Look How Much of These Federal Departments Is ‘Nonessential’

The eight-year run of GOP control of the House of Representatives is coming to an end. The partial government shutdown in the eleventh hour of Republicans’ control is mainly centered around their failure to push border security when they had control, particularly over the past two years. But the fact that so much of government is shut down this week and nobody noticed should demonstrate that Republicans have also failed to cut elements of government that are evidently invisible to all but those who work at those agencies. If Republicans were smart, they would use this imperceptible shutdown to lay the groundwork for a spending fight during the debt ceiling deadline next year.

Now that Pelosi is slated to take over the House, we can post the full tally of GOP debt accumulation over the past eight years since Republicans were ushered into power in the year of the Tea Party. Since John Boehner was put into the speaker’s chair and handed the gavel on January 3, 2011, the debt has increased from $14 trillion to $21.86 trillion, a tab of almost $8 trillion. Just this past year alone, Republicans have increased the debt by almost $1.4 trillion. And in the first two months of fiscal year 2019, the deficit has increased by $305 billion, despite record revenue.

Not only have Republicans failed to cut a single agency of government, they have grown all of the programs Trump promised to cut. Republicans have increased or suspended the debt limit seven times since taking over the House. The only spending cuts they secured were the ones we won in August 2011 by actually blocking an automatic debt ceiling increase. However, that hard-fought and rare victory was completely wiped out by the budget bills in February and March of this year, which dramatically increased spending while suspending the debt limit yet again until March 2019. Now, with interest rates rising fast, we face a crisis just on the interest payments, which are slated to surpass the cost of the military in five years.

But with Pelosi scheduled to take control of the House next week, a GOP committed to reducing the size of government could use her as the perfect foil to push concessions in return for raising the next debt limit. She will be forced to either look weak by giving Trump a blank check for more debt or raise taxes without cutting spending. This week’s stealth shutdown, however, should provide conservatives with the perfect opportunity to distinguish the fat from the muscle of government largesse and craft a plan to reduce the debt.

According to OMB data compiled by Government Executive, here are the percentages of federal employees deemed “nonessential” by department (among those departments that don’t already have full fiscal year 2019 appropriations):

HUD – 95.4%
Commerce – 86%
Treasury – 83.3%
Interior – 76%
Agriculture – 66.5%

Obviously, most of the employees of the DHS and Justice are deemed essential and are working this week. But why is nobody asking what can be cut from these agencies with such high percentages of nonessential personnel? The media will virtue-signal over the paychecks of these federal workers, but if the only effect we see from their absence is their own paycheck, shouldn’t we have a debate over how many of these positions should exist in the first place, especially in light of a debt crisis?

These are just the departments that are not funded this year. Also, a certain percentage of these departments will not be furloughed even though they are deemed nonessential because they are already funded by appropriations of cross-sectional programs from other departments that have already received full-year funding. There are many more agencies that are already funded but are full of wasteful positions. To get a better sense of how many workers are deemed nonessential during a complete shutdown, here is a breakdown of how many workers are nonessential among all departments that were subject to the 2013 appropriations lapse, when the entire nonessential government shut down.

Here are some more targets for conservatives in the upcoming debt ceiling fight:

EPA – 95%
Education – 95%
Labor – 81%
Energy – 69%

In total, 43 percent of the federal workforce was furloughed during the 2013 shutdown, but many departments and agencies had as many as 80-95 percent of their employees deemed nonessential. Shouldn’t those departments be the first place for any audit on cutting government? Isn’t this pure common sense, irrespective of one’s political ideology? Of course, nonessential is not synonymous with a completely unnecessary job, but when those workers are the overwhelming majority of staff in a given department, one must ask why the federal government should have that agency in the first place?

For example, with 50 state governments and roughly 90,000 local and municipality governing authorities, why should things local in nature like housing and education be within the federal purview at all? Given the existence of these governing authorities, the federal government should only take on extra functions that are inherently essential. Yet we now spend $71.4 billion on the Department of Education and $42.6 billion on HUD, and that doesn’t include the cost of mandatory programs. These are departments where 95 percent of their employees are deemed nonessential. Even at HHS, where we spend almost a trillion dollars on federal market-distorting health care programs that create a monopoly for the insurance cartel, it now costs over $90 billion just in discretionary spending to run the bureaucracy itself controlling the trillion-dollar programs!

