Update: The U.S. Senate voted 81-18 Monday morning to fund the federal government until Feb. 8. Members of the House of Representatives approved the bill in the afternoon by a 266-150 vote. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo voted against the bill, which President Donald Trump subsequently signed into law.
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The federal government went into shutdown mode Saturday at midnight, affecting residents waiting for tax refunds, signing up for Social Security or Medicare, or planning to visit a national park, museum or monument.
These are just some of the "nonessential services" suspended during the shutdown, the result of the U.S. Senate's failure to get the needed 60 votes for a bill to keep the government running on a short-term basis.
The Republican bill to continue the funding fizzled late Friday, with the Democrats overwhelmingly rejecting it because of its failure to include provisions to protect "Dreamers" -- immigrants who enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program and who would be subject to deportation if the program isn't renewed.
U.S. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, said in a statement that she was "frustrated and saddened" by what is happening and said her offices in Palo Alto and Washington, D.C., will remain open during the shutdown. Meanwhile, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives were scheduling meetings over the weekend in hopes of quickly re-opening the government.
According to Eshoo, the shutdown will also prevent people from applying for visas, freeze clean-up projects overseen by the federal government and prevent the Federal Housing Administration and the Small Business Administration from issuing loans. About 850,000 federal workers will be placed on furlough, according to Eshoo, roughly similar to the number during the last shutdown in 2013.
Services deemed "essential," including armed forces and air-traffic control, will continue to be provided. Mail will continue to be delivered and Department of Veterans' Affairs hospitals will remain open, though during the 2013 shutdown some veteran benefits were temporarily reduced. Unemployment programs may also be squeezed if the federal money that helps fund them dries up.
Meanwhile, the political blame game is certain to escalate throughout the weekend, with the Republicans blaming the Democrats for rejecting the short-term funding bill over DACA and the Democrats emphasizing the Republicans' failures to fund the government despite controlling both chambers of the Congress and the White House.
In her statement, Eshoo blamed the majority party for failing to bring a budget to the floor for a vote (the Republicans have been relying on a series of short-term continuing resolutions).
"It is a source of embarrassment to run a great country this way," Eshoo said.
Comments
Midtown
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:05 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:05 am
Pass the budget, Anna. You can concentrate on helping illegal immigrants next time.
College Terrace
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:30 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:30 am
Sorry, nayeli, but the house passed the budget. Eshoo Is in the house. And they are not illegal immigrants [portion removed.]
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:00 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:00 am
Sorry - not going to buy any get out of jail free cards for the D's. The D's have refused to go to DC to participate in the job they are paid to do. Also have spent their time playing junior psycho therapist - not their job. Just do your own job - be there, participate in the topic on the table, and don't try and subvert the process of government with stupid "Russian" probes. [Portion removed.]
Palo Alto Orchards
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:04 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:04 am
Trump told us he was a deal maker, and he told us all the blame goes to the president.
That's the thing about this guy, he has ready-made quotes just waiting, on every subject.
*****
“Well, if you say who gets fired it always has to be the top,” Trump said. “I mean, problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top and the president’s the leader. And he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead.”
He said that further down in history, “when they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States, who the president was at that time.”
“They’re not going to be talking about who was the head of the House, the head the Senate, who’s running things in Washington,” Trump said.
“So I really think the pressure is on the president,” he added.
Web Link
Trump: it's the president's fault!
#trumpshutdown
East Palo Alto
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:23 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:23 am
I'm 100% behind the Democrats. Many of my friends from East Palo Alto are DREAMERS.
Stanford
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:29 am
on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:29 am
[Post removed.]
Downtown North
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:16 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:16 pm
Did the congresswoman vote for or against the shut down?
Did she vote Yes for the CR that funds the government and prevents the shut down?
Or did she vote No, which means she did not want to fund the government?
Palo Alto Orchards
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:20 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:20 pm
[Portion removed.]
Here's Trump's tweet about wanting a shutdown:
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
... Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
5:07 AM - May 2, 2017
Trump: it's the president's fault!
#trumpshutdown
Old Palo Alto
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:24 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:24 pm
Espoo and the Democrats own the shutdown, they are not doing their job and care more about illegal immigrants than US citizens.
