Bipartisan budget deal breaks the bank
From the Associated Press:
President Donald Trump on Friday signed a $400 billion budget deal that sharply boosts spending and swells the federal deficit, ending a brief federal government shutdown that happened while most Americans were sleeping and most government offices were closed, anyway.
The House and Senate approved a bill to keep the government funded through March 23, overcoming opposition from liberal Democrats as well as tea party conservatives to endorse enormous spending increases despite looming trillion-dollar deficits. The House voted 240-186 to approve the bill just before dawn Eastern time, hours after the Senate had approved the measure on a 71-28 vote.
The difference between the two political parties? One is for big spending and the other is for really big spending.
But at least Democrats lost out on their risky DACA-or-bust strategy. Right?
House Democratic leaders opposed the measure — arguing it should resolve the plight of Dreamers — but not with all their might. Pelosi made it plain she wasn't pressuring her colleagues to kill the bill, which is packed with money for party priorities like infrastructure, combating opioid abuse and helping college students.
"She negotiated the deal. Her team was in on it," said top GOP vote counter Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. "And they were a 'no.' And at the end her team broke."
Remember when Rush Limbaugh was a deficit hawk?
I do. Spending future generations into oblivion (or war) was seen as unethical and harmful to the long-term prospects of our great nation.
But not anymore.
... I give you the dean of “conservative” talk radio, responding to a caller this afternoon who’s concerned that the new GOP budget will add $500 billion in spending. Combine that with the reduction in federal revenue from the new GOP tax cuts and we’re looking at a projected deficit of, no typo, $1.1 trillion in 2019. Two years ago the annual deficit was $439 billion. We’re going even further into debt and at a more rapid pace. That would have been grounds for across-the-board primary threats on the right just five years ago.
Now, though? Over to you, Rush:
And then I got to realizing that I think one of the reasons so many Republicans are signing on to this is a silly reason, but in their world it makes sense. We’ve got, if this happens, a two-year budget deal, right? You know what that means? They don’t have to worry about being blamed for a government shutdown for two years! That alone is worth signing it, is it not? They’re probably gonna throw a party tonight because they’re not gonna be blamed for a government shutdown…
....
And I know theoretically all this is bad, but in the real world all of the apocalyptic warnings I grew up hearing have yet to happen. The national debt has not choked us. The national debt is not destroyed us. We may be living in the middle of the destruction and don’t see it yet, but for some reason I didn’t get caught up in it. I think one of the reasons why is I’m not personally affected by these never ending allegations of being responsible for a government shutdown.
This from Allahpundit's post at HotAir.com, who sums up the sad truth...
Rush amassed the biggest audience in conservative media and a mountain of media by knowing what his audience wanted to hear and delivering it to them with flair. In 2012 they wanted to hear that Obama was destroying America with profligate spending. In 2018 they want to hear that Trump and the Republican majority aren’t destroying America with even more profligate spending. In both cases Rush reassured them that they were right. They don’t really care so neither does he.
This is disappointing for me, personally, as I still do care.
Maybe there will be a political party someday that does care (at least before the country goes bankrupt).
Here is how North Carolina's elected officials voted on this spending bill:
Sen. Richard Burr (R) - No
Sen. Thom Tillis (R) - Yes
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R) - Yes
Rep. Mark Meadows (R) - No
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D) - Yes
Rep. George Holding (R) - No
Rep. Walter Jones (R) - Not voting
Rep. David Price (D) - No
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R) - No
Rep. Mark Walker (R) - No
Rep. David Rouzer (R) - No
Rep. Richard Hudson (R) - No
Rep. Robert Pittenger (R) - Yes
Rep. Alma Adams (D) - No
Rep. Tedd Budd (R) - No
US Congressman tries to get dirt on Trump... from Russia
Well, this is embarrassing. The Congressman leading the efforts to link President Trump to Russian collusion apparently was interested in getting compromising materials (what the Russians call Kompromat).
Ironically, this is the very allegation leveled at the Trump campaign by Congressman Adam Schiff and his fellow Democrats.
Rep. Schiff was recorded discussing this on the phone with two Russians offering the incriminating information.
The Russians are comedians and were prank calling the California Congressman.
Here's the audio: