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REPORT: Democrats Trigger Schumer-Led Government Shutdown With No Exit Plan in Sight

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As the clock ticks down to a midnight government shutdown, Senate Democrats — led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — are poised to filibuster a clean, short-term spending bill, virtually guaranteeing a lapse in government funding. Despite the looming crisis, Democrats are offering no clear path to end the shutdown they are helping to initiate.

The Republican-sponsored measure would have kept the government funded through November 21, buying more time for negotiations. But Democrats, demanding $1.5 trillion in unrelated policy concessions, have refused to support the extension — despite not presenting a viable alternative.

“It’s right now impossible to say — there are about 20 different possible exit ramps — some of them good, some of them troubling,” admitted Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) when asked about the Democrats’ strategy.

Hours before the deadline, even Senate Republicans were left baffled by the Democrats’ lack of a coherent plan to end the shutdown once it begins.

“I don’t think my Democratic friends have thought through how to get this thing back open,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). “And I don’t think they have thought through what I believe the OMB Director is going to do while the government is shut down.”

Kennedy warned that the Trump administration could leverage the shutdown to reduce federal workforce numbers or cut funding to programs typically favored by Democrats — actions that could become permanent.

President Donald Trump echoed those concerns from the Oval Office on Tuesday, hinting that the administration may take aggressive action during the shutdown.

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for [Democrats] and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out … cutting programs that they like,” Trump said.

Despite Democrats’ resistance, the White House appears ready to let the shutdown run its course — potentially using the opportunity to trim federal programs long targeted by conservatives.

While Democrats are blocking the clean resolution, they’re simultaneously placing the blame for the shutdown on Trump and Republican lawmakers.

“I’ll quote President Trump as he’s said repeatedly, ‘It’s the responsibility of the president to keep the government open.’ Those are his words. I believe him,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). “They control every part of the government. It’s the president’s job.”

Meanwhile, others like Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are banking on Republicans eventually buckling to Democrat demands. “At some point they’re going to come to the table realistically because there’ll be such mounting pressure,” Blumenthal said.

Those demands include reversing cuts to foreign aid, restoring public broadcasting funds, and extending COVID-era healthcare subsidies that are not set to expire until year’s end.

Photo credit: Flickr

Democrats Introduce Bill That Would Add a 51st State

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House and Senate Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.

The measure was reintroduced in the House by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, and its companion was unveiled in the Senate by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. As of Tuesday evening, Norton said that she had more than 200 co-sponsors in the House.

“There’s never been a time when statehood for the District was more likely,” Norton said in a statement, adding the bill was passed by the House last year for the first time and now had a “record” 202 co-sponsors. With the Senate companion bill also gaining co-sponsors, “we’re ready to achieve voting representation and full local self-government for the 712,000+ residents of the District of Columbia,” she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have committed to bringing the bill to the floor for a vote, Norton said. She added that with Democrats in the majority in the House and the Senate, and with President Joe Biden’s support, “this is the time we can finally correct this historic injustice and give D.C. residents the same rights as other taxpaying Americans.” (Read more from “Democrats Introduce Bill That Would Add a 51st State” HERE)

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Senate Democrats Plan Maneuver to Allow Obama to Raise Debt Ceiling

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Photo Credit: abangbay @ MalaysiaSenate Democrats say they’ll advance a bill giving President Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling unless two-thirds of Congress disapproves, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

The issue of increasing the borrowing limit and avoiding an unprecedented default is fast becoming a central focus in Washington — and comes as ordinary Americans say they’re deeply dismayed with the week-old government shutdown, and are finding blame with both Republicans and Democrats.

“It looks like there is more than enough blame to go around and both parties are being hurt by the shutdown,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

An initial test vote on the proposal, described by the aide on condition of anonymity, could occur as soon as Oct. 11, just six days before federal borrowing authority is set to expire.

Democrats have been pressing for a one-year increase in the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt ceiling without any of the spending cuts of policy changes Republicans are demanding.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Democrats Would Increase Taxes — And The National Debt

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Photo Credit: Cliff Owen

Before Wednesday it had been more than 1,400 days since Senate Democrats had produced a federal budget. After only a few hours of Senate Budget Committee testimony, it quickly became apparent why they waited so long.

Now that Obamacare has become law, it is impossible for Democrats to put together a tax-and-spending plan that does not increase taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars yet still add trillions to the national debt.

The Democrats are so eager to raise both taxes and spending that the budget plan they submitted yesterday for the next fiscal year increases spending this year by $46 billion. Then they hike spending another $116 billion next year on their way to a 60 percent increase over the next 10 years.

To put that in perspective, the budget submitted Tuesday by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., increases spending by just 40 percent over that same time frame. The Ryan budget, which returns federal spending to its post-World War II historical average, calls for outlays of $41.5 trillion over 10 years. That’s $4.9 trillion less than the Democratic total of $46.4 trillion.

In addition to historically high government spending, the Democratic budget also raises taxes by $1 trillion starting immediately. Thanks to the weakest economic recovery since World War II, federal taxes as a percentage of GDP are still below historic norms. But as the economy improves, Democrats steadily ramp up the government tax burden, reaching a high of 19.8 percent in 2023. Only once since World War II — right before the tech bubble collapsed in 2000 — has the nation’s tax burden ever been that high.

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressional Dereliction: Senate Democrats Vow to Support Executive Fiat on Debt Ceiling

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Senate Democratic leaders have sent a letter to President Obama pledging their support if he raises the nation’s $16.4 trillion debt ceiling unilaterally in the face of Republican resistance.

Support has been growing among Democrats in Congress for Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment or another legal justification for expanding the nation’s borrowing authority without congressional approval.

“In the event that Republicans make good on their threat by failing to act, or by moving unilaterally to pass a debt limit extension only as part of unbalanced or unreasonable legislation, we believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democratic leaders wrote in a letter dated Jan. 11.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray (Wash.) signed the letter.

Read more from this story HERE.