Tag: #TrumpShutDown

The Memo: Trump sows fresh confusion on shutdown

President Trump declared the partial government shutdown could last for more than a year during a White House news conference on Friday. On the other hand, he said, it could end early next week.

His remarks sowed confusion rather than clarity about a possible way out of the impasse, which on Saturday enters its 15th day.

The contours of the dispute remain unaltered: Trump is insisting on money for a border wall and Democrats are adamant they won’t give it to him.

View the complete January 5 article by Niall Stanage on The Hill website here.

VIDEO: ‘We’re Being Used As Pawns In The Game That The President’s Playing’

Watch the video below to see how the Trump Shutdown is devastating America.

WATCH HERE

Kate Bolduan: “Welcome to day 18 of your partial government shutdown and no end in sight.”

Norah O’Donnell: “Federal employees who are without pay are beginning to feel the impact. Collectively they’re losing more than $1.4 billion a week.” Continue reading “VIDEO: ‘We’re Being Used As Pawns In The Game That The President’s Playing’”

Here are 6 ways the Trump shutdown is immediately hurting the country and raising risks for Americans

We are now two weeks into President Donald Trump’s petulant gambit to shut down the federal government until Congress gives him his border wall. He has even threatened to keep the government closed for months or years. And while not everyone is immediately feeling the effects, for many it is profound: some 800,000 federal workers have either been furloughed or are being made to work without pay. All of this has serious consequences.

Here are just some of the consequences of the ongoing shutdown:

  1. Families in public housing are facing risks to their health and safety.

If you live in public housing funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, you might be having a lot of trouble getting in touch with anyone for help. That’s because, according to NBC News, HUD workers have largely been furloughed as the agency’s funding has dried up:

View the complete January 5 article by Matthew Chapman on the AlterNet.org website here.

Unions say TSA workers can’t afford to man checkpoints without a paycheck

Transportation Safety Administration officials said Friday they were monitoring reports that the nation’s airports were experiencing an increase in “sick outs” as the partial federal government shutdown entered its third week.

“Call-outs have increased, but they’re really having minimal impact,” said TSA spokesman Jim Gregory. “To date the [checkpoint] wait times remain within TSA standards.”

Those standards are a maximum of 30 minutes spent in a regular checkpoint line and 10 minutes for those who pass through the expedited line under the TSA’s PreCheck program. Gregory said that on Thursday, 2.2 million passengers passed through TSA checkpoints and 99.8 percent of them waited less than 30 minutes.

View the complete January 4 article by Ashley Halsey III on The Washington Post website here.

Three dead in national park system accidents as shutdown wears on

Lights shine at a shuttered entrance station at Joshua Tree National Park in California on Jan. 3, 2019. The gate is normally staffed during the day but is now unstaffed 24 hours per day, allowing free entrance for all visitors. Campgrounds have been closed at the park and other services suspended during the partial government shutdown. Cedit: Mario Tama, Getty Images)

Three dead in national park system accidents as shutdown wears on

Three days after most of the federal workforce was furloughed on Dec. 21, a 14-year-old girl fell 700 feet to her death at the Horseshoe Bend Overlook, part of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area in Arizona. The following day, Christmas, a man died at Yosemite National Park in California after suffering a head injury in a fall. On Dec. 27, a woman was killed by a falling tree at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the borders of North Carolina and Tennessee.

The deaths follow a decision by Trump administration officials to leave the scenic — but sometimes deadly — parks open even as the Interior Department has halted most of its operations. During previous extended shutdowns, the National Park Service barred public access to many of its sites across the nation to substantially decrease the risk of park damage and visitor injury.

National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum said in an interview that a total of seven people have died in national parks since the shutdown began. Officials believe that four of the deaths were suicides, he added.

View the complete January 5 article by Darryl Fears and Juliet Eilperin on The Washington Post website here.

Fact Checkers Were Busy Last Night

Here’s the truth on Trump’s government shutdown:

  1. Trump shut down the government to force taxpayers to fund the wall that he promised, hundreds of times, would be paid for by Mexico.

  1. Trump said he was “proud” to shut down the government.

TRUMP: “I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.”

TRUMP: “I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing.”

  1. Trump has manufactured another national security “crisis” at the border that does not exist. In fact, unlawful border crossings are historically low.

Continue reading “Fact Checkers Were Busy Last Night”

Trump’s Wall, Trump’s Shutdown and Trump’s Side of the Story

President Trump spoke to the news media on Friday in the Rose Garden about the government shutdown.Credit: Sarah Silbiger, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — At first, he vowed to “take the mantle” for closing part of the federal government. Then he blamed Democrats, saying they “now own the shutdown.” By Friday, President Trump was back to owning it again. “I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing,” he declared.

Two weeks into the showdown over a border wall, Mr. Trump is now crafting his own narrative of the confrontation that has come to consume his presidency. Rather than a failure of negotiation, the shutdown has become a test of political virility, one in which he insists he is receiving surreptitious support from unlikely quarters.

Not only are national security hawks cheering him on to defend a porous southern border, but so too are former presidents who he says have secretly confessed to him that they should have done what he is doing. Not only do federal employees accept being furloughed or forced to work without wages, they have assured him that they would give up paychecks so that he can stand strong.

View the complete January 4 article by Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman on The New York Times website here.

DNC on Trump’s Address

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement on President Trump’s address to the nation:

“Lies, fearmongering, finger-pointing, and a manufactured excuse for shutting down the government. Using the Oval Office to deceive the American people and spout offensive, anti-immigrant rhetoric proves, once again, that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president.

“800,000 workers are furloughed without pay. The American people are demanding an end to the Trump Shutdown. Democrats have already voted to end the Trump Shutdown, and we’re ready to pass legislation to fund common-sense, effective border security. It’s time for Republicans in Congress to wake up, stop marching in lockstep behind Trump, and do their jobs – the president is clearly incapable of doing his.”

Millions face delayed tax refunds, cuts to food stamps as White House scrambles to deal with shutdown’s consequences

Food stamps for 38 million low-income Americans would face severe reductions and more than $140 billion in tax refunds are at risk of being frozen or delayed if the government shutdown stretches into February, widespread disruptions that threaten to hurt the economy.

The Trump administration, which had not anticipated a long-term shutdown, recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact, several senior administration officials said. The officials said they were focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene.

Thousands of federal programs are affected by the shutdown, but few intersect with the public as much as the tax system and the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the current version of food stamps.

View the complete January 4 article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner on The Washington Post website here.

FACT CHECK: Trump’s Oval Office Address Filled With Lies

As we expected, Trump’s Oval Office address last night was filled with lies. Here’s the truth about Trump’s government shutdown:

TRUMP’S LIE: “There is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.”

FACT: Trump is manufacturing a “crisis” at the border despite border apprehensions remaining near historic lows.

Washington Post: “By any available measure, there is no new crisis at the border.  Apprehensions of people trying to cross the southern border peaked most recently at 1.6 million in 2000 and have been in decline since, partly because of technology upgrades, tougher penalties post-9/11, a decline in migration rates from Mexico and a sharp rise in the number of Border Patrol officers.”

USA Today: “But even those numbers remain at historic lows for the U.S. During the 2000s, it was common for Border Patrol agents to arrest over 100,000 people each month.” Continue reading “FACT CHECK: Trump’s Oval Office Address Filled With Lies”