Yes, the Federal Government shut down after failing to come to an agreement on a short-term budget that would prevent the shutdown. The deadline for reaching an agreement on the spending bill was midnight on January 19th.
What makes this current Government shut down all the more embarrassing for Democrats is that they actually “do not oppose a single thing in this bill,” according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Housed in the bill that passes the House this past Thursday was approved for an additional six years of funding for CHIP – the Children’s Health Insurance Program. This program is responsible for providing health insurance to almost 9 million underprivileged children throughout the country.
After passing the House, the only thing left was a pass in the Senate. Without that pass, all current funding for CHIP as well as funding for current day to day government operations would immediately expire.
Like many Americans, regardless of political party affiliation, you may be wondering why the Democrats quickly put up a roadblock on the whole thing.
Senate Democrats decided that DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, needed changes more urgently than the budget. DACA is an immigration policy specifically targeted at minors who had entered the country illegally as an immigrant. The program granted them a two year renewable period of time to work while avoiding deportation. Honestly, a very thoughtful and compassionate program.
The President and some members of the Republican party have expressed interest in removing the program for budgetary reasons as well as to further the cause for tighter immigration reform. Politics aside, I can understand the frustration of the Left and their inherent need to take the opposing stance on anything the President does.
The Democrats chose to make DACA their roadblock for passing the additional funding of CHIP, which ultimately caused the shutdown. To be perfectly clear, just as the GOP was in their communication, the Senate Democrats had a very simple choice regarding the shutdown:
- Either approve additional funding for CHIP and keep the government running with a promise from the GOP to continue working with Democrats on DACA or
- Don’t pass anything in the Senate and let the government shut down.
It is worth noting that by taking the latter option of allowing a shutdown, the Left has shot themselves in the foot because they are not in any better position to negotiate on DACA than they were before.
#Senate Democrats have a choice to make. This should be a no-brainer… pic.twitter.com/zdUFXxclZ9
— Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) January 19, 2018
The above tweet from Senate Majority Leader McConnell perfectly sums up the idiocy of this government shutdown, clearly illustrating the pettiness of the Left. Even with a plea from McConnell, urging everyone in the Senate that “Maybe it’s time to come back to reality,” it was still not enough.
Similar to many other flops that the Dems have experienced, like the last Presidential election, there almost always more damning evidence if you know where to look. For Chuck Schumer, there was a lot.
Back in 2013, a few high ranking Democrats shared their thoughts on Government shutdowns including Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. They all shared negative thoughts on the politics of a government shutdown, commenting that a shutdown would be “governmental chaos.” Fast forward to the beginning of 2018 and Chuck Schumer is successfully going against his own words of “I’m going to shut the government down…unless I get my way. It’s a politics of idiocy.”
Chuck, thank you for so poetically saying what we have all considered being the overall mindset and mantra of the left – the politics of idiocy. Until the Senate Dems can come back to reality and realize that DACA conversations can and should wait until millions of children have health insurance. Oh yeah, and wait until the Federal Government is operational again.
Source: https://www.redstate.com/sarah-rumpf/2018/01/19/government-shutdown-chuck-schumer-right-yes-really/
