Shutdown Averted...Barely

Dementia Joe Shows His Utter Lack of Class

With just a few hours to spare, the Senate passed by an overwhelming majority the House “clean” Continuing Resolution to keep the government of the United States funded for an additional 45 days.

Dementia Joe took his usual victory lap, and managed to display his usual lack of class and grace by taking unnecessary jabs at the Republicans.

But I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.

If Congress would confine its spending to those funds brought in annually via taxes these budget showdowns would never occur under any circumstances. Democrats as well as Republicans commit to deficit spending and then cry foul when others demand fiscal restraint—this is never a sustainable position.

Moreover, the Democrats even at the last minute have been guilty of asinine objections and shenanigans that are difficult to assess in any other context than that of wilfully attempting to force the shutdown everyone in the DC Swam claims not to want.

Representative Jamaal Bowman falsely set off a fire alarm in what looks very much like an effort to prevent a House vote on their Continuing Resolution bill.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Saturday ahead of the House passing a stopgap measure to fund the government ahead of the midnight deadline, causing the building to be evacuated.

Republicans are accusing Bowman of intentionally trying to sabotage the vote, launching an investigation into the incident and preparing legislation to expel him from the House. 

But Bowman says it was an accident.

Exactly how does one “accidentally” pull a fire alarm lever? Bowman is either aiming to challenge Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the title of Dumbest Representative Ever or he believes people are just stupid beyond belief. That level of dumb exceeds that displayed by the 1962 Mets.

It is theoretically possible Bowman was not attempting to sabotage the House vote with his antics. It seems far more credible that Bowman was attempting to sabotage the House vote. That is certainly the way the Vegas odds would say to bet.

Then there was Senator Michael Bennett’s efforts to hold up the Senate’s consideration of the House CR due to the lack of funding for Ukraine.

Senate leaders are trying to resolve an objection from Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado to reach a final vote tonight on a stopgap bill to keep the government open, according to two sources.

Scheduling a vote requires consent of all 100 members.

But Bennet, sources say, is concerned about the measure's lack of Ukraine aid. Senate leaders are working on a statement to show their support for Ukraine, hoping that will resolve the objection.

This antic came after the House voted additional Ukraine aid separate from the CR bill to fund the US government.

American taxpayers will provide an additional $300 million for Ukraine’s war effort if a bill passed late Thursday night by the House becomes law.

The bill passed 311-117 after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stripped the funding from a Pentagon spending bill in favor of a standalone vote.

Dementia Joe decided to ignore this House bill in his artless statement after the CR passed the Senate.

While the Speaker and the overwhelming majority of Congress have been steadfast in their support for Ukraine, there is no new funding in this agreement to continue that support. We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted. I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.

This, of course, is pure hogwash and horse hockey. Not only is it possible for “American” support for Ukraine to be interrupted, it is far from clear there is any actual support for Ukraine’s war effort among Americans. Even CNN noted in August that a majority of Americans oppose further military aid for Ukraine.

Overall, 55% say the US Congress should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine vs. 45% who say Congress should authorize such funding. And 51% say that the US has already done enough to help Ukraine while 48% say it should do more. A poll conducted in the early days of the Russian invasion in late February 2022 found 62% who felt the US should have been doing more.

The President, as is all elected officials in the United States, notionally the servant of the American people, and not their master. Regardless of what any President personally believes, if the sentiment in America is the US should not be involved in Ukraine, then the President should not be taking steps to involve the US in Ukraine.

Based on what corporate media has already reported, at a minimum there is a substantial portion of Americans who do not want US taxpayer dollars sent to Ukraine. Not only are there circumstances where American support for Ukraine could be interrupted, there are arguably right now circumstances which demand that support for Ukraine be interrupted. Those circumstances include $300 million of support approved even as the Congress was unable to find the votes to support the US government. There is a distinct perversity in Congress being more willing to fund Kyiv than Washington DC, yet that was clearly the case this past weekend.

The Senate passed the Continuing Resolution, thereby kicking Congress’ budget can down the road for another 45 days. In 45 days we may get to watch Congress showcase its political dysfunction yet again. Oh joy.

Next year we get to vote on whether these bucketheads keep their jobs. When I cast my ballot I am going to write in for every politician up for reelection “None of the Above.” You should as well. In 2024, the goal should be to elect nobody.

Forget about whether Americans should continue to support Ukraine. The real question is why should Americans continue to support the US Congress?