* Governor JB Pritzker…
Today, Governor JB Pritzker released the following statement ahead of the U.S. Senate vote on the Continuing Resolution:
“Republicans in Congress have abdicated their responsibility to critically evaluate the damage Donald Trump is doing to critical services the American people need. Democrats have the ability to force bipartisanship and bring the two sides together to make a budget that reflects priorities we all ought to share.
“America was founded on the concept of checks and balances, but Republicans in Congress have decided to bend their knee to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their cronies who seek to gut our government from the inside out. It is dangerous.
“Illinoisans know all too well what happens when Republicans are reckless and play politics with people’s livelihood. Veterans will have trouble getting healthcare. Workers will lose jobs when infrastructure projects grind to a halt. Preschools will lose teachers and parents will be left without childcare. Make no mistake: people will suffer the consequences of their negligence.
“Democrats have the power to stop the cessation of power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk and they should use it. I urge a no vote on the Continuing Resolution.”
…Adding… CNN…
Veteran Democrats privately believed Chuck Schumer’s decision on the shutdown was inevitable. Others were ready for the top Senate Democrat to lead them into their first big battle against President Donald Trump — and instead have been left fuming.
Schumer’s declaration Thursday night that he would vote for Republicans’ stopgap spending bill, backing down in the party’s first big leverage point in President Donald Trump’s second term has confirmed a dire political reality for his caucus: Democrats had no good options left to avert a government shutdown with just hours to go until the deadline.
“If we go into a shutdown, and I told my caucus this, there’s no off-ramp. The total off-ramp of a shutdown, how you stop a shutdown, is totally determined by the Republican House and Senate, and that is totally determined because they’ve shown complete blind obeisance [to] Trump, DOGE, etc. They could keep us in a shutdown for months and months and months,” Schumer told reporters Thursday night.
The Democratic leader’s decision privately disappointed many in his caucus, and stunned his House colleagues across the US Capitol — leaving the party deeply divided on the path ahead at a moment when their base is clamoring for a strong response against Trump and Elon Musk’s actions to radically reshape the federal government.
…Adding… Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton…
“In less than 55 days, our nation has watched the reckless dissolution of America’s most basic foundations. Republican Congressmembers have chosen to ignore the needs of their constituents to appease Donald Trump and his toy soldier, Elon Musk. Democrats have an opportunity to start healing the divide that has ripped through our nation by bringing true public servants from both parties together to draft a budget that honors what our people have told us they want and need.
America’s brilliance is most visible in our moments of balance; Republicans are making a choice every day to silence what they know is right in their hearts for the sake of what they hope is right in the bank accounts of corporations.
Illinois is no stranger to the lasting effects of haphazard Republican experiments. We know what the proposed cuts will look like in action:
Students will fall behind and fail to meet standard benchmarks when their teachers are laid off; working parents will be forced to make up the gap in childcare; veterans will be turned away from doctors and stunned by prices at pharmacies; and families will continue to struggle to put food on the table. The people who will feel the most brutal effects of the GOP’s slash-and-burn approach are the same people who spend their days just trying to get by.
Democrats have a chance to stop this unconscionable submission to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s impulses. It’s time to start using the leverage we have. I join Governor Pritzker and strongly urge a no vote on the Continuing Resolution.”
…Adding… US Sen. Tammy Duckworth…
“I refuse to vote for Republicans’ highly-partisan slush fund bill that grants Donald Trump and co-President Elon Musk permission to continue rigging our government and our economy against the middle class. After weeks of an unelected billionaire taking a chainsaw to programs and services that millions depend on, Republicans are ramming through a bill that would greenlight more of the same chaos—and further cut programs for middle-class Americans, seniors and Veterans in order to carve out tax cuts for billionaires. Hell no, I cannot support that.
“Americans deserve so much better. Before the clock runs out, it’s time for Republicans to come back to the negotiating table that they walked away from and strike a bipartisan deal to keep our government open, invest in families and protect our national security. If they don’t, then make no mistake: Republicans own whatever outcome tomorrow may bring.”
…Adding… The Chicago Federation of Labor, Equality Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Personal PAC, and Sierra Club Illinois…
“In just two months, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have ransacked the federal government, causing untold damage to Chicagoans and people across the country. Their extreme agenda has wrecked the economy, targeted immigrants, undermined workers’ rights and women’s rights, endangered our environment, attacked LGBTQ+ people, and subverted the foundation of our democracy.
