It should be no surprise that a corrupt administration that uses threats, blackmail, and intimidation as standard operating procedures would leverage the welfare of its employees to attain its political goals.
If you need more proof of the rot that runs throughout the Republican Party look no further than its latest ploy to try to force Democrats in the Senate to vote for a clean budget reconciliation bill and give up their efforts to protect the heath care of 14 million people.
The deadline to pass a reconciliation bill is Sept. 30. After that the government will shut down with the exception of Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, the military, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and air traffic controllers.
The House has approved a bill extending current funding levels through Nov. 21. It’s now before the Senate, where Republicans are trying to get it passed as is, NPR reported. Nobody kicks the can down the road like politicians.
The thing is Republicans will need the support of at least seven Democrats to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule in order for any budget reconciliation bill to pass. Okay, that’s something.
Democrats, understandably, want some things in return. Their main demands have been reported as extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, which expire at the end of the year, and rolling back Medicaid changes in the GOP’s pride-and-joy Big Beautiful Bill, which cuts about $1 trillion in funding from that program over 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 14 million more people could be uninsured by 2034 due to the effects of the budget bill and not extending the tax credits, according to KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation).
Republicans are saying no deal, and a Politico story titled, “White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown” shows how far they’re willing to go to get what they want.
According to Politico, if there is a shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget will move to permanently reduce the government workforce, based on a memo shared to the news agency. This “escalates the stakes of a potential shutdown next week,” the story said.
The memo tells agencies to identify programs, projects, and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on Oct. 1 and no alternative funding source is available. In those areas the agencies were told to begin drafting plans that “would go beyond standard furloughs, permanently eliminating jobs” in programs not consistent with Trump’s priorities in the event of a shutdown.
“The move marks a significant break from how shutdowns have been handled in recent decades, when most furloughs were temporary and employees were brought back once Congress voted to reopen government and funding was restored,” the article said.
Maybe the most telling line in the story is this: “This time, OMB Director Russell Vought is using the threat of permanent job cuts as leverage, upping the ante in the standoff with Democrats in Congress over government spending.”
You can read the Politico story here.
There you go: The Republican Party, which claims it’s the party of the working class while not giving two shits about the working class, is willing to screw over a bunch of members of the working class to get what it wants.
And what it wants it to help pay for tax cuts for the rich by taking healthcare away from millions of people in financial need. I hope if those workers end up not losing their jobs that they remember just what their employer thinks of them – which is they’re unnecessary and suitable for collateral damage in this country’s war of the rich against the rest of us.
Hey Democrats, you might want to make sure the public knows about this.
Now, some people see this as a hollow threat from the administration. Ryan Cooper of the American Prospect wrote that “The idea that Democrats should leap to attention over some new layoff threat is absurd.”
Trump’s administration “has already been doing tons of mass layoffs, as part of Elon Musk’s DOGE and other efforts. … These firings have consistently been found to be illegal.” Cooper said the administration has been forced to bring hundreds of laid-off people back.
“So there is every reason for Democrats to think these layoffs will be found illegal, and even if they aren’t, the administration will be forced to reverse course eventually,” Cooper wrote.
You can read Cooper’s piece here.
I agree the Democrats shouldn’t let Voght’s threat affect them, and while I defer to Cooper’s superior knowledge of the subject, I’m bracing myself for things to not work out as he predicts. With few exceptions, this administration doesn’t care how much it destroys this government, so they’ll make no reversal based on righting a wrong if they don’t think they have to.
Plus, in the end, I don’t trust the courts, with the historically corrupt U.S. Supreme Court serving as Trump’s ultimate backstop. I hope I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong a lot, so that’s a good sign.
As authoritarianism takes a greater hold on our government, with nothing seeming to be able to stop it so far, it will get harder and harder to fix the damage this administration is inflicting on our country. That’s why the view here is we’re not doing enough right now to resist what’s going on.
Back to the Democrats. They need to tell Trump and Vought to shove their threat up their asses. They can’t cave on this. In addition, as much as anything they need to demand that the bill includes some type of language that makes sure the funds are spent as approved by Congress.
Trump has already refused to spend some appropriated money. He’s even gotten Republicans to vote to allow him to do that in some cases. How could you ever make a deal with these guys when they can just turn around and let the president throw out the stuff you agreed to in return for your vote? You can’t.
It’s understandable that the effects of a shutdown and Vought’s threat would make some Democrats pause. Unlike Republicans, they don’t want to see people get hurt.
Still, they have to stand strong and get at least some of their demands plus the assurances that the spending plan will be honored by the administration. Why? Because if they don’t, as long as Republicans control Congress and the White House, there will never be another negotiation on a budget reconciliation bill. Republicans will simply roll out this threat again, Democrats will cave, and that will be it.
As been written here many times: A bully will push you as far as you let him. Here’s another truism: Give a blackmailer what he wants and he’ll always demand more. Here’s hoping we finally get a view of some Democratic backbone.
But don’t blink or you might miss it.
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