It’s quite simple. Which big defense/aerospace contractor has business before the government? They can make a donation to give those bonuses, no additional tax money is used, and it’s all win/win, right? What’s bribery a little gratuity between friends?
That watchdog will just get an Official Referral to Kristi Noem, she knows what to do with dogs that won’t cooperate
He appears to be standing to me
“Sorry, folks, since I can’t take my regular jet to Reagan Airport and I might have to talk with the poors if I fly Commercial, we can’t swear in that new Representative until my limo gets there from Louisiana, and I have a small bladder so will be making frequent stops.” - Mike Johnson (Probably)
… And they named an airport after him!
I think AOC will make a perfect Presidential candidate, in 2040 or 2048 after a few terms in the Senate. She will still be “young” by Presidential standards. Maybe by then many of the misogynists will have died off.
Don’t get me wrong: she would make an extremely good candidate in 2028 too. But I don’t think she has a chance of winning in the current climate. Too many people won’t vote for a woman right now, but are self-aware enough to know they can’t admit it anymore, so will come up with bullshit reasons why they can’t do it.
If she is on my ballot she is getting my vote, full stop. But I want to keep her for NY for a while longer.
There may be a way to make lemonade out of these lemons. While there are 3 appropriations bills bundled into this package, most of the rest of the appropriations would be on a continuing resolution until the end of the year, which isn’t really a very long time. So, absent some sort of breakthrough with the House, we will be in this same position in January.
If Republicans renege on the December vote, then Democrats can go back to them and say “No, we mean it this time, put back the ACA subsidies or we dont agree to kick the can further. We trusted you once and you lied.”
Meanwhile, in this bill there are explicit guarantees for SNAP funding and protections for federal workers during the shutdown. Yes, those things were already law, but it reinforces things if Trump signs a bill in November and then ignores it in January. Those are the things that made this shutdown especially painful, and the current bill’s passage will limit the pain Trump can inflict.
Basically, I don’t buy into the narrative that Democrats got nothing in exchange. It seems like they got a lot of incremental things, that will help give them leverage when Republicans decide to screw them. In the meantime, Federal workers get back pay to prepare for the next one.
You can’t, at least not yet. They are all either not on the ballot in the midterms (because their term is longer), or have already announced retirement. They are betting on all this blowing over before they have to ask for votes again.
None of them have to run again in the next midterms, either because their six year term extends past 2026, or they are retiring. So the ones who pulled away to vote for this won’t have to immediately explain it to their voters, and they are hoping people have short memories.
It’s even dumber, because it’s not about the budget, it’s about the allocation of funds to certain departments and the authorization to spend that money, which comes after the budget. Some other countries separate budgets and appropriations like this, but those other countries put in those safeguards you mention, because they want government agencies to function even if the politicians are having a snit.
In the US, thanks to “small-government” Republicans, we make it extremely difficult to spend any money without explicit authorization. And since we also have no concept of a no-confidence vote, politicians can basically hold government funding hostage if they want. The politicians that are doing this right now know they won’t have to face another election until next November at the earliest. (Senators serve six year terms, and it’s telling that all of the Democrats who voted for cloture on this bill are either retiring or not up for election next year…)
Well, they tried to, but he won, and now they are all going to cozy up to him as long as he keeps winning
The DNC backstabs those folks if they run for President, but would have no problem backing a certain victory for a Senate seat.
Yeah yeah, I know. Trading their votes for the promise of a vote in the future is kinda dumb. But then, there is this nugget buried here:
There is also a negotiation to reinstate all of the federal workers Trump laid off during the shutdown, the report adds.
That might just be worth it, because it would be Congress passing something that puts direct constraints on what the President can do, and daring him to veto it.
Edited to add: don’t sleep on the 3 spending bills that are being negotiated too. This effort looks like a continuing resolution that extends most agencies through the end of the year, but those 3 bills constitute full appropriations for agriculture, military construction and legislative agencies. And it looks like Democrats may have won back some funding for programs that the House budget gutted. This is all from the NYT, if I happen to find a non-paywall link I’ll add it
What do you mean? Making a backroom deal to get the Next One Up across the finish line is exactly how they operate
Hmm, I think even 4 retiring every day seems to be a lot…
I guess there are over 14,000 controllers normally, so if 20 retire a week that’s a turnover of about 1000 per year, or about 7%, just through retirement. That seems high.
But at 20 a day, we might have run through that number just during the shutdown.
It might be the first time that anyone has said that word to him since his father died.
(Well, the first time a man has said that to him. We know there have been a few women who tried to use that word, but he didn’t listen and kept going…)
My pet theory is that Schumer will agree to not run again, and AOC will take over his seat without primary opposition, as long as she promises to not run against Newsom for President.
I see, 50 for him and 50 for the big guy…