Shutdown Incoming

Breaking down lawmakers’ options for breaking the stalemate.

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A traffic barrier in front of the dome of the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The question before Congress no longer appears to be whether the federal government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Now the questions are how long the shutdown will drag on and how lawmakers will get out of it.

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  1. Kittyecws

    Kevin MCCarthy has one chance to come out of this with any dignity, join withDemocrats and then say, Take this job and shove it! Who on earth would want his job anyway? I still can’t believe Republicans are going soft on aid to Ukraine! I realize many people don’t understand the far-reaching consequences of the US pulling out now. Do they really want Russia to win?

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    Kbroot

    This is my favorite newsletter the Dispatch offers. I trust the information and appreciate the unbiased, straightforward reporting. The quoted material is from both sides of the aisle and that is refreshing. I have been disappointed in some of other Dispatch reporting of late and disconcerted by the Crow connection. My fixed income will be supporting another outlet with a classical conservative bent after my subscription ends in a few days. I will miss this though.

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    I Am the Eggman

    Dianne Feinstein lately has reminded me a lot (and rather uncomfortably) of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in one significant way: both played an important role in their day, only to become a liability to their own side at the end due to not knowing when to retire. There is a conservative 6:3 majority on the Supreme Court because Ginsburg wouldn't retire in time for Obama to appoint her successor. The razor-thin Democratic Senate majority has been hampered on and off over the last year by Feinstein's medical absences and apparent inability at times to clearly understand what was happening. Both women were, in the end, simply too egotistical to give up the limelight.

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    1. Kittyecws

      My daughter was aid to aRepublican Senator in the 80s. She said she really admired Feinstein, that she was a very classy lady and Senator. I agree. I miss the days when Senators were mostly classy.

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  4. R. James

    Stop describing the MAGA holdouts as "conservatives". I thought TD knew better.

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    JohnM.

    Well reported from beginning to end. Thanks, Harvest.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Here we go again.

    Yaaaaaaay.

    Zzzzzzz.

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  7. Dsc11218

    Senate Republicans are beginning to push a 2 week CR which is clean and has no money for Ukraine. Can this pass? Will Senate Dems support it?

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    1. Kittyecws

      I hope the answer isNo!

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    Jblankenship7276

    I was a faithful Republican for 40 years. I’ve served as an every election voter without fail, an elected committeeman, an Area Chairman, a volunteer for countless campaigns and even running a couple . Turned on by the Reagan vision for American progress I deeply value the ideals of limited government, equality of opportunity, individual liberty, civil rights, civility in discourse, peace through strength and a recognition for the necessity of measured compromise in the service of an developing an effective ruling coalition in a very diverse population. Enough of all that… Donald Trump’s takeover of a once principled
    Party has turned it into a reality clown show feasting on epithets and barbs unworthy of a middle school boys locker room , illiberal as testosterone starved strong men anywhere in the world. It’s as though Kosmo Kramer is now driving the bus although we might be better off if he were in fact doing so. 2020 was my last year as a Republican. It once was very sad. Now, I despise what this party has become and everyone who helped it get there. Well GOP, your illiberal, nihilistic, populist circus train is headed for an open switch that everyone but you can see. When it does you’ll hear no tears from this corner. I’ll die party-less. And that’s ok.

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      Dsfelty

      So well said, thank you! I too was a card- carrying republican from November 1976 when I first registered and cast my vote for Ford. I was really a Reagan fan, though, having listened to many of his short radio messages on our local country music station. The failure of the senate to convict the reprobate Trump was the last straw and I became an Independent.

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        Jblankenship7276

        On we go together, the few of us

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    John N.

    The republicans are pro-Putin and pro-shutdown because they (probably wrongly) believe that it will help delay Trump's legal cases until after the November 2024 election.

    Little Qevin McQarthy, who owes his speakership to the Q-Anon members in his own caucus, is the worst, weakest pathetic House speaker that this nation has ever had. If he had any decency at all, he'd resign in shame and go home to California. But decency is in short supply in the current Congress. (See Menendez, Bob for another example.)

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    Earl King

    Distressing that 117 Republicans voted for Valdimir Putin. These members are surrendering to autocracy and anti American interests. I’m guessing they believe Vlad will not bother with any other conquests? Fools.

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    1. Hikingguy

      They are doing what is natural to their kind. They love and admire successful fascists, as all power-worshipping toadies do. That's why they slobber after Trump. Quite a distance from Ike, aren't they?

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        Earl King

        Not like anybody I can remember well. I mean these idiots would probably think Reagan was a RHINO. I put them on the same plane as the wackos on the left. No concept of how the world works, history, or frankly what their job is....Must be a pretty good gig that people are hoping to die doing their job that they stay so long. What purpose does a Gaetz serve? Or an AOC? Just to prove how ignorant voters can be?

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          PJ

          I have a hard time comparing AOC to a Gaetz. Probably because I have really listened to them.

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            Earl King

            rarely listen or really listen? the are opposite sides of the coin....travel in hyperbolic, and anger, make unsubstantiated claims....they are simply the opposite honor and service. Performative politicians. throw molotov cocktails and see what happens...Neither are serious people.

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        2. Hikingguy

          Boomer kid here. In the late 50s there was this TV ad for Radio Free Europe. It was just prison doors slamming shut as the narrator called out the lands under Soviet dominion. Once Mom had explained what it was I was seeing, I began crying for all the poor people locked in prison. Half of contemporary Republicans would applaud instead. These Quislings are beneath contempt and should be shunned by all honest people. They have no excuse. May their memory stink in history.

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            Earl King

            Nobody remember Willam Jennings Bryan of Father Coughlin. Nobody but nobody will ever bother to write about Matt Gaetz....

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