Hapless Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rolled over for the Republican Reichstag’s gutless gutting of programs and policies contained in the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the U.S. government for the rest of this fiscal year. It is both shocking and pathetic that Schumer and a handful of equally spineless Democrats folded and actually voted for this terrible bill at all, and did so without any attempt at exercising their party’s leverage.
His arguments were that (1) the heartless CR was better than allowing the government to shut down, and (2) Democrats would be blamed for a shutdown. Neither argument stands up to scrutiny. Given the public’s attention span, by the time the next election comes around, no one will remember who voted to shut the government down. This is especially true now when every day brings a new Trump dismantling of the federal establishment and upending of the international order that sucks up all the media oxygen.
As for Schumer’s first point, here’s what’s in the CR. You be the judge:
· Unless the Republican House of Representatives approves a last-minute Senate bill, It will take away $1.1 billion from the District of Columbia’s budget, a nasty punishment with racist overtones that will cause DC to lay off essential service personnel like cops, firefighters, other first responders and teachers.
This is what Schumer’s misguided calculation gives us.
Democratic complicity in what amounts to a fascist takeover of the U.S. government is beyond comprehension. Instead of waving the white flag of surrender, they should be taking to the ramparts and fighting 24/7 against this continuing coup d’état.
A rhetorical and figurative Paris Commune is what is needed. The governors and the more articulate and forceful Congress members, like Chris Murphy and Jamie Raskin, need to be out in public every day shouting to the rooftops about the Trump chaos and corruption (e.g., hawking Teslas on the White House lawn; getting in bed with a crypto-currency firm that money-laundered for ISIS and Hamas). The appeasers—Schumer, his pitiful deputy Dick Durbin, and the Kirsten Gillibrands and others from the Neville Chamberlain wing of the Democratic Party—should go.
Dick Hermann
March 21, 2025
His arguments were that (1) the heartless CR was better than allowing the government to shut down, and (2) Democrats would be blamed for a shutdown. Neither argument stands up to scrutiny. Given the public’s attention span, by the time the next election comes around, no one will remember who voted to shut the government down. This is especially true now when every day brings a new Trump dismantling of the federal establishment and upending of the international order that sucks up all the media oxygen.
As for Schumer’s first point, here’s what’s in the CR. You be the judge:
· Unless the Republican House of Representatives approves a last-minute Senate bill, It will take away $1.1 billion from the District of Columbia’s budget, a nasty punishment with racist overtones that will cause DC to lay off essential service personnel like cops, firefighters, other first responders and teachers.
- It adds a completely superfluous $13 billion to the $852 billion Defense budget. So much for fiscal responsibility.
- Congress relinquishes even more power to Trump and Musk to do whatever they want vis-à-vis federal spending, firing thousands of civil servants and deconstructing the government. Horrors such as shutting down the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, which Trump did last week, undoubtedly much to the delight of his Kremlin puppet-master, will quickly fade into the fog generated by new outrages.
- It allows agencies to repurpose funds that were accompanied by specific spending instructions when they were originally authorized. Bye, bye environmental protections, school breakfast and lunch programs for poor children, et al. Trump and Co-President Musk will have a field day with this.
This is what Schumer’s misguided calculation gives us.
Democratic complicity in what amounts to a fascist takeover of the U.S. government is beyond comprehension. Instead of waving the white flag of surrender, they should be taking to the ramparts and fighting 24/7 against this continuing coup d’état.
A rhetorical and figurative Paris Commune is what is needed. The governors and the more articulate and forceful Congress members, like Chris Murphy and Jamie Raskin, need to be out in public every day shouting to the rooftops about the Trump chaos and corruption (e.g., hawking Teslas on the White House lawn; getting in bed with a crypto-currency firm that money-laundered for ISIS and Hamas). The appeasers—Schumer, his pitiful deputy Dick Durbin, and the Kirsten Gillibrands and others from the Neville Chamberlain wing of the Democratic Party—should go.
Dick Hermann
March 21, 2025
RSS Feed