Ten paces, turn, and fire
by Tom Sullivan
“Dueling plans” for ending the month-long partial government shutdown reach the floor of the U.S. Senate on Thursday. Proposals from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) may both fail, the Washington Post reports:
The votes will test the abilities of McConnell and Schumer to unify their sides, and likely, to negotiate with each other afterward. In other dramatic fiscal showdowns over the past decade, the Senate has almost always been the chamber that found the bipartisan solution as the House hit roadblocks, from the Wall Street bailout of 2008 to reopening of government after the 2013 shutdown. But those were crises that predated President Trump’s mercurial presidency.
In effect, the defeat of both measures would demonstrate in the most concrete manner yet that what both sides have been pushing for is not possible in the Senate, and that some new compromise must be forged to pass the chamber.
The sitting president faces crashing poll numbers — as low as 34 percent approval in one poll as he hangs onto hope he can pressure Democrats into approving $5.7 billion for a border wall/barrier/fence, ill-defined and changeable by the day. Democrats oppose the wall, but will discuss increased border security once the shutdown ends.
Should the Senate reach no agreement Thursday, senators flying home for the weekend will ponder a Wednesday warning from associations representing air traffic controllers, pilots, and flight attendants about the safety impacts of the shutdown:
This is already the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States and there is no end in sight. In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented.
Pistols at 10 paces may sound less risky.
Hanging in the balance, 800,000 federal employees (and their families) will miss their second paychecks on Friday. The D.C. Council passed legislation to prevent residents from losing their homes and tapped additional funds for food assistance. Unpaid workers face eviction and have had to take out personal loans to pay bills. Washington celebrity chef José Andrés’s is providing free meals to affected federal workers.
As the shutdown battle rages, the First Battle of the State of the Union has ended. The President of the United States and the Speaker of the House exchanged volleys of letters. Reporters’ heads whipped from Capitol Hill to the White House and back. When the smoke cleared, the president conceded late Wednesday that, yes, “Nancy Pelosi – or Nancy, as I call her,” controls the podium at the House of Representatives. The State of the Union speech originally scheduled for January 29 will not occur until after the Trump partial government shutdown is over. No government, no salve for his delicate ego.
Taking advantage of the ceasefire, activist groups have announced a national day of action for the 29th. Plan your weeks accordingly.