Fighting Back: Giant orange toddler in the White House shuts down the government.

 
 

The Weekly Democratic Party Address was delivered by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the “leader” of the Senate Democrats. Something something “this shall not stand!”, says man with no power and questionable negotiating skills.

(Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Delivers Weekly Democratic Address)

“This may have been the most chaotic week of what’s undoubtedly the most chaotic presidency ever… All of this turmoil is causing chaos in the markets, chaos abroad, and it’s making the United States less prosperous and less secure. And to top it all off, President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening towards a Trump shutdown over Christmas,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “[T]here are several ways for President Trump and Congressional Republicans to avoid a shutdown over Christmas. But there is only one way that we will have a Trump shutdown: if President Trump clings to his position for an unnecessary, ineffective, taxpayer-funded border wall that he promised Mexico would pay for.”

(CSPAN link to Weekly Democratic Address: here)

There is no transcript for Senator Schumer’s address because Senate Democratic leadership has no functioning press office. Here is a transcript provided by Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi’s office of a joint press conference she and Senator Schumer held in the run-up to the shutdown vote in the House.

Joint Statement from Leaders Pelosi and Schumer Statement on Trump Government Shutdown

Washington, D.C – Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of House Republicans’ planned vote to have a Trump Shutdown of the federal government.

Speaker-designate Pelosi. Good evening. For a number of weeks now, House and Senate Democrats and Republicans have worked together to put together an appropriations bill to meet the needs of the American people and now to keep government open. Somehow or other, and I don’t know what the answer to the question is, the President of the United States prefers to shut government down and will resist any opportunity to keep government open.

Again, we are completely ready, as we have been for a while, with bipartisan, bicameral legislation to pass six appropriations bill and have a continuing resolution for the seventh bill if we cannot come to terms on that. We’ve offered that to the President. We’ve with also offered him seven – one continuing resolution with seven bills in it.

Yesterday the United States Senate passed legislation overwhelmingly, and I’ll yield to the distinguished Leader in the Senate to talk about that. The President is doing everything that he can to shut the government down. We have to ask the question, why does he not believe in governance? Does he not care about the American people? Doesn’t he know that the economy is uncertain? Hasn’t he followed the stock market that he likes to brag about sometimes? There is something wrong with this picture.

Especially in the holiday season, and so if they make the bill bad enough, if they’re able to get maybe enough votes on the House side for a shameful bill that is unworthy of this House of Representatives and certainly of the American people, but I yield to the distinguished Leader from the Senate.

Senator Schumer. Well, thank you, Leader Pelosi. Now, today’s events have made one thing clear, President Trump is plunging the country into chaos. The stock market’s down another 500 points. General Mattis is stepping down, and we know he has real disagreements with the President on Syria and on the wall. And now, President Trump is throwing a temper tantrum and creating the Trump Shutdown of the government.

Last night, the Senate passed, by voice, unanimously, a bill proposed by Leader McConnell. All Speaker Ryan has to do is put it on the Floor of the House. It’ll get a majority of votes, and the President can sign it and avoid a shutdown, but unfortunately, President Trump was attacked this morning and last night by the hard right. And, fearful, he backed off his commitment to sign this bill.

Republican leaders told us yesterday that he was ready to sign the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate unanimously. Every Democrat and every Republican voted to avoid a government shutdown. The bill contained neither Democratic demands nor Republican demands. It said to the American people: we have a way to keep the government open. And Leader Pelosi, Leader McConnell and myself have done everything we can to avoid a shutdown, but President Trump wants one. He’s asked for one 25 times, and he said in front of us he’d be proud to shut down the government. It is nothing to be proud of.

The bottom line is simple: the Trump temper tantrum will — he said in front of us he’d be proud to shut down the government. It is nothing to be proud of. The bottom line is simple: the Trump temper tantrum will shut down the government, but it will not get him his wall. The bill that’s on the Floor of the House, everyone knows will not pass the Senate.