It’s time to start taking notes on what is truly essential and target the rest for cuts in the coming showdown with Pelosi over the debt ceiling. (For more from the author of  “Look How Much of These Federal Departments Is ‘Nonessential'” please click HERE)

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Democrats Take Over the House Next Week. What Happens to the Partial Shutdown?

It looks like the federal government will remain partially shut down until 2019 and the 116th Congress. So what happens when Democrats take over the House on Jan 3 and when Rep. Nancy Pelosi takes the speaker’s gavel as expected? That remains to be seen.

Like the Pentagon, Veteran’s Affairs, and some other federal agencies, appropriations for the legislative branch were covered in the pair of “minibus” spending packages passed and signed in September. So members of Congress don’t have to worry about showing up to negotiate short-staffed, as with other funding lapses. The 116th Congress will be sworn in Wednesday, and a new speaker will be chosen by members of the House.

Then, members of the Democrat-run House and the Republican-led Senate will have to get to work on figuring out how to fund the remaining portions of the federal government that weren’t covered by those bills. They’ll have a week to deal with it before any federal paychecks are actually impacted. Thanks to a last-minute call made by the Trump administration, federal employees will still get their next paycheck and won’t miss one unless the partial shutdown lasts through January 11.

The next step could play out a few different ways. Republican leadership could play a game of “pin the deal on the donkey” and use the new House speaker as an out to strike an agreement that would have been politically untenable under Republican control – like settling for less money – all the while blaming it on Pelosi.

Then there’s the possibility that the partial shutdown continues until Democratic leadership decides, if ever, to go ahead and cut a deal for the $5 billion in requested wall funding. But that probably would require a very long shutdown first, which is where House Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he sees things headedon Thursday.

There’s also the option that many fiscal hawks and small-government advocates wouldn’t be the least bit heartbroken to see: Keeping the government partially shut down, as Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says, “till hell freezes over.”

This funding lapse has already defied the standard script for Washington brinksmanship theater by happening in the first place and by lasting longer than a few hours; what happens next is anybody’s guess. (For more from the author of “Democrats Take Over the House Next Week. What Happens to the Partial Shutdown?” please click HERE)

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Brother of Slain Officer Reacts After Police Arrest the Murderer

Police have arrested the illegal immigrant who killed California police officer Ronil Singh on Wednesday after he stopped him for a DUI. Singh, just 33 years old, leaves behind a wife, a five-month-old son.

The killer is identified as Gustavo Perez Arriaga, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was in the U.S. after crossing the Arizona border. He was tied to multiple gangs and had two previous DUI arrests.

For many, Singh’s death calls to mind the murder of Kate Steinle. In July of 2015, the 32-year-old Steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant while on a walk in San Francisco. Her killer had been deported from the U.S. multiple times. Incensed by the tragedy, members of Congress introduced Kate’s Law, which would mandate up to 10 to 25 years in prison for illegal immigrants in the U.S. with a criminal history who had been previously deported. . .

“While we absolutely need to stay focused on Officer Singh’s service and sacrifice, we can’t ignore the fact that this could’ve been preventable,” Christianson said. “And under SB54 in California, based on two arrests for DUI and some other active warrants that this criminal has out there, law enforcement would’ve been prevented, prohibited from sharing any information with ICE about this criminal gang member. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not how you protect a community.” (Read more from “Brother of Slain Officer Reacts After Police Arrest the Murderer” HERE)

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The Federal Courts Have Shut Down Our ENTIRE Government

Amid the imbroglio over a partial furloughing of nonessential workers in a handful of federal departments, the political class has ignored that the government has already been shut down – in full and permanently. Individual district judges now control our national sovereignty, border policy, and every other political question. And now Chief Justice John Roberts has essentially barred the doors of the Supreme Court shut to any judicial redress of this judicial crisis.

Just as reporters were going offline last Friday for the Christmas holiday, the Supreme Court announced that it had denied the government’s request to overturn a universal injunction on Trump’s commonsense asylum policy directing the flow of “asylum requests” to our points of entry. Northern California District Judge Jon Tigar and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals violated all rules of standing, 200 years of precedent, and John Roberts’ own recent opinion on presidential power to regulate or exclude entry into the country, yet Roberts refused to join the four conservatives in summarily staying the injunction.

