As a rule of thumb, ‘does it make Nancy Pelosi smile’ is a good way to test your political ideas for inherent flaws.
If that holds true, the new budget is deeply flawed.
There was a showdown over Shutting down the government…
And Republicans blinked first.
The Democrats are positively CROWING about it.
Democrats think they have set the stage to block President Trump’s legislative priorities for years to come by winning major concessions in a spending bill to keep the government open.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) secured nearly $5 billion in new domestic spending by exploiting disagreements between Trump and GOP lawmakers over spending priorities.
Democrats’ lopsided victory on the five-month deal, which is likely to be approved this week, means it will be very difficult — if not impossible — for the GOP to exert its will in future budget negotiations, including when it comes to Trump’s 2018 budget blueprint.
…I think we had a strategy and it worked,” Schumer said in an interview with The Washington Post. “Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate were closer to one another than Republicans were to Donald Trump.”
The extra money for domestic programs will now be that much harder to strip out of future budgets, and Trump’s priorities, such as money for a wall along the border with Mexico, could be more difficult to include. — WaPo
What was the Republican response?
We couldn’t do anything without their help.
Oh, really? The minority party held THAT much power? Wouldn’t that mean that REPUBLICANS held that same kind of power — but refused to apply it — when Democrats were in office, racking up debts, and neglecting important priorities?
Let’s call this what it is. Democrats were not afraid to shut down the government to get what they wanted. And Republicans still haven’t figured out that shutdowns aren’t as scary as we make them out to be.
In fact, they are an OPPORTUNITY to show the nation how much of the government’s daily operations are completely irrelevant to our lives, and worth considering for the chopping block.
For one thing…
Language in the deal explicitly prohibits money for border security from being used for building the wall, for instance. Trump has said he plans to revive the push this fall. —WaPo
And yet Planned Parenthood will not lose a penny of funding.
Does that seem right to you?
When they come back in the fall, are they going to play to win? Or will they continue to entrench Democrat priorities?