Speaker Ryan, Leader McCarthy have cynically put it on the Floor of the House knowing it can’t pass the Senate. Everyone knows it can’t pass the Senate – it’s a cynical attempt, a cynical attempt to just hurt innocent people and do just what President Trump wants even though they probably know it’s bad for the country.

More at the link including press questioning.

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Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi’s weekly news conference from Thursday:

Transcript: Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference

Speaker-designate Pelosi. I’m watching the House, as I’m sure you are as well, postponing business until later.

‘Donald’s right. I agree with him.’ Putin. ‘Donald’s right. I agree with him.’ Putin.

Imagine. That is the comment of Vladimir Putin on the actions taken by the President of the United States in relationship to Syria. An action that was taken without the benefit of the thinking of our national security establishment and our intelligence community included in that. A decision made in a cavalier fashion in terms of our allies in the fight against terrorism. A decision that is dangerous. And a decision that is a Christmas present to Vladimir Putin, to give him license in Syria.

It comes at the expense of the Kurds, who are fighting with us there against terrorism, and with several very serious questions.

The good news is, and the bad news is, that perhaps the President will forget about it by the weekend – or maybe he won’t. But whatever it is, it’s frivolous, unworthy of our men and women in uniform.

At the same time, the Administration is now deciding they will make an assault on poor people in America. It’s one of their regular themes. It’s our understanding that they’ll shortly, by executive order, undo the bipartisan agreement that was reached, House and Senate, in the Farm Bill in terms of nutrition for people in America. They will undo that. Why? Why, at Christmas, would you take food out of the mouths of the American people?

At the same time, as you see, the GOP lawsuit on the Affordable Care Act had its day in court. It’s a day in court that they may rue, because certainly we will fight the decision of that court.

But what’s interesting about it is, since that decision the number of enrollments went up. Maybe 10 days ago we thought that there would be a drastic reduction in enrollment in this week. Four million, since that time, four million – more than four million people enrolled.

It’s still down, because they have stopped their outreach and the rest, but it went down from what we anticipated might be ten million, a 10 percent reduction, but four million more people signing up.

Everybody knows the name Jakelin now. A little girl, started her journey at 6 years old, now 7, died with an over 105 degree temperature in the custody of the Border Patrol. The President wants to build walls, physical walls, at the same time he’s building walls around the hearts of some people in our country.

It’s interesting because the evangelical community, which had been champions of welcoming people to our country, have testified in public that the U.S. refugee resettlement program is ‘the crown jewel of American humanitarianism’ – ‘the crown jewel of American humanitarianism.’ And yet this President, either not knowing the law of the land or not caring about it, has policies implemented that do not meet a standard.

I mean, I keep asking people to read Ronald Reagan’s last speech as President of the United States. I’ve said it to you a number of times. I won’t go through the whole thing again except to say how much he appreciated the value that newcomers bring to America.

So here we are. Republicans are in a state of disarray. We don’t know what will happen next. Later, after some things happen, I’ll come back and talk to you about the continuing resolution and where we will go from here. But for now, I’ll take questions on these other subjects.

Yes, ma’am?

Press questioning followed (see transcript)

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GOP Steers America Into Chaos, Trump Shutdown

Yesterday, House Republicans voted for a Trump Shutdown of the federal government. And now – knowing that he doesn’t have the votes in the Senate to fund his immoral, ineffective and expensive wall – President Trump is throwing a tantrum, threatening a “very long” shutdown.

The economy is shaky. The markets are spooked. And hundreds of thousands of families are suddenly at risk of losing their paychecks in the middle of the holiday season. But when asked about the consequences, House Republican Rep. Scott Perry replied, “Who’s living that they’re not going to make it to the next paycheck?”

