The Federal Government is Now Open until February 8, 2018

The Federal Government is Now Open until February 8, 2018

By Roger Caldwell

Everybody in Washington was pointing a finger and blaming the other for the federal government shutdown. President Trump was calling the shutdown a gift from the Democrats on his one year anniversary in the White House. But on Monday afternoon the Senate was able to compromise and after Congress votes, and the President signs the bill, the government will be reopened.

This shutdown only lasted for three days and the Republicans are promising that they will play fair, but I am not a gambling man. If I were a gambling man, it would be difficult to trust President Trump and the leadership in the Republican Party.

There is nothing new under the sun, and the last shutdown was in 2013 when the government was closed for 16 days. Many legislators in the present shutdown in 2018 were also in the shutdown in 2013, and many place the blame on the Tea Party. The Tea Party was a radical arm of the Republican Party, but the GOP is still successful winning elections.

The Republican Party controls the two major branches of government, but the Senate is having problems getting bills passed as a requirement of the 60 vote threshold. It appears that the Senate rules were designed to encourage bipartisanship, and finally the two parties have agreed to work together.

Trump has issued a statement stating, “He is pleased that congressional Democrats have come to their senses and abandoned their filibuster that shutdown the federal government.” He says his administration will make a long term immigration deal “If and only if it’s good for the country.”

It is obvious with the government shutdown, the two parties are traveling down different paths, and Trump is only concerned with his agenda. Many in the media are saying the problem is immigration and DACA, but when the leadership in the two parties in the Senate refuses to talk to each other, the problem is much more complicated.

President Trump believes that his polices in his first year have been extremely successful, and the stock market and economy are breaking records. But poor and middle class Americans know the fundamentals in the economy is set up so only the rich keep getting richer. As regulations are repealed, and taxes are reduced for the wealthy, the majority of Americans know something is wrong.

From the very beginning of Trump’s presidency, he was not psychologically or systemically prepared for the job, and his leadership abilities have always been in question.

According to Noah Bierman of the Orlando Sentinel, “Lawmakers in both parties spent the day blaming each other and pushing plans for new stopgap measures lasting either weeks or days, continuing a tightrope process that has been going on for months and finally broke down Friday.”

President Obama’s shutdown in 2013 was a partial closing of the government, and it cost America one billion dollars a day. The military and its support staff kept getting paid, because President Obama signed legislation the night before the shutdown began. The President, members of Congress and federal judges and justices have constitutional duties, and their paychecks are not impacted by government shutdowns.

Once the shutdown is over, the Senate has passed legislation that all federal workers would get paid three days for the shutdown.

In the last 25 years the government has only partially shut down three times. There are no set rules or procedures that must be followed when there is a shutdown. The way forward remains uncertain, and everyone hopes that the legislators will start working together.

When the government is closed, most Americans think this is a ridiculous way to do business. Leadership from the president is needed, but to keep the government running effectively there must be agreement.