{"id":16172,"date":"2024-02-28T00:46:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/looming-shutdowns-hunters-testimony-maybe-an-impeachment-congress-blockbuster-week\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T00:46:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:46:20","slug":"looming-shutdowns-hunters-testimony-maybe-an-impeachment-congress-blockbuster-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/looming-shutdowns-hunters-testimony-maybe-an-impeachment-congress-blockbuster-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Looming shutdowns, Hunter\u2019s testimony, maybe an impeachment: Congress\u2019 blockbuster week"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

There are blockbuster weeks on Capitol Hill, and then there are weeks like this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunter Biden is testifying. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is explaining. A partial government shutdown is looming.<\/p>\n

\u2018Congress hasn\u2019t even finished our deadlines from the previous fiscal year. I mean, Oct. 1 was the deadline,\u2019 fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, on FOX Business. \u2018Before I was in Congress, I was in manufacturing. And if you were making bad parts, you would at least stop making bad parts.\u2019<\/p>\n

Davidson observed that Congress continues to even make \u2018bad parts, and we\u2019re not even in session.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some conservatives say they are okay with a shutdown starting this weekend. They believe a shutdown would at least harness some spending.<\/p>\n

\u2018A government shutdown is not ideal. But it\u2019s not the worst thing,\u2019 said the House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Bob Good, R-Va. \u2018The only leverage we have, when we have one branch, is to be willing to say no. To be willing to walk away.\u2019<\/p>\n

Conservatives are begging House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to abandon a government spending pact he crafted with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and others in early January. The accord did not fund the government \u2014 hence the funding problem lawmakers face this weekend. That agreement simply established the size of the money pie for fiscal year 2024. Leaders agreed that Congress would spend a grand total of $1.59 trillion for fiscal year 2024. But on what? And how? Those issues remain unresolved. That is why lawmakers have toiled over for nearly two months now \u2013 trying to slice $1.59 trillion into 12 separate appropriations bills. It was thought there may be an agreement over the weekend. However, matters imploded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson told Fox News Tuesday that he is working to prevent the government spending from lapsing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re gonna prevent the shutdown. We\u2019re working on it,\u2019 Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u2018The problem is that Speaker Johnson is indecisive. He\u2019s weak. He\u2019s inexperienced and he does not have the votes. Not only because it\u2019s a tight majority. But also because there is a far right group of House Republicans who are blocking him everywhere he wants to go,\u2019 said Tom Kahn, a distinguished fellow at American University and former House Budget Committee staff director. \u2018I think he\u2019s afraid to make decisions because he\u2019s afraid to lose his job. He saw what happened to his predecessor, (former House Speaker) Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.\u2019<\/p>\n

So, conservatives are now pushing an interim spending bill \u2014 something which was anathema to many on the right just a few months ago. They used to demand that Congress pass spending bills \u2018by the book.\u2019 One by one. Now, conservatives are okay with a stopgap plan, known as a continuing resolution (CR). Federal spending climbs year after year. A CR simply renews all the old funding \u2014 without an increase. This gambit maintains the old spending levels. It is not a cut, but there is no new funding. Thus, to conservatives, it saves money.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is why I support a continuing resolution, which actually is going to force a 1% cut. $100 billion savings and maybe stabilize this inflation issue\u2019 said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., on Fox.<\/p>\n

Democrats \u2014 and some Republicans \u2014 find this thinking outrageous.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s very disappointing to see that the House has been so unwilling to compromise and work together,\u2019 said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. \u2018We\u2019ve just had obstacles every step of the way.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, most lawmakers are resigned to believing a CR may be the only way to avoid a shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Things are pretty uncertain right now,\u2019 said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex. \u2018I think we\u2019re heading toward a CR for some uncertain duration.\u2019<\/p>\n

The deadline is Friday night at 11:59:59 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s going to be hard enough to meet that 72-hour requirement by Friday,\u2019 said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. \u2018So I don\u2019t know if a CR is possible.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is what is at stake. A partial shutdown stalls transportation and housing programs. It suspends money for agriculture and military construction. A government closure holds up energy and water projects.<\/p>\n

However, a full shutdown for the entire federal government could hit at the end of the day on March 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top bipartisan Senate leaders are trying to avert a shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The margin for error on any of these is razor thin. And unfortunately, the temptation to choose chaos and disorder instead of cooperation will be strong for some here in the Capitol,\u2019 said Schumer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schumer secured backup from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Once more, a shutdown this week is entirely, avoidable,\u2019 said McConnell. \u2018Shutting down the government is harmful to the country. And it never produces positive outcomes \u2013 on policy or politics.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, not all lawmakers are focused on government spending.<\/p>\n

Hunter Biden testifies behind closed doors on Wednesday before House investigators. Austin will explain to livid lawmakers on Thursday as to why he failed to inform the president or other Pentagon officials about his medical leave. Then, we\u2019re on to a partial government shutdown Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is just an average winter in Congress these days.<\/p>\n

What about an impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas? The House impeached Mayorkas on Feb. 13. No one really knows the timing of a Senate trial. Eleven House members will serve as \u2018impeachment managers\u2019 to prosecute the case before the Senate. But as to their roles and when a Senate trial might begin? The new uniform pants in Major League Baseball are more transparent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several of the managers expressed frustration at the dearth of information about what roles they might play in an impeachment trial. One told Fox they had \u2018no clear guidance\u2019 from the GOP brass as to what to expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In late 2019 and early 2020, Democratic House impeachment managers held \u2018mock trial\u2019 sessions and engaged in parliamentary calisthenics behind closed doors to prepare for the first impeachment trial of former President Trump. The Mayorkas managers have held no such sessions. That was why at least one impeachment manager worried that the Senate might demand the trial begin right away. That could make the House members appear foolish and amateurish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, a senior House Republican leadership aide said that the brass had briefed all managers \u2014 adding they would be \u2018fully prepared\u2019 when a trial starts.<\/p>\n

It was thought that the Senate may begin its trial as early as Wednesday, but Fox is told not to expect a trial this week. In fact, the impeachment trial may be on hiatus \u2014 until lawmakers figure out how to fund the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So this week is a blockbuster as it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But imagine what it would have been like had there also been the impeachment trial of Mayorkas \u2014 the first impeachment trial of a cabinet secretary since the 1870s.<\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are blockbuster weeks on Capitol Hill, and then there are weeks like this one.\u00a0 Hunter Biden is testifying. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is explaining. A partial government shutdown is looming. \u2018Congress hasn\u2019t even finished our deadlines from the previous fiscal year. I mean, Oct. 1 was the deadline,\u2019 fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, on <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}