“Not only does the Continuing Resolution further cut services, it gives Trump and Musk explicit approval to continue to loot our government and corrode shared values. The spending bill is just an extension of the DOGE effort to purge the federal government to pay for massive tax breaks to billionaires. On behalf of the communities we represent, we urge the U.S. Senators from Illinois and across the country to reject the spending bill and vote no on cloture while working to avoid a government shutdown. We also thank the Illinois delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives for their opposition.”
…Adding… Some discussion in comments about cloture. Duckworth is a ‘No’ on that as well…
Also, Rich checked and the governor is urging a ‘No’ vote on cloture, too.
* Rich went over this topic with subscribers earlier today, including this…
…Adding… The Washington Post…
The spending bill expected to pass the Senate on Friday could bolster President Donald Trump’s push to wrest power away from Congress, giving the administration even greater control over the budget as he seeks to shrink the federal government.
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have aggressively pushed the legal limits of the president’s power over government spending, dismantling departments and eliminating hundreds, if not thousands, of federal functions without authorization by lawmakers. Although courts have blocked some of these moves, many congressional Democrats had hoped to use the deadline over government funding to force Republicans to reverse — or at least limit — the Trump administration’s unilateral cuts. […]
But the GOP-written spending bill, pushed through the House on a near party-line vote by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) earlier this week, could give Trump a freer hand to redirect funds as he sees fit, according to congressional Democrats and several nonpartisan budget experts. […]
Democrats had hoped to include language in the bill requiring Trump to spend all the money in the measure and potentially thwart the unilateral cuts Trump and Musk are pursuing to agencies like the Education Department and Social Security Administration. But because Johnson was able to persuade all but one House Republican to back the measure, the GOP didn’t need any Democratic votes — which meant Republicans didn’t need to negotiate over that language before sending the bill to the Senate.
…Adding… The American Federation of Government Employees…
- 312Lawyer - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:23 am:
JB is not built for this. The happy warrior stuff isn’t going to work.
I know what he is trying to do but he has no path in 2028. Stop wasting your breath and focus on the present problems.
- NIU Grad - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:24 am:
Has the Number 2 Democrat in the Senate/Senior Senator from Illinois/Possible candidate for Senate(?) chimed in at all on this?
- Anon221 - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:30 am:
I’m disappointed, too, of Schumer’s decision. But… that may be the best of all choices given what the White House and DOGE might try if a shutdown were to happen. The majority of Dems will still be able to vote No and place that on the record. Those that will join the Republicans in a Yes vote should not be shunned because their votes might actually provide more strength in the overall ability of Congress and the courts to hold the administration and its staff to some level of accountability.
From Politico-
One former Trump administration official, granted anonymity to share their insights, said that using a shutdown to accomplish the administration’s bureaucracy-slashing goals was a “crazy” strategy but one that could not entirely be ruled out.
The person said the White House could be “very comfortable” during a shutdown, which would give broad latitude to Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, and his budget director, Russ Vought, to make unilateral decisions about spending.
“It’s going to prove their point, if you only have essential employees and things work fine,” the former official said. “You could have a painless shutdown and prove a metaphorical point that we need less government.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/13/senate-democrats-vote-funding-bill-elon-musk-00229284
- Linda - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:33 am:
The Governor is right to take the fight to Trump. However, Democrats working to shut down government is fraught with peril…
Dems need to find issues that unite the party rather than promoting divisions within the party. Those issues, will no doubt, arise but finding those will require more patience.
I would be interested in hearing what the Democratic members of Illinois Congressional delegation and other pondering a run for federal office think about this issue and some of the obvious issues that currently create division within the party.
- Pundent - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:34 am:
I can understand the sentiment of the Democratic base particularly as it pertains to the devastating effects of the policy decisions coming from the White House. But the political instincts of the base are wrong. Government shutdowns accomplish nothing. And initiating one means wearing the jacket of this destruction. It won’t change any of the current policies. It will merely shift the blame.
We’re going to have turmoil for the immediate future. The Democrats need to clearly illustrate it’s cause and effects.
- 33rd ward - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:35 am:
No reason to shut everything down and make things even worse. I think DOGE would love that opportunity to go into agencies and do what they want. Plus, the Democratic Party has never been the shutdown party. Don’t want to start that now.
- Demoralized - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:37 am:
==Stop wasting your breath and focus on the present problems.==
He is. He wants to try and use leverage to stop the madness of what Trump is doing and also prevent the cuts that will automatically occur with this CR.
