September 22, 2018
Republicans Betray Tea Party
Timothy Birdnow
While the circus in the Senate Judiciary Committee has had everyone distracted, the GOP majority has quietly broken the bank with a massive and largely useless spending bill that makes the Great Society appear frugal.
The good news; the military is getting an across-the-board pay raise.
The bad - so is everything else, even the worst Obama-era sinkholes.
No cuts to funding for Planned Parenthood, for example. No cuts to DOE spending on "green energy" or other such boondoggles. Big increase for the National Institute of Health. No cuts to idiotic Department of Education schemes. In fact, all of these get a healthy increase.
But there is no funding for a border wall. Or for Trump's school choice initiative.
See this AP story for more details.
See also this story from The Hill which details the betrayal of the base.
[...]
"Congressional leadership strategically bundled funding for the labor bill, a major Democratic priority, with funding for the Pentagon, a major Republican priority. For conservatives, voting against the package would mean voting against an increase in defense spending and a raise for the troops.
"If they want to vote against defense, that’s up to them. I don’t quarrel with anybody’s vote. There’s going to be sufficient votes to pass the legislation,†said Rep. Tom ColeThomas (R-Oklahoma), an appropriator. Cole also praised the bipartisan commitment to keep controversial policy riders out of appropriations altogether in order to move the bills forward."
End excerpts.
The Republicans have completely forgotten that the Tea Party is what put them in power, and the Tea Party was founded not on the Second Amendment, nor safe bathrooms, nor even the border wall, but on control of spending. It is a top priority to many Americans. And yet they have gone on yet another spending spree, daring President Trump to veto it in an important election year. They want Trump to take the fall, as he said he would never again sign such legislation when he signed the monstrous Omnibus earlier this year. So Trump has to either break his promise or endanger his majority in Congress.
I have little doubt both parties will use it against him as soon as he signs it. It's like the old George H.W. Bush "no new taxes" pledge. They badgered him, cajoled him, and as soon as they got him to sign it they shouted triumphantly "aha!" and proceeded to take him out. I fear this may be a trap for Trump.
I would call these Republicans snakes, but it would be an insult to snakes everywhere.
The House, under lame duck House Squeeker Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan, passed this "minibus" spending spree 377-20, According to Reuters, Trump is probably going to sign this rather than risk a shutdown now.
If he can't threaten their majority to get funding for the border wall now, he will never be able to get them to build it. He has to understand that. I suppose he doesn't know what else to do.
If I were of an adequately suspicious mind I would wonder if part of the ridiculous kabuki dance we are seeing over Brett Kavanaugh is not a diversion to get both parties off the hook for this. The Democrats aren't getting some of what they want, either, and their lunatic base is going to be mad when they see what they aren't getting. But it's the GOP who has really caved here, as usual, and I am fairly convinced most of them have simply been bought off by lobbyists, by corporate donations, by promises of jobs and all manner of goodies.
Frankly, the GOP does not deserve to remain in power. Sadly, there is no alternative. As in Wiemar Germany, our choices are really no choice at all. I would LOVE to be able to vote against these creeps, but the alternative is even worse. Also, the GOP doesn't seem capable of learning from mistakes. This tells me they are all in it together - the Republicans and the Democrats enjoy a cozy relationship, working together to maintain their respective privilege. The Dems see power as their right, and the GOP is happy to go along with that as long as they get their slice of the pie.
America doesn't have a real government anymore. We have a crime syndicate.
While the circus in the Senate Judiciary Committee has had everyone distracted, the GOP majority has quietly broken the bank with a massive and largely useless spending bill that makes the Great Society appear frugal.
The good news; the military is getting an across-the-board pay raise.
The bad - so is everything else, even the worst Obama-era sinkholes.
No cuts to funding for Planned Parenthood, for example. No cuts to DOE spending on "green energy" or other such boondoggles. Big increase for the National Institute of Health. No cuts to idiotic Department of Education schemes. In fact, all of these get a healthy increase.
But there is no funding for a border wall. Or for Trump's school choice initiative.
See this AP story for more details.
See also this story from The Hill which details the betrayal of the base.
[...]
"Congressional leadership strategically bundled funding for the labor bill, a major Democratic priority, with funding for the Pentagon, a major Republican priority. For conservatives, voting against the package would mean voting against an increase in defense spending and a raise for the troops.
"If they want to vote against defense, that’s up to them. I don’t quarrel with anybody’s vote. There’s going to be sufficient votes to pass the legislation,†said Rep. Tom ColeThomas (R-Oklahoma), an appropriator. Cole also praised the bipartisan commitment to keep controversial policy riders out of appropriations altogether in order to move the bills forward."
End excerpts.
The Republicans have completely forgotten that the Tea Party is what put them in power, and the Tea Party was founded not on the Second Amendment, nor safe bathrooms, nor even the border wall, but on control of spending. It is a top priority to many Americans. And yet they have gone on yet another spending spree, daring President Trump to veto it in an important election year. They want Trump to take the fall, as he said he would never again sign such legislation when he signed the monstrous Omnibus earlier this year. So Trump has to either break his promise or endanger his majority in Congress.
I have little doubt both parties will use it against him as soon as he signs it. It's like the old George H.W. Bush "no new taxes" pledge. They badgered him, cajoled him, and as soon as they got him to sign it they shouted triumphantly "aha!" and proceeded to take him out. I fear this may be a trap for Trump.
I would call these Republicans snakes, but it would be an insult to snakes everywhere.
The House, under lame duck House Squeeker Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan, passed this "minibus" spending spree 377-20, According to Reuters, Trump is probably going to sign this rather than risk a shutdown now.
If he can't threaten their majority to get funding for the border wall now, he will never be able to get them to build it. He has to understand that. I suppose he doesn't know what else to do.
If I were of an adequately suspicious mind I would wonder if part of the ridiculous kabuki dance we are seeing over Brett Kavanaugh is not a diversion to get both parties off the hook for this. The Democrats aren't getting some of what they want, either, and their lunatic base is going to be mad when they see what they aren't getting. But it's the GOP who has really caved here, as usual, and I am fairly convinced most of them have simply been bought off by lobbyists, by corporate donations, by promises of jobs and all manner of goodies.
Frankly, the GOP does not deserve to remain in power. Sadly, there is no alternative. As in Wiemar Germany, our choices are really no choice at all. I would LOVE to be able to vote against these creeps, but the alternative is even worse. Also, the GOP doesn't seem capable of learning from mistakes. This tells me they are all in it together - the Republicans and the Democrats enjoy a cozy relationship, working together to maintain their respective privilege. The Dems see power as their right, and the GOP is happy to go along with that as long as they get their slice of the pie.
America doesn't have a real government anymore. We have a crime syndicate.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:30 AM
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