Republicans need to remember whose lives they are playing with if they choose to follow President Trump into a pointless, destructive shutdown:

More than 800,000 federal employees will be forced to go without pay over the holidays – including 420,000 federal employees who still have to show up to work, including:

– More than 41,000 Federal Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers, including:

o 13,709 FBI agents

o 3,600 deputy U.S. Marshals

o 4,399 DEA agents

o 2,614 ATF agents

o 16,742 Bureau of Prisons correctional officers

– Up to 88 Percent of Department of Homeland Security Employees, including:

o 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs officers

o 42,000 Coast Guard employees

o 53,000 TSA employees

o 5,815 Secret Service employees, including Secret Service agents (including President Trump’s detail) and Uniformed Division Officers (i.e. the ones who protect the White House and the Vice President’s residence)

– As many as 6,000 Forest Service Firefighters

Here are some of the other projected impacts of the Trump Shutdown:

Public Safety Will Be Undermined. State and local law enforcement training programs will be stopped. The Department of Justice’s civil litigation efforts against bad actors will halt. Payments to crime victims will stop.

American Diplomats Will Be Put At Risk. A Trump shutdown will make it harder for the Department of State to physically protect diplomatic personnel and facilities overseas. It will also limit the State Department’s critical risk assessments that inform advisory warnings for American tourists traveling abroad.

Food Safety Inspections Will Be Significantly Curtailed. During a shutdown, the FDA is unable to support the majority of its food safety activities. It has to curtail its inspections of domestic food facilities. For example, in the 16-day GOP shutdown in 2013, the FDA had to delay nearly 360 food safety inspections.

Consumer Protection Efforts and Identity Theft Victim Services Will Be Stopped. Most staff at the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission will be furloughed. Many services for identify theft victims will halt. In addition, customer service at the IRS will be suspended.

All Visitor Services in the National Parks Will Be Suspended. While the Trump Administration is claiming that the National Parks will be “open” in a shutdown (on the grounds that there will not be barriers put up to prevent entry), the fact is that there will be no services for visitors to National Park Service sites – with restrooms, visitors’ centers, and interpretative programs all closed during a shutdown. The vast majority of National Park Service employees will be furloughed. Also, law enforcement staffing will be sharply curtailed, so visitors’ safety will be put at risk.

During A Difficult Time for Farmers, Critical Services Will Be Stopped. As farmers begin to make their plans for next year’s planting season, the Department of Agriculture will be forced to close Farm Service county offices throughout the nation and stop providing aid to farmers already hard hit by the Trump trade war. With the dramatic drop in commodity prices brought on by the trade war, many farmers have had to rely on USDA as their lender of last resort to help pay the bills and stay afloat.

Enforcing Financial Sanctions Against Countries Such as Syria, Russia, and Iran Will Be Curtailed. During the shutdown, nearly all of the staff of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), which implements the U.S. government’s financial sanctions against such countries as Syria, Russia, and Iran, will be furloughed. As a result, OFAC’s core functions are mostly stopped, including investigating and penalizing sanctions violations and issuing new sanctions prohibitions and guidelines.

Small Business Loans Will Be Halted. A shutdown halts federal loans to small businesses. During a shutdown, the Small Business Administration stops approving applications for small businesses to obtain loans and loan guarantees, which typically amount to $1 billion per month. For example, during the 16-day GOP shutdown in 2013, the SBA was unable to process about 700 applications for $140 million in small business loans.

Some U.S. Exports Will Be Delayed in the Middle of the Holiday Season. For example, the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is unable to issue export certifications for beer, wine and distilled spirits during a shutdown because their staff is furloughed. During the 16-day GOP shutdown in 2013, the Bureau failed to respond to 100 requests from 65 businesses for these certifications. As a result, more than two million liters of U.S. products were left sitting in ports, unable to ship.

Home Mortgage Applications Will Be Slowed. In a shutdown, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will see significant delays in loan processing and approvals, due to the required furloughs of most employees. Thousands of people trying to buy a new home or refinance a FHA-insured mortgage will be put on standby.

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