"I will shut down the government again if the Dems do not stop impeachment!"
In the wake of the passage of the resolution for the House impeachment rules yesterday, too many have forgotten that a series of high priority federal decisions lay ahead - touching on every aspect of the government and beyond. In particular, the chances for a government shutdown before Thanksgiving loom much larger given zero progress reported on any of the 12 key spending bills. These actually expired one month go but have been given a temporary extension until November 21st.
As this goes on the risk grows with each passing week and day of a shutdown and one that would be far more sweeping then the 35 day partial shutdown earlier this year.
Besides the spending bills, other laws are expiring or lapsing and require attention and appropriate action. These include:
- The National Defense Authorization Act which sets Pentagon policy (approved every year since 1946)
- An ensemble of tax break bills, ranging from the health care industry (medical devices' tax) to paid family leave, all of which will expire on December 31st.
- A World Trade Organization appellate body ceases to exist unless approved for extension.
Alas, for many, each of these is seen as separate from the House Democrats impeachment of Trump. But not for Dotard and his brash enablers. Despite Repukes like Kevin McCarthy yammering for the Dems to "trust the people instead" (i.e. in the general election) any one with an IQ above moron knows if left to his own devices - with no oversight- Trump will be emboldened to do even more pernicious damage to the Republic. At least impeachment forces the mutt to lawyer up and focus on the impending open hearings and the eventual Senate trial to remove his orange ass.
For Trump himself, however, there is no assurance he sees the bills' passage as separate from impeachment. This is given he tends to see critical issues as one large negotiation - linking together seemingly disparate threads and issues into one "legislative ball of wax" in the parlance of one WaPo columnist. A specific indicator of that and of how unfit this human swine is to hold office - any office - was spotlighted in his Dallas rally 2 weeks ago.
We know already that the man has zero interest in working (like Obama did for 10 hrs./day) - and rallies provide him with a kind of ersatz "oxygen " to energize his dementia- afflicted brain. Also, a ready made excuse to get out of DC and the impeachment spotlight. - while railing against the Dems and his other enemies seen (e.g. Never Trumpers) and unseen ("the Deep state" in his febrile, CT brain). At that Big D rally we beheld his return to all his greatest hits, each reeled off in a couple hours of irrational whining and loathsome, unpresidential behavior.
By last week Sunday, even his tweeting, Fox TV watching and other goldbricking became old hat so he had to get his staff to gin up the takedown of al-Baghdadi to start looking "presidential" again. Never mind it was mostly a PR stage show and the raid on the Isis head was accomplished more despite Trump than because of any substantive contribution. See e.g.
by Margaret Kimberley | October 31, 2019 - 5:45am | permalink
Excerpt:
"The corporate media, Democrats and Republicans all joined in celebrating Baghdadi’s reported demise. Even those who count how often Trump tells lies suddenly expressed complete confidence in the version of events. Once again we see the embrace of Trump by the so-called resistance if he adheres to imperialist orthodoxy. The same man who they claim to want to impeach suddenly gets praise as he did when he launched an attack on Syria in 2017. The man mocked as a buffoon can be seen as “presidential” if he kills or even claims to kill people in a far away land.."
With the impeachment process now fully formalized, and hearings likely to begin by the middle of this month, Trump's ratlike, cornered behavior is likely to worsen, and no matter how much his Repuke stooges (like McCarthy, Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham) grovel and kiss ass, he won't be satisfied. Thus many congressional leaders worry that Captain Bonepurs might use any of the must pass bills as hostages to try and gain leverage against an impending impeachment.
My take is the probability is very high it could happen with an unstable sociopath and authoritarian like Trump in the Oval office. All sentient citizens need to be paying attention to what happens to the above cited bills as the Nov. 21 deadline approaches. We may well be seeing another shutdown and just before Christmas.
See also:
And:
Shutdown, Impeachment: Welcome to the Beginning of Another Crappy Holiday Season Courtesy of the GOP
Excerpt:
"Republicans are at the political positioning/finger-pointing stage of budget negotiations, ahead of a potential government shutdown in a few weeks. While Congress approved a budget for the next fiscal year before the August recess, it didn't pass the necessary spending bills allocating the money. The stop-gap funding bill it also passed last month is going to expire on Nov. 21, after which there are three possible scenarios, only two of which are feasible. The Congress could pass and Donald Trump could sign all of the 12 appropriations bills. That's not going to happen. The two real scenarios: another stop-gap bill going until Christmas or into the new year, or a shutdown."
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