Countdown til Shutdown
1st -- an old story. 2nd -- will Monday's meeting with Trump matter?
I have experience with shutdowns — two when I worked for Bill Clinton and one when I worked for Obama.. The Obama one lasted 18 days. When we got off the Metro after leaving for the “last” time, the restaurants had signs out: Welcome Workers - 10% off; Happy Hour starts early — 50% off your first drink! Etc.
This shutdown was over healthcare. Like now, making health care unaffordable was a high priority for Republicans.
We weren’t allowed to work so I decided I could still be productive. First, I bought paint for my kitchen — black for lower cupboards, white for upper, and gray for the walls … one gallon at a time. Who would have thought there would be time to paint the whole kitchen? Every day I painted, took a picture, and posted it on Facebook. See this one — my painting “artwork!”
Admittedly, the kitchen looks different now. Painting doesn’t last forever. And generally speaking, neither do shutdowns.
But BEWARE! This one could be different. The issues are simple and BIG!!!
Republicans support BILLIONAIRES and the BIG, not-so-BEAUTIFUL BILL, which cut funding for healthcare, staff, and more, and replaced these needs with BIG (but not so) BEAUTIFUL TAX BREAKS for BILLIONAIRES.
Democrats are requiring resources to be returned to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Democrats oppose many of the Bill’s other cuts, but one thing at a time … Healthcare comes first!
Trump has been making BlG threats, e.g., he will fire all employees whose work isn’t directly related to statutory requirements and never take them back once … eventually … when Trump’s shutdown is over.
In the past, employees who were furloughed — once an agreement was reached, employees were called back, paid the owed salaries, and then had to scramble to catch up on the piled-up overdue work that waited for them.
Trump’s budget demands include over $160 billion for immigration enforcement, while eliminating 114,000 other jobs. It also adds several thousand jobs for immigration enforcement and border security. Trump is also offering a $50,000 bonus for new applicants for immigration enforcement jobs.
Note: nearly 2/3s of Americans support a pathway for citizenship for immigrants.
Trump has also targeted five agencies that help the homeless, protect consumers from unsafe products, manage foreign aid, investigate the safety of chemicals, and more, to receive zero funding for staff. At least 14 other agencies would lose a minimum of one-third of their staff.
Essentially, the whole story is UGLY … U G L Y! … and irresponsible!
My prediction: Democrats will not cave, and nor should they. Small compromises might be possible, but Trump, who sees himself as the Super Negot\iator, has only a limited record of successes.
The fight is necessary.
The most serious question: How long will it take? It’s going to be extremely hard on the federal employees whom Trump is tossing to the wolves, but also even more difficult for people who cannot afford healthcare and find not only the emergency rooms closed but also their entire hospitals shut down, should Democrats lose this important debate.