In once again allowing the lower courts to reign freely, Roberts is not only perpetuating the shutdown of our border but the shutdown of the Supreme Court itself. What is the purpose of the Supreme Court if it only encroaches on the powers of the other branches but won’t police its own inferior courts when they violate all legal norms? Let’s review the unprecedented insanity of this case:

1) Four left-wing advocacy groups were given standing to sue on behalf of caravans that are literally not even in our country simply because they asserted that their institutions must expend more resources educating their clients on the new policy. It would be equivalent to Conservative Review obtaining standing because we have to expend more resources explaining the new policies we don’t like to our readers. This is perhaps the most absurd violation of Article III standing in recent memory, yet Roberts allows it to continue. Putting immigration aside, the precedent this will set on the parameters of standing will ensure that almost any political group can sue any abstract policy without any valid personal injury.

2) This was the first time a court blatantly limited the president’s power to exclude aliens, even after Roberts himself said in Trump v. Hawaii that the power was very broad.

3) The court, for the first time, is signaling that asylum is somehow a mandatory policy.

4) The court, for the first time, is interfering with sensitive ongoing diplomatic negotiations with the government of Mexico.

5) This was yet another illegal nationwide injunction that has already caused immeasurable damage to our entire sovereignty and security. To allow this injunction to stand means Roberts agrees with universal injunctions, agrees with the merits of the case, or has no problem allowing such national security harm even when he knows the ruling is wrong.

If you put all the recent court decisions on immigration together, it’s now clear why we have an invasion. One district judge said that children must be released. Then another one said parents must be released with the children. Then a district judge in D.C. said the definition of asylum must be expanded to Obama’s policy, beyond an individual fear of persecution. Now a district judge is being allowed to sustain a ruling that Trump can’t even request that they come to the points of entry.

Left-wing legal groups, some of whom are tied to those organizing the caravans, have thought of a way to challenge every single denial of entry and deportation. Even when they lose on one, they come back for more. All it takes is one district judge in one bad circuit to automatically win the first two steps of litigation for them, permanently alter national border policy by applying it nationwide, and encourage a massive rush at our border. Now that Roberts has signaled to the lower courts that he will not police them, they will be even more emboldened to come up with innovative ways to shut down border enforcement.

Now, even after we succeed in denying illegal immigrants’ asylum petitions, judges are making ICE wait to deport them until the lawyers adjudicate separate asylum claims for each member of the family! On Monday, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that ICE could not deport an asylum applicant who got her day in court and lost because her daughter was remaining here and would be left alone. But the daughter only remains here on her own volition because her lawyers are filing separate asylum claims for the daughter. This in itself should demonstrate the absurdity of these asylum claims, because it’s almost impossible to have a parent who is not persecuted but a daughter in the same family who is.

Roberts is making it clear that he has no problem with violating rules of standing, ignoring 200 years of sovereignty doctrine in the courts, and expanding the practice of universal injunctions, which Justice Thomas called unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, the border flow, and all its cascading ills both for Americans and the migrants, grows with every court ruling:

Folks, that is the true government shutdown.

But it gets worse. The more the courts encourage the border rush, the less detention space we have even for the people we can still detain without catch-and-release, forcing ICE to release even more people. They are using our own system against us. ICE announced this week it has released another 200 migrants into our country at El Paso.

The media might try to keep this information from Americans, but the millions of potential migrants around the world hear about this news on TV and on their phones.

We no longer control our own destiny. Foreign nationals and lower courts now control the future orientation of our society. This is the government shutdown: The federal government either can’t or won’t protect us from invasion and foreign threats. One of the core reasons why we switched from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution was to better control immigration and the sovereignty of the entire union from “the intrusion of obnoxious aliens through other States,” in the words of Madison. Writing in Federalist #42, Madison elaborates that the federal power over naturalization solved “a very serious embarrassment” and “defect” of the Articles of Confederation whereby “certain descriptions of aliens, who had rendered themselves obnoxious” can force themselves on several states had they “acquired the character of citizens under the laws of another State.”

Now we are to believe that the ACLU, millions of migrants, and forum-shopped lower courts created by Congress can shut down the other branches of government.

This is why there is no better or more cost-effective enforcement mechanism than a fixed, impenetrable deterrent that prevents illegals from stepping foot on our soil in the first place. It solves the political and legal arguments about deportation that invariably come into play the minute they enter our country. But at some point, if we don’t reclaim power from the courts, they will start granting standing to everyone, even on the other side of the border wall. (For more from the author of “The Federal Courts Have Shut Down Our ENTIRE Government” please click HERE)

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Customers With Guns Surround Men Trying to Steal From Store

By AP. Authorities say two men were surrounded by customers with guns while attempting to steal tools from a Washington store. . .

