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Shutdown or not to Shutdown - that is the question [1]

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Date: 2025-03-13

Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor, and on Chris Hayes' MSNBC show, that the choices the Senate faces on Friday are both terrible. He has decided to support voting for the continuing resolution that the Republicans have passed in the House, as bad as it is.

Senator Schumer says that a government shutdown is exactly what Trump, Musk, and Vought want. It would give them the chance to eliminate even more than what they've been able to get away with. Being the executive, Trump could determine what exactly are classified as essential services.

Employees are not essential if a government agency is not operating, would be one logic. Federal courts that are blocking his initiatives are suddenly non-essential.

That's what the executive does in a shutdown. Trump can determine what is essential to keep the government from self-imploding.

The other option that Chuck Schumer didn't bring up, was a one month clean continuing resolution. By a clean continuing resolution, what is meant is continuing the government at its current financing rate on all fronts. That month could be used to negotiate a real appropriations bill with Democratic input.

This is the real, and only viable answer. Both the government shutdown and the current form of the Republican continuing resolution are unacceptable.

It's all up to the Senate. Will Schumer get six Democrats to join him? This time, nothing is certain. Will the clean 30 day clean resolution get discussed, passed, and sent back to the House?

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, speaking to Jonathan Capehart, said the two current options are untenable. Allow the six month CR in it's current form, there are no guarantees that even the money it appropriates will be spent.

The other problem with the current CR is that the money appropriated is not specifically ear-marked for states or specific projects. This means that the whole budget is a slush fund for Trump. He can send money to red states and withhold from blue states.

This is why this continuing resolution cannot be passed. It gives Trump another six months to wreck the country. Let Trump win now and it will never stop.

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