- Sterling - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:43 am:
=== But the political instincts of the base are wrong. ===
Evergreen Democratic Party sentiment.
- sulla - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:44 am:
The inability of the national Democrats to rise up and meet this terrifying moment is a failure of historical proportions.
We are talking “Gamelin/Reynaud/Daladier in the Spring of 1940″ levels of political incompetence here.
- bhartbanjo - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:44 am:
My knee-jerk reaction was “shut it down.” But, the Democratic Party is and should be the party of healthy government. A coordinated spread of yea and nay votes with enough yea to pass is probably the best game to play.
- Anyone Remember - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:48 am:
To those disappointed by Schumer’s actions, this was consistent with his past. Supporting Michael Mukasey for Attorney General. Joining “the sky is falling” crowd about trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court in New York City, a prominent reason Guantanamo wasn’t closed.
- Blue Dog - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:51 am:
Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:52 am:
“We’re going to have turmoil for the immediate future. The Democrats need to clearly illustrate it’s cause and effects.”
Interesting take. I would have thought the media had a responsibility to tell the American public the truth about what is happening to it. I guess it’s always on the democrats.
Both sides blah blah blah.
- Moe Berg - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:55 am:
Flashback all the way to Feb. 4 pathetic video of Schumer at the Treasury Department wanly, unconvincingly chanting “we will win” and “we won’t rest.”
He’s had weeks (months, really, since Nov. 5) to get a plan together. A leader in name only.
Even worse, the guy is starting a book tour next week. That seems to be the priority.
Shame on Durbin, another tired old man who’s not up to the moment, for abetting it.
- BE - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:55 am:
If the GOP is in charge, why would it be the Dem’s fault that the GOP can’t get something over the line? Why do the Dems have to sacrifice for the good of the billionaires, I mean, country?
Polling shows already that the blame of a shutdown now would be on the GOP and Trump, who already has the title of being in charge of the longest government shutdown to date, in his first term.
If DOGE is going to shut down departments anyhow, a gov shutdown won’t stop him. He’s already trying to pay fed workers to quit, not that I trust Musk or Trump to keep payment promises.
The stuff in the CR about tariffs and fed workers would be horrible if allowed, so what good thing would we actually be getting out of this if it passes?
- Charles Edward Cheese - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 9:57 am:
I can’t claim to really know the dynamics of how dangerous a shutdown would be, and how much chaos Trump, DOGE and Russ Vought could unleash, but by capitulating so blatantly Schumer is totally missing the moment to position the Democrats as a viable, living, breathing opposition party, and instead seems to be fine being branded Vichy Democrats.
Who are the Dem Senators who’d even need his cover to vote yes? Off the top of my head I can maybe think of only 3 or 4?
- Routine Commenter - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:00 am:
JB took over after a government shutdown. He saw the suffering that occurred to the everyday residents of Illinois who needed government assistance…..and now he is asking for a nationwide shutdown?!?! That is a moral decision that I did not believe he would choose.
- Pundent - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:01 am:
=I would have thought the media had a responsibility to tell the American public the truth about what is happening to it. I guess it’s always on the democrats.=
Exactly what media should be providing this truth? Our “news’ today consists of Fox, Facebook and Tik Tok. And last I checked the “media” isn’t appearing on a ballot. The Democratic party has to make it’s own case. Nobody will be doing it for them.
- Telly - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:01 am:
I personally feel the Dem’s urge to fight here, but I lack the certainty others seem to have, including the governor’s chief of staff (subscribers know more,) that a shut down is the right way to go.
Aren’t we against shut downs? Isn’t shutting down the federal government exactly what Trump and Musk want? Won’t a shut down only guarantee horribly negative financial impacts on local and state government services?
Again, I am struggling with this. Maybe shutting things down is the way to go. I just fear it might be a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face move.
- hisgirlfriday - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:04 am:
Schumer isn’t the Dem political leader we need right now if he ever was.
He is a relic of the pre-Act Blue Democratic Party and he should retire as his best politics skillset of raising a lot of $ for Dems from Wall Street is not what the opposition party needs in 2025.
He and Durbin need to look in the mirror, not only notice they are out of touch and old, but also take accountability for being political failures and move on to give new blood a shot to try to be winners.