The men walked out of the store and got into a Honda Civic, only to be surrounded by about six customers with guns raised.

Court documents say the driver pulled forward, causing one man confronting him to land on the hood.

(Read more from “Customers With Guns Surround Men Trying to Steal From Store” HERE)

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The Plan Was to Steal Tools. Then Customers Drew Their Guns

By Herald Net. The plan was simple: Steal tools and pawn them for money.

That’s what two men, 22 and 23, reportedly had in mind when they showed up to the Coastal Farm & Ranch store in Marysville on Saturday afternoon, according to a police report. They allegedly took four nail guns, each worth over $400, walked out of the store and got into a Honda Civic.

They didn’t expect to be surrounded by about six customers with guns raised. . .

An employee saw the car leaving and drove after the theft suspects. He said he saw one of the men lean out the passenger window and hold up what looked like a gun. The employee stopped chasing the men and went back to the store.

Marysville police found the theft suspects’ car unoccupied about three blocks away, with two flat tires and the tools inside. Both men were apprehended after a search. (Read more from “The Plan Was to Steal Tools. Then Customers Drew Their Guns” HERE)

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Trump’s Shutdown Shot: ‘Do Dems Realize Most People Not Getting Paid Are Democrats?’

President Trump on Thursday urged Senate Democratic lawmakers to relent in the shutdown fight over border security spending, and he jabbed them for furloughing government workers who tend to be Democrats.

“Have the Democrats finally realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country,” Mr. Trump tweeted.

The appeal belied the complete lack of negotiations. Both sides have dug into their positions and are bracing for the partial government shutdown to last into the new year when a new Congress with a House Democratic majority will enter the standoff. . .

It is the same case Mr. Trump has made since the partial shutdown standoff began nearly a week ago with his demand for roughly $5 billion in border security funding that includes a wall or barrier on the southern border. . .

The president also asked Democrats if they were aware of whom was going without pay while 25 percent of the federal government is shuttered. (Read more from “Trump’s Shutdown Shot: ‘Do Dems Realize Most People Not Getting Paid Are Democrats?'” HERE)

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If Russian Bot Tactics Didn’t Defeat Roy Moore, They Didn’t Defeat Hillary Clinton

It turns out the Russians aren’t the only ones who know how to employ the Internet for political dirty tricks. As The New York Times reported in a front-page story on December 20, Russian bots were part of what the newspaper called a “secret experiment” in Alabama during the special Senate election won by Democrat Doug Jones in December 2017.

The tale involves a cyber-security firm that has played a role in hyping the claim that foreign intervention “influenced” the 2016 presidential election. It sought to duplicate the scheme in order to help Jones defeat Roy Moore. Although the Times dismisses the effort as “too small to have a significant impact on the race,” it acknowledged that the scheme, which involved fake Facebook and Twitter accounts, was patterned after the Russian meddling in American elections the year before. . .

What is most interesting about this “experiment” is that among its architects was the head of a firm that “wrote a scathing account of Russia’s social media operations in the 2016 election that was released this week by the Senate Intelligence Committee.” The Times obtained a report on the effort led by Jonathon Morgan of the New Knowledge cyber security firm. It detailed their efforts to mislead Alabama voters and thus aid Jones.

Both the Times and supporters of Jones are correct when they assert that this plot didn’t influence the outcome of the Alabama election even though the Democrat wound up winning by less than 22,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million votes cast. But there are two significant conclusions that can be drawn from the newspaper’s exhaustive account of the Democrats’ attempt to mimic Russian tactics. . .

The problem with many assumptions about 2016 is that there is no evidence significant numbers of voters were persuaded to think ill of Hillary Clinton only because of obscure posts by Russian bot accounts. Those false flag efforts were merely seconding the message voters got from many other sources that highlighted Clinton’s shortcomings, misleading statements about her emails, and other issues, including in many instances the mainstream media. (Read more from “If Russian Bot Tactics Didn’t Defeat Roy Moore, They Didn’t Defeat Hillary Clinton” HERE)

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Social Security Hits Kids With $100,000 Bill After ‘Dead’ Father Turns up Alive 47 Years Later

In 1968, a 39-year-old funeral director named Douglas Grensted disappeared while on a hunting trip, leaving behind a wife and two young daughters. A decade later, he was declared legally dead, and Social Security paid his family about $100,000 in survivors’ benefits.

