I have to give Kevin McCarthy his due

[Dave Grubb]

...he seems to want to stand upright, an impossible feat for a man without a backbone

At some point, he might be forced into a position and stop trying to appeal to all sides in the broadening scope of what has become the GOP---for which he holds some accountability for festering.

[Dave Grubb]

It seems old Kevin's charges are having a full blown food fight between the "ladies", very classy

High class stands out while they call each other names.
Makes me so proud, not!

[UTAH]

I'm seeing reports that far-right Republicans may pursue a government shut down (Utah's Mike Lee is one of them). Is Kevin McCarthy involved in that?

Hunter

[UTAH]

Ahhh... saw today that both houses of the legislature passed a budget bill. Sure, they'll still fight about it, but for now, we're O.K.

Hunter

[Honda]

The last government shutdown was caused by the Democrats. It seems that there are more Republicans willing to swallow the Democrats bile to prevent a shutdown this time.

[Dave Grubb]

Revisionist history

The United States federal government shutdown from midnight EST on December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019 (35 days) was the longest U.S. government shutdown in history[4][5][6] and the second[a] and final federal government shutdown involving furloughs during the presidency of Donald Trump. It occurred when the 116th United States Congress and President Donald Trump could not agree on an appropriations bill to fund the operations of the federal government for the 2019 fiscal year, or a temporary continuing resolution that would extend the deadline for passing a bill. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal departments or agencies from conducting non-essential operations without appropriations legislation in place. As a result, nine executive departments with around 800,000 employees had to shut down partially or in full, affecting about one-fourth of government activities and causing employees to be furloughed or required to work without being paid.[7] The Congressional Budget Office estimated the shutdown cost the American economy at least $11 billion USD, excluding indirect costs that were difficult to quantify.[8]

The shutdown stemmed from an impasse over Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall.[9][10][11] In December 2018, the Senate unanimously passed an appropriations bill without wall funding, and the bill appeared likely to be approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Trump. After Trump faced heavy criticism from some right-wing media outlets and pundits for appearing to back down on his campaign promise to "build the wall", he announced that he would not sign any appropriations bill that did not fund its construction. As a result, the House passed a stopgap bill with funding for the wall, but it was blocked in the Senate by the threat of a Democratic filibuster.[12]

In January 2019, representatives elected in the November 2018 election took office, giving the Democrats a majority in the House of Representatives. The House immediately voted to approve the appropriations bill that had previously passed the Senate unanimously (which included no funding for the wall). For several weeks, Trump continued to maintain that he would veto any bill that did not fund an entire border wall, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the Senate from considering any appropriations legislation that Trump would not support, including the bill that had previously passed.[13][14] Democrats and some Republicans opposed the shutdown and passed multiple bills to reopen the government, arguing that the government shutdown amounted to "hostage-taking" civil servants and that negotiations could only begin once the government was reopened.[15][16][17][18]

On January 25, 2019, Trump agreed to endorse a stopgap bill to reopen the government for three weeks up until February 15 to allow for negotiations to take place to approve an appropriations bill that both parties could agree on.[19] However, Trump reiterated his demand for the border wall funding and said that he would shut down the government again or declare a national emergency and use military funding to build the wall if Congress did not appropriate the funds by February 15.[19][20]

Trump's approval rating decreased during the shutdown.[21][22] A majority of Americans opposed exploitation of the shutdown as a negotiating strategy and held Trump responsible for the shutdown: A CBS News poll found that 71% of Americans considered the border wall "not worth the shutdown"[23] and a The Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 53% of Americans blamed Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, compared to 34% who blamed Democrats and 10% who blamed both parties.[24]

There is an old adage that still reins true---unless you are blind---it takes two to tango.

[Honda]

You left out that one important detail what were the votes.

[UTAH]

If there's a government shut down on Biden's watch - he and fellow Democrats will be blamed. That may be enough to keep Democrat House and Senate members in line. If not, our recession will worsen while our legislators blame each other for a shutdown.

Hunter