Just four days out from a government shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declared a bipartisan Senate stopgap measure dead on arrival.
Senators, having apparently lost faith in McCarthy’s ability to stave off a shutdown, negotiated a bill late Tuesday night that funds the government until Nov. 17 and includes $12 billion in aid and disaster relief for Ukraine. It’s expected to be voted on by the end of the week before being sent over to the House, and is intended to buy lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
But, according to Punchbowl News, McCarthy said in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning that he wouldn’t take up a bill that includes Ukraine funding but no border security measures. “I don’t see the support in the House,” he reportedly said.
Aid for Ukraine has been one of several sticking points for ultraconservative hardliners in the House who have repeatedly sabotaged McCarthy’s efforts to get spending bills passed.
“Government shutdowns” are, among other things, wage theft from government employees.
In the Gingrich shutdowns of the 1990s, even active-duty military members’ pay was delayed without compensation for up to three weeks. Yes, that’s right: the Republicans literally stole paychecks from our soldiers and sailors just to stick it to Bill Clinton. (And maybe to give a little handout to their buddies in the payday loan business.)
More recent shutdowns have spared active-duty DoD, but still perpetrated wage theft against members of the Coast Guard and other defense-critical services. That was the case in the 2018-2019 shutdown, for example.
You can’t convince me you care about border security if you don’t fucking pay the Coast Guard.
It also shuts down the WIC program, which helps ensure food security for 7,000,000 women and children.
Yeah, but who cares about them, we have to look all tough and whatnot with our talk of border walls and self-reliance and Galt Gulch fantasies.
Why waste money on the coast guard when we can build a perfect wall!
I’m sorry, but I have zero sympathy for military service members.
The GOP has repeatedly spat in their face and they continue to vote for them in overwhelming fassion, because “macho” or some bullshit.
Other federal workers I do feel bad for.
Fuck the GOP.
Who are disproportionately poor and POC (especially women) while also being very young. I don’t think you realize how much these people are sociopathically targeted by scumbag military recruiters.
Gonna need a source that says that an overwhelming majority of service members vote R.
Obviously some of them do, but an overwhelming majority?
I’ve heard it’s at best 50/50, while a lot of officers are Dems.
Why other federal workers? I know several who vote red, too. In fact, the majority I know do, which boggles my mind. It’s especially funny to see my old squaddies who stayed in for the retirement and want to complain about socialism.
Because when Republicans are in power, military make more. Ask any active military member, and they’ll tell you they always make more money when a Republican President is in power.
CBP (aka the US Border Patrol) will also not get paid during the shutdown. They care so much about border security that they aren’t paying the agents and officers manning “the wall”.