So imagine their shock when they discovered in 2016 that he had been alive all that time — and not only that, the Social Security Administration wanted its money back.

Now the daughters, both in their 60s, worry that they may lose their family home to pay for the fraud perpetrated by their father, who admitted to federal authorities that he ran off to Arizona with his mistress after faking his own death. He died in December 2015. . .

The daughters have asked the Social Security Administration to waive the debt. They were relieved when Administrative Law Judge T. Patrick Hannon ruled that her mother, Barbara Grensted, could repay the $87,000 she owed in increments of $10 per month until her death, at which point the balance would be erased.

When Mrs. Grensted died two months later at the age of 89, however, the judge reversed his ruling. In an Oct. 24 decision, he ordered the balance to be paid by her estate, which is tied up in a trust but includes the house she had long shared with her daughter Beth Grensted, 63, in Mount Hermon, California. (Read more from “Social Security Hits Kids With $100,000 Bill After ‘Dead’ Father Turns up Alive 47 Years Later” HERE)

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Suspect in Fatal Cop Shooting Is in U.S. Illegally

The suspect sought in connection with the murder of a California cop earlier this week is in the U.S. illegally, authorities revealed on Thursday.

The unidentified man alleged to be behind the slaying of Newman police Cpl. Ronil Singh, 33, “is considered armed and dangerous,” Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said during a news conference on Thursday afternoon, vowing that the manhunt would “relentlessly continue.” . . .

Singh was shot and killed during a traffic stop just before 1 a.m. Wednesday in Newman, about 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, according to police.

Singh had called in the traffic stop and reported “shots fired” over his radio a few minutes later, sheriff’s officials previously said. The suspect fled when backup officers arrived to assist Singh, who was then rushed to a hospital. He later died from his gunshot wounds, the department said.

Surveillance photos released of the suspect showed him inside the Newman Food Store shortly before the fatal attack. Police also located the truck the suspect is believed to have driven.

(Read more from “Suspect in Fatal Cop Shooting Is in U.S. Illegally” HERE)

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Sarah Sanders Reveals Touching Moment With U.S. Soldier — His Reason for Joining Army Will Give You Chills

By The Daily Caller. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders shared details of a “powerful” moment between President Donald Trump and a U.S. soldier in Iraq on Wednesday. . .

According to Sanders, the young Army member rejoined the military because of President Donald Trump’s election.

Trump allegedly replied, “And I am here because of you.” (Read more from “Sarah Sanders Reveals Touching Moment With U.S. Soldier — His Reason for Joining Army Will Give You Chills” HERE)
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Powerful: U.S. Soldier Tells Trump He Returned to Serve in the Military Because of Him

By Washington Examiner. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday shared behind-the-scenes images of President Trump’s first visit to a war zone as commander in chief, including one memorable exchange with a soldier.

“Powerful moment – Member of United States Army told the President he came back into the military because of him. And President Trump responded, ‘And I am here because of you,'” Sanders tweeted of Trump’s trip to Iraq. “I met him after and he gave me the patch from his arm. Incredible.” . . .

Trump’s Middle East travels comes after he had been widely criticized for being the first president since 2002 not to spend time with military personnel during the holiday season. It also followed his announcement last week that he intended to withdraw troops from neighboring Syria and nearby Afghanistan. (Read more from “Powerful: U.S. Soldier Tells Trump He Returned to Serve in the Military Because of Him” HERE)

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Trump Visits U.S. Troops in Iraq for First Trip to a Conflict Zone

By The Washington Post. President Trump greeted U.S. troops on an unannounced trip Wednesday to Iraq, where he defended his decision to withdraw forces from neighboring Syria and declared that the Islamic State is “very nearly defeated” while making his first visit to a conflict zone as commander in chief. . .

After months of public pressure for him to spend time with troops deployed to conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia, Trump touched down at the joint U.S.-Iraqi base west of Baghdad after a secret flight from Washington.

Accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, the president sounded a triumphant note as he addressed U.S. service members on the day after Christmas. “We’re no longer the suckers, folks,” he said. And he warned that he was committed to withdrawing troops from foreign wars even when his administration’s experts object. (Read more from “Trump Visits U.S. Troops in Iraq for First Trip to a Conflict Zone” HERE)

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