As Dem Senate leaders they couldn’t get their fellow Democrats Manchin and Sinema on board for raising the minimum wage, for Pete’s sake. They couldn’t convince more than a handful of Republicans to convict Trump on either impeachment. And they are totally incapable as political athletes in driving a news cycle in a way that promotes Dems and punishes Trump and the Republicans.
They need to go away.
- 33rd Ward - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:16 am:
Why are people saying Schumer is voting for the CR when he’s only voting to end debate? That’s not the same thing.
- SN - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:19 am:
===Why are people saying Schumer is voting for the CR when he’s only voting to end debate? That’s not the same thing.===
Because Republicans have a majority in the Senate and if debate ends then they can pass the bill.
- Norseman - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:27 am:
Essentially, this is an admission that the Dems have no messaging. They have been unable to develop a message that will convince the public that this sacrifice will keep them from greater harm. A message that conveys that its critical to stop the MAGA GOP NOW.
Normally, I’d be on the don’t shut it down crowd side. But tell me when Schumer’s they’re crazy and there’s no off ramp calculation will not come into play. This can be said throughout the rest of this congress. When will the time be right to fight back against the bad guys?
When you have to sacrifice, do it early. Don’t forget Trump is already tanking the economy, a shutdown is not going to make things better him.
- NIU Grad - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:35 am:
“Government shutdowns accomplish nothing.”
That’s why the national GOP is in tatters after exploding the federal government for years…oh wait, they’re in charge of all branches of government and are reshaping it in their image.
National Democrats don’t have a message or anything they’re willing to fight for besides the status quo. Rolling over to maintain “stability” in the age of Trump will only solidify their role as the perpetual minority party. Voters don’t believe Democrats will fight for anything besides the institutions that they’ve been trained to distrust for decades because of the GOP messaging machine.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:38 am:
I’m glad IL’s governor understands the stakes. I wish IL’s Senators did.
There is no plausible excuse for Democrats handing the GOP a fast track/blank check for DOGE to continue its rampage.
The only real check on executive chaos is Congress and Democrats should be pulling every lever to force their GOP colleagues to act.
- Arsenal - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:43 am:
==The happy warrior stuff isn’t going to work.==
Get out of your bubble. Dems are eating up the stuff he’s doing.
==he has no path in 2028==
He’s perfectly viable in a primary. If he wins that, he’s got about a 50-50 shot of being POTUS.
- Norseman - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:44 am:
=== Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut. ===
Go in for a haircut, the barber gives you an unrequested mohawk.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:44 am:
===Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut.===
The Pentagon/military, social security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the debt comprise 90% of federal spending. Which of those do you want to cut?
- Timey Tim - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:48 am:
Just playing national politics. I thought shutting down the government was the end of the world.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:52 am:
To the update: I read Duckworth’s statement as STILL being a yes vote on cloture or at least giving her colleagues cover to vote that way, making her and them complicit in, as she puts it, “ramming” the bill through
- Bob - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:55 am:
Old guard Dems are a bunch of spoiled neoliberal hacks who have never had to fight for anything. This wouldn’t have happen if they hadn’t systematically removed every trace of the New Dealers from the party over decades of BAU.
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 10:58 am:
– Mr “I pledge not to sign a map drawn by politicians” coming out for checks and balances, bipartisanship and the rights of the minority party LOL –
To be fair, Illinois’ US Senate map is a pretty fair map.
- Remember the Alamo II - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:02 am:
=== The Pentagon/military, social security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the debt comprise 90% of federal spending. Which of those do you want to cut? ===
Cutting the Pentagon/Military budget sounds good to me.
- Steve - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:02 am:
I watched Senator Schumer on Chris Hayes’ show explain things. I didn’t know what to think until I saw the interview. Schumer convinced me that DOGE would love a shutdown because they could claim so much of the entire federal government is not essential and there’s nothing a federal judge can do about that (laying off huge parts of the government). The Democrats are in a bad situation here. Really bad. JB is wrong on this one. Schumer is right.
- Remember the Alamo II - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:04 am:
=== The only real check on executive chaos is Congress ===
Actually the Courts are the only check on Trump right now. Amy Coney Barrett is the most powerful woman in America right now.
- H-W - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:05 am:
I would seem a really bad, unforced error, if the Democrats do not reject this bill and force House Republicans to vote on the specific authorization of the Trump agenda. I cannot imagine Durbin or Duckworth voting to grant Trump free reign for 6-months. That’s a no-brainer.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:14 am:
==Actually the Courts are the only check on Trump right now.==
Actually what I said is perfectly true.
