The Republican Establishment – Democrats Secret Weapon

Congressional negotiators saw their deal to fund the federal government through September pass in Congress and as always both sides are claiming victory.

What passed is not really a true budget but a continuing resolution to agree to a temporary budget meaning the fight over the next “budget” begins tomorrow over the next one this fall. Since 2007 the continuing resolution has become the norm and this time, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves.

Some have noted that a look at the budget that passed shows that Republicans may be Democrats not-so-secret weapon in undoing President Trump’s plans.

Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer hailed the bill as a victory for Democrats. “Overwhelmingly, we were very pleased with the outcome — issue after issue,” said Schumer. He added, “I would not say there’s a major loss in here.”

Many conservatives agree that Schumer makes a legitimate point. In spite of Trump’s stated goals, this budget looks like something Democrats would have been pleased to send to a President Hillary Clinton in an alternate universe.

Even in the few wins for President Trump Republicans didn’t come close to getting what he asked for. He has requested $30 billion for defense spending and was granted half that. $1.5 billion was allocated for border security but not a dime for a wall.

Of course, part of the negotiating process is to seek more than one expects to get but most Republicans did nothing to weight things in their leader’s favor. In fact, Democrats say they managed to force Republicans to remove 160 riders, or policy measures, that Democrats considered unacceptable.”

Throughout the Obama years, Republicans caved over and over again under the threat of being accused of causing a government shutdown.

Republican’s excuse in 2009 was that without a congressional majority they could do nothing to stem spending. Then in 2010 they won they House but said without the Senate they were still helpless. In 2014, with a majority in both houses, the country ended up with an omnibus bill that was nothing but a complete capitulation to the goals of then President Obama.

What happened in 2016 should not have been the surprise it was. Disappointed Republicans and angry independents sent a message to the establishment by rebuking them all and nominating Donald Trump. Now just over 100 days after Trump began his term, Republicans are still acting like Democrats are still winners.

As John Hayward of Breitbart noted, “Here we are in 2017, and the big ‘achievement’ is that Democrats agreed to let Republicans spend more on the military, while Republicans gave Democrats everything they wanted on domestic spending. Republicans ended up right where Obama wanted them to be all along.”

Democrats believe they can block President Trump’s legislative priorities for years to come and why shouldn’t they. By winning major budget concessions under the threat of a government shutdown the stage has been set for more lost battles in the months to come.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) secured nearly $5 billion in new domestic spending, not because they had a majority vote but by leveraging disagreements between GOP lawmakers and Trump and over spending priorities to get what they wanted.

In an interview with the Washington Post Schumer said, “I think we had a strategy and it worked. Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate were closer to one another than Republicans were to Donald Trump.”

Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) echoed Schumer in saying, “We can’t pass anything without them.”

White House aides tried to put a positive spin on the budget. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters during a Monday briefing, “I think it’s great that the Democrats like the bill. We thought it was a really good deal for this administration as well.”

There were indeed some victories but those were few and far between. No reduction in funding for sanctuary cities” saw the light of day and no funds were granted for an expanded force at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Those who voted for President Trump are not nearly as dense as their detractors seem to think. The message of this first budget battle is clear – vote for Trump all you want but the Republican establishment has no stomach for standing in the way of Democrats.

Democrats are now so confident that they openly threatened to shut down the government this time without bothering to conceal the threat at all.

~ American Liberty Report


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