Let's please stop using Orwellian language. "Dreamers" are children of illegal immigrants. They are Illegal immigrant children currently in the ill conceived and poorly executed DACA process. We can certainly find ways to provide all of them a fair path to citizenship, simply by getting in line behind all the people waiting in line through our legal immigration process. In the meanwhile, the DACA people can be provided temporary work or student visas until they get their green cards and full citizenship. This would be the most practical and humane way to allow existing DACA youth to become full US citizens, yet not at the expense of the many dreamers following the legal immigration system and already waiting in line, the legal line.
In parallel, we can end DACA now and stop this mess from continuing.
I know some other real dreamers, the many millions of American children, born and raised by American citizens of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, who are struggling with economic challenges and disadvantages. These children also dream of going to school, getting into college, being able to afford a college education and take a path out of poverty. They are living in the many struggling rural areas and decaying cities across the United States. They live in communities being decimated by drugs. They would like a chance at a scholarship to a school where perhaps a Sanctuary State has instead diverted resources to an illegal immigrant's child instead.
At some point, certain misguided liberals decided that the USA is responsible to solve all the world's problems by importing as many illegal immigrants from failed countries and doing away with secure borders and sensible, fair, humane immigration policies that follow rule of law. Thankfully the tide has turned, and thanks to PDJT we are headed in the right direction, back to rule of law and rejection of anarchy and "free for all" misguided policies.
Going forward, we will return to sensible and practical, and legal, systems of fair immigration policies. They will allow for continued legal immigration from around the world, yet based more on the skills we need, and end chain migration. We will then become a stronger country, able to take care of our citizens. We are not responsible to save all the broken, dysfunctional or corrupt governments around the world. The best way forward is to be strong again ourselves so we can then lead by example and help less fortunate countries by teaching them how to fish. Importanting the third world populations here in fact kills the true diversity of world cultures. True diversity is achieved by perpetuating the diversity of healthy cultures worldwide.
Stanford
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:45 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:45 pm
Lying to the FBI is not "colluding" with the Russians. If Flynn was spying for the Russians he would have been indicted for espionage, which is a crime unlike "colluding".
Manafort has been indited for sleazy deals he did in the Ukraine a decade ago.
It is unfortunate that corporate Democrats are willing to burn down the relatively good and peaceful relations we have enjoyed with post-soviet Russia in order to cover up their own political incompetence and corruption.
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 20, 2018 at 4:29 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 4:29 pm
Pathetic how politicized ever issue has become. This is a spending bill why are we wrapping immigration into this. Deal with DACA in a compressive immigration bill. Seems some of our politicians are more concerned about 800,000 illegal immigrants rather than the 300 million of us depending om a functioning government.
Downtown North
on Jan 20, 2018 at 4:50 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 4:50 pm
" "Dreamers" are children of illegal immigrants. They are Illegal immigrant children currently in the ill conceived and poorly executed DACA process."
Uh-huh. Sure. These subteens should have balked at the border, planted their feet, and told their parents to go on without them if they insisted in breaking the laws. Just like you would have done, right?
"...we can end DACA now and stop this mess from continuing."
That's what Ronald Reagan did with his 1987 amnesty. It's what Chuck Schumer (D) and Lindsey Graham (R) and Donald Trump (R?) publicly agreed to recently. But three days later the Stable Genius flip-flopped and decreed his preference for Norwegians (fair warning, @Nayeli).
So here we sit... . Even Mitch McConnell, Trump's chief Senate water schlepper, wailed that he can't tell where the Great Negotiator stands.
Impeach Trump and stop this mess from continuing.
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:09 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:09 pm
So curmudgeon is outed as someone who cares more about 800,000 illegal immigrants than 300 million citizens many of which are currently going unpaid because of this shutdown. This is a spending bill not an immigration bill.
Green Acres
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:42 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:42 pm
Headline is spot on....Anna should be embarrassed.
Downtown North
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:52 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:52 pm
"So curmudgeon is outed as someone who cares more about 800,000 illegal immigrants than 300 million citizens many of which are currently going unpaid because of this shutdown."
Oh man, they just don't make conservatives like they used to. Conservatives today are so eager to bash Mexicans they toss their core principles right in the nearest dumpster.
Now you take the genuine small-government conservatives we had in the nineties, say, ol' Rootin' Tootin' Newton Gingrich. He was just giddy with ecstasy when he shut down the beast (government) in 1995. Today's "conservatives" have totally sold out to the money they get from the government.