- Demoralized - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:16 am:
==Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut.==
Don’t be dense. This is about the WAY they are doing things. They are taking a sledgehammer to things without any sort of analysis. Stop arguing like a child.
- Earnest - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:18 am:
Thank you Governor Pritzker for speaking out on behalf of the Legislative branch being part of the checks and balances of the federal government. President Trump has been illegally withholding funding and laying off workers and allowing a CR to go through without reestablishing legislative authority in budget making is giving approval to that. Then the goalposts will have been moved before ever starting to work on the FY26 federal budget. For me I’ve having the same feeling about the Democratic Party that I had with the HRC when they endorsed Mark Kirk over Tammy Duckworth for Senate, and they lost me forever over that.
- the647 - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:20 am:
Recent criminal convictions aside, I wish the Senate Democrats had someone like Mike Madigan leading their caucus.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:21 am:
Schumer said shutting the government down would be more harmful than passing the funding resolution. People who lived through the Rauner budget sabotage and past Republican DC shutdowns should have a memory of how terrible they were. What good will it do Democrats politically to harm so many people via a shutdown? Appease those who wouldn’t vote for them anyway? Many brought cuts on themselves because they didn’t vote for Democrats in the first place. The geniuses should form a political party, win elections and finally show Democrats how it’s really done.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:23 am:
- Schumer convinced me that DOGE would love a shutdown -
Then why are Trump and the republicans in lockstep supporting the CR? Do you realize how dumb Schumers logic is?
- Steve - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:26 am:
At the end of the day the Democrats have to win elections to control the House and or the Senate next cycle. What they tried in 2024 didn’t work. How many people who watch politics thought a conviction felon would come back to the White House with a House and a Senate when the stock market was making all time highs right before the election???
- Payback - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:27 am:
“America was founded on the concept of checks and balances..” sez Pritzker the billionaire limousine liberal who sits atop a Dem supermajority in Illinois. The lack of self-awareness from machine Dems makes me question whether Chicago is still a hick cow town. Workers of the World Unite, bro.
- Sheesh! - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:28 am:
Governor Pritzker chooses to align himself with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez… what could possibly go wrong?
- Champaign tornado - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:28 am:
“Americans deserve so much better. Before the clock runs out, it’s time for Republicans to come back to the negotiating table that they walked away from and strike a bipartisan deal to keep our government open, invest in families and protect our national security. If they don’t, then make no mistake: Republicans own whatever outcome tomorrow may bring.
Senator Duckworth, If the Democratic Senator from PA votes for it, then its bi partisan
- Roadrager - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:44 am:
Durbin’s silence and unwillingness to even allow a staffer to pick up a phone at any of his offices is telling in a lot of ways. If he votes for closure, which will basically hand over the entire ring of keys to the country to Elon Musk, he deserves to never set foot in this state peacefully again. Instead he can slither in on his belly like the worm he has shown himself to be.
==Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut.==
This is a scalping with a couple amputations thrown in gratis.
==How many people who watch politics thought a conviction felon would come back to the White House with a House and a Senate when the stock market was making all time highs right before the election???==
I dunno, anyone who saw the political press constantly frame the best post-pandemic shock economy in the world in the Republicans’ terms of “Bidenflation” and “teetering on the brink of recession” might be able to answer that one.
- ZC - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:47 am:
It is absolutely terrible what is happening in DC but I do understand Schumer and his Dems’ position.
Ultimately it’s a democracy (for now) and the people voted for the Republicans in the House and the presidency (the Senate unfortunately is becoming something of a rotten borough).
Public opinion doesn’t turn on a dime and it is in fact still important. Many swing voters are starting to have buyer’s remorse about Trump and Elon Musk. But I don’t think ultimately anyone but the base would stick with the Dems for a long-term shutdown - yet - and that’s not enough. By September many more swing voters may have buyer’s remorse about the whole GOP (we can hope).
In the meantime we’ve got to hope the courts can help keep a semblance of government together. The Trump White House has fired most of its most competent lawyers, and it’s starting to show, in federal courtroom proceedings everywhere.
- ALIGNI - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 11:51 am:
JB continues to rise as the new face of the democratic party and one of the only democratic leaders continuously speaking out about the dismantling of our government by the Trump administration. He is building a lot national name recognition with the wing of the party desperately looking for leadership with a spine. This is a populist moment.
