UPDATE: Here is a pretty good argument for a very long “shutdown.”
make the Trump Filibuster as ridiculously overblown and dramatic as possible. Someone somewhere will die, and they will blame it on the shutdown. They will blame global warming on the shutdown. Freezing blizzards on the shutdown. They will blame tornadoes, hurricanes, and Kevin Hart’s tweets on the shutdown. They will blame the Trump Filibuster for Michael Moore gaining weight and for Ocasio-Cortez being unable to remember whether she was elected to Congress, the Senate, or the New York State Assembly. But it all will be stuff and nonsense. None of it matters. Every three minutes on Fox, there will be a loud clang followed by “Fox News Alert.” Even Fox aficionados long ago learned to tune those out; they never amount to anything.
Nothing has changed, and nothing is going to change. The furloughed federal workers all will get their back-pay in the mail as soon as the Government reopens.
We have a “partial shutdown” of the government over an issue that was the centerpiece of Trump’s presidential campaign. The GOP Congress has finally gotten the budget process back to “Regular Order” after decades of “Continuing Resolutions” that allowed Harry Reid to hide the votes of Democrats on spending. This present fight is over the CR that funds the remaining 10% of the government , but it includes Homeland Security and that means the wall.
Democrat Chuck Schumer has said there will “never” be a wall. Why ?
In 2006, Democrats, although not then in the majority, voted for the construction of a border wall. After the 2006 election, which put the Democrats in control of Congress, they ignored the law, which still may be on the books. It included $10.4 billion. Could Trump use that law ? I don’t know.
Why the showdown now ? Remember George HW Bush’s promise ? In 1992, as he accepted the nomination at the convention, he promised “No New Taxes. Read My Lips” Of course, he violated this promise later. My theory, which I have seen him deny, is that Rostenkowski, the House Appropriations Chair, made a deal for Democrat support for the Gulf War in return for a raise in taxes. Bush accepted this and it was fatal.
The Democrats reason that it worked once. Getting a Republican President to renege on a promise essential to his election, was enough to defeat him in the next election. Schumer is determined to force Trump to back down. The news media is hysterical but I don’t think it will work. The new budget process has funded most of the government now. What is “shut down” is about 10% and most federal employees who are not getting paid are Democrat voters who hate Trump now. 96% of DC voters voted against Trump.