“The U.S. government is shut down, and Americans are more inclined to blame President Donald Trump and Republicans for it, according to four independent, national polls conducted just before or during the funding lapse,” NBC News reports.
“But there is fluidity in the political fight, as the surveys show a significant share of voters aren’t sure who to blame. The shutdown is only in its second day, as Republicans and Democrats sharpen their messages, and it’s not clear how long the impasse will last.”
Aaron Blake: Democrats could have more shutdown leverage than people realize.
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Trump hits independent agencies, spares the big stuff – for now
In the first hours of the shutdown, President Donald Trump has taken a scalpel to federal projects backed by Democrats.
But so far, he has held back from unleashing a wrecking ball across the federal government, underscoring the political tightrope he’s walking in the first funding lapse of his second term: How to wreak maximum pain on Democrats without angering Republican allies.
White House allies say these narrow moves fall short of the kind of sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and spending that budget director Russ Vought has long promised and instead reflect a growing view among some Republicans that policy decisions the administration makes during the shutdown could come back to bite them…..
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Damage from Trump’s $8B energy hit list would spill into GOP districts
The Trump administration’s termination of roughly $8 billion in clean energy projects in blue states will choke off funding to dozens of projects aimed at shoring up the grid and creating thousands of manufacturing jobs — and the pain is likely to stretch into more than two dozen GOP districts, according to a list obtained by POLITICO.
The Department of Energy’s list of more than 200 affected projects, which circulated Thursday on Capitol Hill, includes two massive West Coast projects aimed at producing hydrogen to replace fossil fuels. More than two dozen electricity grid improvement projects and scores of research and development projects also made the list of cancellations….
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And for some of those projects, the economic harm from canceling them will spill over to Republican-led states and congressional districts. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, released a breakdown Thursday that showed at least 28 GOP lawmakers would see spending tied to their districts canceled, while 108 Democrats’ districts would be hit….
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Farmers, a key GOP constituency, hit hard by shutdown
The closure of thousands of farm loan offices have top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledging the pain hitting their own constituents.
The government shutdown is already hurting a key GOP constituency: farmers.
Thousands of USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices that help producers across the country access loans and other services are completely shuttered and only available for “emergency scenarios.” Even top Republican lawmakers acknowledge the pain hitting their own constituents, despite assurances from President Donald Trump that Democrats will bear the brunt of the shutdown….
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“The Trump administration is planning to roll out the first tranche of bailout payments for farmers in the coming weeks using likely billions of dollars in funding from an internal USDA account,” Politico reports.
“But it won’t be enough: USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund — which President Donald Trump previously tapped to provide $28 billion in farm aid during his first-term trade war with China — has just $4 billion left in the account.”
“Trump officials, including those at the Treasury Department, are looking at how to tap tariff receipts or other funding to supplement the payments without triggering a messy fight in Congress.”
Update….
It WOULD appear that some in the White House have seen the polling numbers that point to the Democrats HAVING support in their Healthcare reason for holding up passage of Trump’s latest Spending Bill….
White House Senses Political Risk on Healthcare
“President Trump has projected unwavering confidence that he is winning the messaging war over the government shutdown. But behind the scenes, his team is increasingly concerned that the issue at the center of the debate will create political vulnerabilities for Republicans,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Advisers are worried that the GOP will take the blame for allowing healthcare subsidies to expire, raising costs for millions of Americans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, according to administration officials.”
I have pointed out here that Obamacare IS here to stay….
Efforts to kneecap it HAVE failled since the passage of the Healthcare Program…
66% of ALL Americans SUPPORT it….