I agree it’s not great to close the government, but I think even more than that right now, we need to see Democrats standing against this administration’s policies. We could learn some lessons from the Republicans of the last decade about standing firmly in opposition to the other party. It clearly has worked since they have been repeatedly rewarded with control of Congress and the WH.
- Steve - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:15 pm:
- People who lived through the Rauner budget sabotage and past Republican DC shutdowns-
Grandson is right about this because a shutdown wouldn’t stop mass layoffs the stuff GOP couldn’t do through the normal appropriation process.
- Swsider - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:31 pm:
I dump on the gov plenty, but this is surprisingly courageous.
Well done, JBP.
- Swsider - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:32 pm:
I do like that grandson of man’s takeaway from BVR is that democrats in DC should cave to trump.
Which is not what dems here did.
- TooManyJens - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
While I realize the practical effect of killing the House CR would be a government shutdown, it’s worth remembering that what the Democrats are actually seeking here isn’t a shutdown, it’s passage of a clean CR. The message should be “we have a bill to continue to fund the government, but the Republicans are more interested in spending cuts and giving more power to Trump and Musk than they are in keeping the government running.”
- Joe Bidenopolous - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:55 pm:
Cracking up at all the appeasers in here saying a shutdown would be worse because it would allow Trump/DOGE to do whatever they want.
Are you not paying attention? They’re already doing and they’re going to get more control with the CR. I promise you it’s getting worse with or without a shutdown, and it’s not going to be materially different either way.
Team Fight
- JS Mill - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 12:56 pm:
I am of two minds on this and the two thoughts are contradictory which is pretty irritating.
Force the shutdown because that is what they can do and that forces the gop to take some very specific votes. The fact that the democrats lack a cohesive and effective message right now makes the means the shutdown does not come with that compelling message.
On the other hand, and I have been thinking this for weeks now, let the magas do their worst. Hammer them with an economic message that is factual and currently irrefutable. Relentlessly. But they seem to lake the will to do that. Skip the culture war stuff for now. Stick to the economy. It is a winner.
But sticking to that approach means a lot of people are going to get hurt and I hate that. Not just economically, but also physically as health care and food support are savaged. And that is bad but that will be the thing that I does maga long term.
No good answers.
= Workers of the World Unite, bro.=
They did “bruh” and they United behind a man and a party that are sticking it to them now. Go figure.
- TNR - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
Hate to say it, but for Trump this is a “flip a coin, heads I win, tails you lose” scenario. Either he gets his short term budget through the CR, or he gets a government shut down. Hard to say what he would enjoy more.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are like the sheriff in “Blazing Saddles,” pointing a gun at their own head (government services) and threatening to pull the trigger if they don’t get what they want.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:11 pm:
===pointing a gun at their own head (government services) ===
Except the American Federation of Government Employees supports a “No” vote on cloture https://bsky.app/profile/jbendery.bsky.social/post/3lke6m4b7h222
- Responsa - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:16 pm:
Democrats allowing/causing a government shutdown to occur would be ahistorical for them. Hence, their current internal dilemma.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:17 pm:
“Which is not what dems here did.”
Stand corrected, of course Democrats should fight back against abuse and harsh cuts. But many brought it on themselves, just like they did every time a Democratic president fixed a Republican mess, only to elect Republican policies again and crash the economy. It’s tiresome.
Kamala Harris practically begged her opponents to sit together with her at the table and make policy when she asked Americans for their vote. America shut the door in her face. She said while Trump is working on his enemies list, she would be working on the voters’ to-do list. This could have been avoided–again. BUt DEmOCratS DoN’T KNoW how to talk to voters (whew, lol). Compared to what comes out of the MAGA mouth? Voters chose this, and again, the taste is bitter, maybe much more so this time.
- ArchPundit - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:19 pm:
=== Does anyone out there believe that the federal budget couldn’t use a haircut. ===
Weird way to describe what happened to Marie Antoinette
- ArchPundit - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:22 pm:
Stratton announces if Durbin retires.
CoS describes choice between fighting and not fighting
Governor makes clear danger of voting for this
Has Durbin got the message yet?
- 312Lawyer - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:25 pm:
Schumer shutdown does have a great ring to it. I wonder what will be more enjoyable him folding today or in a few weeks?
Either way, when you have 7 deuce off-suite, no hand is no hand.
- Sue - Friday, Mar 14, 25 @ 1:39 pm:
For a Pol who likes to claim he is both smart and savvy how is it JB wants to squarely align with the segment of his Party responsible for the R’s running the table lastyear?