"This is a spending bill not an immigration bill."
So when was there ever a pure, simple bill unsullied by riders coming out of Congress? Even the Republicans' recent grandly fiscally irresponsible budget-buster deficit-ballooner tax bill had unrelated riders, like opening the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. [Portion removed.]
Besides, liberals are only holding out for conservative congressional Republicans to amnesty the "illegals" like Reagan did. You can't get any more conservative than Reagan.
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:55 pm
on Jan 20, 2018 at 5:55 pm
I urge all of you to Google "impact of government shutdown " to understand the consequences to fellow citizens of our country, many will be furloughed or go without pay. Ask yourself how a bill to fund OUR government has been held hostage to those who want to politicize the plight of NON-citizens. So who are being used as pawns in this political game??? Our civil servants and military or ... call them what you want fill in the blank
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:27 pm
Registered user
on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:27 pm
"...Our civil servants and military or ... "
Military is exempt, along with numerous other agencies. [Portion removed.]
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 21, 2018 at 7:22 pm
Registered user
on Jan 21, 2018 at 7:22 pm
I know the Weekly strongly disagrees with me, but I think an at least elementary civics education is essential to being a citizen in a democracy. And it would eliminate many common misconceptions among posters on this and related threads.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Jan 22, 2018 at 9:00 am
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 9:00 am
The military is impacted. They remain on duty serving our country but without pay until this mess is resolved. They are hardly "exempt" from the consequences of this shutdown as a poster above suggests
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Jan 22, 2018 at 11:23 am
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 11:23 am
Its wonderful to comment here but make sure you're also sending your thoughts in email to Harris and Feinstein, too. Both have websites where you can send comments. It does make a difference. Especially before the vote. They would like to get re-elected, too.
Either our representatives get on board with what we want or we vote for new representatives. Fed tax reform is great for the South and Flyover States but not for many California citizens because of our state tax structure. We need to put representatives in place NOW in all areas of our California government to sharpen the pencil and get our state tax laws modified to accommodate the new Fed tax reform. Not sure Dems are able to give up expensive "pet" programs in lieu of California state tax reform that compliments the new Fed tax reforms. Republicans may be the only ones that are able to make these hard choices. It might be time to insert some Republicans in key offices for awhile to get things fixed fast or its going to be ugly for us all for a long time!
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 22, 2018 at 3:30 pm
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 3:30 pm
"The military is impacted. They remain on duty serving our country but without pay until this mess is resolved. They are hardly "exempt" from the consequences of this shutdown as a poster above suggests."
I didn't suggest, I stated. Military personnel get paid on their regular paydays thru the partial shutdown, not every day as YP apparently believes.
What does impact the military--severely--is Congressional Republican incompetence. Their habit of passing short-term continuing resolutions in place of the real budgets they are unable to produce is wreaking havoc on our military preparedness and wasting billion$
Web Link and Web Link .
The Great Businessman promised he'd run the government like a business. And he is--just like he ran Trump University, Trump Air, and his Atlantic City casino empire. I think our military deserves better. Why don't you?
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Jan 22, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Curmudgeon
You need to check your sources about military pay.
Web Link
Of course they continue to earn their paly but don't receive it. So if this had lasted 2-3 weeks no pay. A nice way to treat our troops as political pawns.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 22, 2018 at 4:43 pm
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 4:43 pm
"Of course they continue to earn their paly [sic] but don't receive it."
Yup. Just like millions of us have waited for payday for hundreds of years. Nobody's lost or will lose a cent. So what's the beef?
To get real, have you written to your Congressional rep about the military impacts of these continuing continuing resolutions? Have you cc'd Paul Ryan and the Freedom Caucus obstructionists who are strangling our military?
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Jan 22, 2018 at 5:48 pm
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 5:48 pm
I was just trying to set the facts straight. You said earlier they "get paid on their regular paydays thru the partial shutdown"
This is incorrect, hopefully you agree getting facts correct is important. I will leave the political bantering to you.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 22, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Registered user
on Jan 22, 2018 at 7:42 pm
"This is incorrect, hopefully you agree getting facts correct is important."
You are correct. I got that fact wrong. I apologize. Do you know how much pay they lost during this episode? Prior episodes?