Harris Administration, in response to a federal budget shutdown, is taking their cue (of course) from the Obama Administration and will likely pull out their media playbook trick known as the “Washington Monument Syndrome.”
It is their dramatic way. Democrats influence federal agencies to react to any threat of budget cuts, a fake pandemic or a government shutdown by closing down the most popular public services.
A large amount of effort and resources are used theatrically in speeches, on media reports, and even to make and install special signage and barricades for the occasion across the country.
(As of this initial writing, a third attempt with a new 118-page bill had been released to fund the government and avert a shutdown after a day of closed-door talks and negotiations among House Republicans.
That bill, brought to the floor under suspension of the rules, required a two-thirds majority for passage.
But what happens to the United States if there is no passage going foward to the Senate?
It occurred in October 2013 at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC. A full press corps was on hand almost as fast as they are today when the FBI is about to rush a raid on anyone associated with Donald Trump.
In response to signs indicating the memorial was closed, American military veterans, who had flown in from across the country to commemorate, pushed past makeshift gates and barricades to make their visit.
“That there were barricades at all underscores the phony politics at work,” the New York Post wisely reported.
Even today, the three most important things about federal shutdowns that mainstream media avoid reporting are:
1. During shutdowns small contingents of “essential” employees stay on duty and hold down the fort.
2. The remaining employees have always retroactively received back pay for the shutdown period. They essentially get a free vacation.
3. We CANNOT AFFORD THE AMOUNT OF SPENDING THEY ARE TRYING TO GET BY WITH.
Shutdowns are nothing to fear especially over the holidays where little gets accomplished anyway. The benefit here is to delay new spending legislation for the new Congress to debate and enact.
Further, the shutdown delays planned contractor activity and spending that can be reviewed and even revoked under the new Trump administration. Even more quickly than in the past as the transition team has their staffing ready to go on Day 1.
Legendary investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson was working for CBS News back in 2013 and recalls the theatrics going on behind the scenes.
“We were sincerely searching for real life impact. When we couldn’t find any, that should have been part of the story,” she wrote recently. “Instead, we kept trying to create the appearance of an impact. It wasn’t really trying to be dishonest. It was, in my retrospective view, because the general editorial idea for the story was to show how bad the ‘Republican’ shutdown was for ordinary Americans, and the answer simply couldn’t be that it wasn’t.“
“I’ve written quite a bit about this but we, as journalists, too often ‘decide’ the story in advance and shape the facts to fit our narrative, rather than gathering information and letting that tell the story, whatever it may be,” she revealed.
She said the Democrats were blaming Republicans for the shutdown, so mainstream media reporters were calling Democrats “and the Obama administration for ideas to report what was the real impact. Taking our cue, these officials fabricated impact that we could report. For example, they cordoned off outdoor public monuments in Washington DC.”
“We knew and even discussed in the newsroom that this made no sense. These monuments weren’t ‘manned’ to begin with,” she continued. “The only reason to cordon them off from the public was so that visiting tourists would see the ‘impact’ of the shutdowns and the news media would have something to take pictures of and interview people about.”
Others remember how the Obama White House also blocked all pull outs near Mt. Rushmore so tourists could not stop for photo opportunities and the areas were manned only during the shutdown.
“Vindictive Obama theatrics meant to harm regular people,” one citizen noted.
Above all, this current spending bill is bigger than most people realize.
We need to recognize that we cannot afford everything that every special interest in Washington DC wants to spend money on.
● 25% of all US government revenue is going to interest on the debt. In just a few years it will be 40%.
● We cannot afford foreign wars.
● We are unable to pay for 20 million illegal aliens, including subsidies for apartment and hotel housing.
● We do NOT have the money to fund the full wish list of every lobbyist in DC.
There are solid reasons and limits to our ability to pay for this. Just because Congress puts it on a piece of paper doesn’t make it true.
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IN GOD WE TRUST
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Really, just send them all home so they can have a longer Christmas vacation, and decrease their opportunity to do any more damage than they have.
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A dream come true.
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Good post! This made me laugh, “A combined shutdown death toll total was 0.” I’m old enough to have now survived a few government shutdowns. I remember some of the theatrics around closing public monuments and lookout points at parks.
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They must really think we miss them when they’re out. Delusions of grandeur.
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Looney or Loony?
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