With Democrats under lacy pelosi and Chuck Schumer’s leadership united on NOT giving Donald Trump a nickel for a border wall?
Things are at a stalemate ….
Democrats in the House have been voting on bills to reopen the agencies without money….
McConnell over in the Senate has done NOTHING….
He knows that if he was to open his chamber for voting on the spending bills from the House Democrats ……
THOSE BILLS WOULD PASS….
But in doing so?
Donald Trump would have his Presidency weakened by those he ran against….
And the party members out there would be angry probably at their lawmakers….
Not Trump, who is dancing to a song sang by rightwingnut conservative media talking heads….
So McConnell just sits back and waits for a party leader in the White House that just wants his border wall….
That while he hurts the lives of federal employee’s , who he never liked anyway …(He pulled back raises they where supposed to get before he furloughed them with the partial government shutdown)
A handful of Senate Republicans are expressing frustration with their party’s handling of the ongoing government shutdown. But Mitch McConnell is a long way from facing any sort of rebellion.
The Senate majority leader is standing firm in his resolve to not move a muscle on any government funding bill that would not have the president’s approval. That’s earned him scorn among Democrats given that he endorsed a funding bill that didn’t include the president’s much-sought additional border wall funding of more than $5 billion in December.
But aside from some rank-and-file Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Cory Gardner of Colorado who say Congress should again pass spending bills that don’t provide additional wall funding, McConnell’s allies say he’s facing little pressure to change his stance as the longest shutdown in history continues.
“They’re going to do what they need to do and advocate for what they believe their constituents want,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who served as McConnell’s deputy for six years. “But I don’t think that should be confused with what Sen. McConnell’s calculus is, which is: not to go through this effort of passing something the president won’t sign and then going through a potential veto override and all the conflict that would cause.”
He added: “All of us would like to reopen the government but not in so doing capitulate our responsibility for border security.”
With Trump now opposed to those bills for being light on border security funding, most Senate Republicans say they are too. And as leader of the Senate GOP, McConnell sees it as his job to stand firm behind that response and absorb all the Democratic attacks coming his way as they portray him as the only impediment to getting out of the shutdown….
…
McConnell “doesn’t want a shutdown. He’s facilitating the president’s shutdown. I hope there’s some give. I think we have the votes not only to pass these bills, but probably override these vetoes,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “The president looks like he’s planning to stay this way forever, and I don’t think McConnell and the Senate can let that happen.”…..
image…The Hill