Shutdown

It's hard to imagine a political party with their president and majority in both chambers of Congress who can't pass a funding bill to keep the government operating, even after they agreed to what the democrats wanted, which is continuation of funds for DACA and CHIP programs, and democrats accepted funding Trump's border wall.

The deal was set, passed the House and then Trump and Senate majority leader McConnell said no deal. McConnell gave democrats the choice of DACA or CHIP but not both. Democratic leader Schumer said no, it's both or nothing. Even Trump agreed with Schumer, but then reneged after staff wasn't told about it.

In the two previous shutdowns in 1995-96 and 2013, the military was funded through the shutdown. Clinton and Obama demanded it. Trump hasn't demanded it and McConnell refused to include it. Really. The pro-military republicans refuse to pay our active duty personnel and their families.

Trump touted himself as the greatest negotiator and dealmaker, and on the anniversary of his presidency showed he's completely incompetent, changing his mind several times on every issue except the wall.

Is this the government we want?

Is this the Congress we want?

Is this the president and presidency we want?

There is no excuse for a government shutdown. Operating a government on continuing resolutions is never the solution. It's used for partisan politics. It hurts America, Americans and our creditability and standing in the world.

So why do we as voters keep re-electing representatives and senators who do this out of politics?

I worked through the 1995-96 shutdown as a critical employee (all 2+ months) and amassed ~120 hours of overtime doing multiple jobs. I managed the USGS's real-time data collection system for Washington State from the field to the cooperators and Web, and was on call 24/7 the whole time. I never got reimbursed for the overtime or on-call time.

It wasn't fun but it's what federal government employees do because they're all dedicated. it's what our military does for the same reasons, dedication to our country and people. And this is what they get in return.

A narcissistic president who can't remember what he says or promises one day to the next, and is overruled by his own staff if it's not approved by the right wing hardliners in the office, starting with his Chief of Staff.

We have a Congress that is completely dysfunctional to do the right thing, but did pass a tax cut written by corporations and lobbyists with no time for members to read it before they voted.

They've had month to pass funding for CHIP. The House passed it with bipartisanship. McConnell never brought it up for a vote. They've had months to pass funding for DACA with the same result. Nothing.

About 9 million children are enrolled in CHIP and about 1 million registered in DACA. And the republicans refused to do the right thing, and they're willing to use them as political bargaining chips. How heartless can they get?

This it totally sickening and there's nothing we can do but speak up. We can change Congress this November. We can't change the president who doesn't care to do his job, let alone care about America and Americans, just himself, until 2020.