Yesterday morning, I discussed the atrocious spending bill that's currently wriggling its way through Congress like a heartworm through a mangy dog. It appears that the GOP has, once again, caved to every imaginable Democrat demand because they're simply too cowardly to fight for their alleged agenda. After winning the House, Senate, and Presidency, they put forth a plan that gives their opponents everything they wanted - and today, the Democrats are taking a victory tour of the news channels where they grin like Cheshire cats.
Chuck Schumer loves the plan, and that's all you really need to know.
GOP doesn't really want the limited government they pretend to desire
I've told you before about discussions that go on behind the scenes here at Cain HQ. One of the big ones centers around my ongoing belief that the GOP doesn't really want the limited government they pretend to desire - at least, not enough of them do. They talk a good game, but I'd say about 1 in 20 congressional Republicans truly believe the rhetoric they spout. The rest quietly work to expand the federal beast, maintain or grow government power, and perpetually enrich their cushy, taxpayer-funded, lives.
We vote for them because they're "not quite as bad" as the socialists and communists who run the Democrat party, and we're sick to death of it.
So, the question is: what are they really offering? Why continue to put them in office if we're just going to be trapped in a disappointing political "Groundhog Day?"
I'm not the only one asking. Yesterday afternoon, Rush Limbaugh wondered the same thing. He mostly gives President Trump a pass, instead focusing his anger on Congress. I'm not going to be so forgiving. Take a look at a few of his comments, and we'll discuss:
There’s not gonna be any shutdown. Republicans are going (sigh), “Thank God! No shutdown.” So we have extended the budget, not for a week, but all the way through September.
In the process, sanctuary cities are continually funded. Obamacare is not repealed nor is it replaced. The White House is saying that they’re very close to having enough votes in the House to actually move forward on Obamacare. But until we see the vote, we will know they don’t have the votes. They’re not gonna conduct a vote ’til they have them. So Obamacare gets funded. Sanctuary cities get funded. The EPA gets funded through September. Planned Parenthood gets funded. The wall does not. So if you’re asking yourself, “Why am I voting Republican?” you have a good question.
Why is anybody voting Republican, if this is what happens when we win?
There’s no reason to keep electing Republicans if this is what we’re gonna get with this budget deal, which pays — continually pays — for sanctuary cities, funds Obamacare, funds the EPA, gives money to Planned Parenthood and no money for the wall. If you’re asking, “What am I voting for Republicans for?” you have a legitimate question. This is one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected. This is the swamp. This is what needs to be drained: The way the budget happens, the way legislation happens, who’s responsible for it.
Limbaugh did ask why Trump isn't being more vocal about the so-called "deal," but he did it in a way that was almost apologetic:
Where’s Trump on this? For crying out loud, Trump’s elected president! Trump’s got a mandate. This was clearly part of it. Like building the wall, like any number of other things, repealing and place Obamacare was mentioned at every rally, so why doesn’t the president go in there and tell them what-for?
Now, I don’t mean to be ragging on Trump there...
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This bill represents almost the entirety of Trump's agenda going down in flames
He then goes on to - accurately - describe how legislation is written in D.C. It's a horrific meat-grinder system where analysts and special interests craft bills, then present it to the Congressmen who are supposed to be doing the heavy lifting.
That's awful, and it needs to change, but sorry. I'm not interested in giving the President a pass here.
This bill represents almost the entirety of Trump's agenda going down in flames - at least through September of this year. It also represents one of the greatest caves in political history. The 2016 election handed overwhelming power to the GOP precisely to do the things this spending "deal" doesn't do. It's easy to place the blame solely with Congress, but it's not entirely fair.
Last week, it was the White House that signaled it would sign a spending bill that didn't codify President Trump's campaign promises. Their people were making the news rounds, letting everyone know that "hey, we're willing to budge on all this stuff." They initiated the capitulation. If you tell the Democrats, and the RINOS, that your positions are paper thin, guess what's going to happen?
As I asked yesterday: what happens in the fall, when Democrats again threaten a shutdown? Given the recent GOP pattern, we can safely assume that they will, once again, give the left everything it wants to avoid a fight.
We have a system in place whereby the President has the final say on this. He can refuse to sign this budget. He can use his power and the bully pulpit to place pressure on Congress and demand better. ...And he's not going to do that.
According to a Monday interview with Bloomberg, President Trump is eager to sign off on this travesty:
President Donald Trump said he’ll sign a bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that largely tracks Democratic priorities and rejects most of his wish list, including funds for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We’re very happy with it,” the president said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg News. The plan would allocate some new funding for border security, though the funds couldn’t be used to build his promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The president said he will sign the bill if it remains "as we discussed."
The compromise measure, announced early Monday morning, would keep the government open through the end of September. Under House procedures, a vote could be held as early as Wednesday.
If that's really the plan, then the responsibility lands squarely at the President's feet. The buck stops with him. We wouldn't let Obama, Bush, or Clinton get away with this, and I'm not interested in giving Trump a free pass we wouldn't have offered any of his predecessors.
It's time for the people we elect to live up to their stated principles and fulfil promised goals.
The spending bill is a disaster, and the blame game isn't going to cut it anymore.
