Tag: Congress

shutdown aftermath, etc.

Vote for Democracy #49

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

I’ve been struggling with health stuff again and unable to organize my thoughts well enough to tackle a post on the overwhelming state of affairs in the US but will make an attempt.

There was not really a path for the record-breaking government shutdown to have a good outcome, so it didn’t. The Trump administration cruelly shut off food assistance, even though there were funds available to continue. It did, however, highlight the truly terrible statistic that 1 in 8 people here struggle to get enough to eat. The vast majority of these are children, elders, disabled people, or employed adults. Many employers do not pay wages that are sufficient to cover the basic cost of living, so workers and their dependents need government assistance and/or charity to have enough food. This also means that, even after a lifetime of employment, many retirees don’t have enough income to survive and were never able to save enough to have a cushion for their retirement years. It’s a sign of how warped our society has become that so many are hungry in the richest country in the world. At least in the agreement to reopen the government through January 20, funding was secured for food benefits through September 30.

Meanwhile, it is unclear if the health insurance subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans will be extended. As people are trying to sign up for 2026 plans, the rates from the insurance companies have risen sharply without the subsidies in place, sometimes doubling, tripling, or worse, which will leave millions uninsured. This, in turn, will drive up insurance rates even higher, as hospitals and doctors will raise prices for people with insurance to try to stay afloat. More rural hospitals, which are already strained, may be forced to close. It’s disgusting that our country does not treat health care as a basic right, denying care to anyone without good insurance and/or mounds of cash.

There has been a lot of talk about who bears “blame” for the shutdown. To my mind, the fault lies with the Repbulicans in both the legislative and executive branches. The budget process should work through the Congressional committees to have the appropriation bills passed and in place for October 1, when the new fiscal year begins. Instead, Repbulicans insisted on ramming through their own proposals rather than negotiating with Democrats and Independents to craft appropriation bills that could pass under regular order. Even when Democrats tried to make proposals, Congressional Republican leaders and the President refused to negotiate. The Speaker of the House went so far as to not even call the House into sessions for weeks, time that should have been spent crafting budget bills so that they didn’t have to rely on short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government open.

Another major problem is that the Trump administration has not been executing laws that Congress has passed. How can Congressional Democrats and the general public trust that the Trump administration will spend the money that Congress allocates when they shamefully cancelled life-saving funds for USAID and other agencies and programs, even ignoring court orders?

There is a Constitutional way to deal with this, impeachment of the president and other members of the executive branch by the House and conviction by the Senate, but the current Congressional Repbulicans won’t take action against Trump, even when he is illegally usurping powers granted to Congress, not the President. Unfortunately, this traps the country in this hurtful, dysfunctional state until, at least, the next election.

It is possible that the Republicans could lost the majority in the House even before the midterm elections next November. If more Repbulicans resign, as Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to do in January, and seats are left open for a time period or if Democrats flip some of those seats, the Repbulicans could lose their majority and a new Speaker would be elected. A Democratic majority could launch investigations and might be able to find enough Repbulican senators to pass bipartisan legislation to better serve the country.

Meanwhile, concerned citizens will continue to protest, boycott, and raise their voices to call for their rights, liberty, and values to prevail, in line with our Constitution and laws. We have sunk so low in the functioning of our national government that it will be a long, hard slog to recover, but we will try. It will be difficult for other countries to ever trust us again, given the immense harm that Trump has perpetrated on the world. All the more reason to get to work now.

DC militarization

Vote for Democracy #44

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

Donald Trump decided to declare a crime emergency in Washington, DC and to surge the National Guard into our capital to deal with it.

This is an excuse, not an emergency.

Crime is at its lowest level in thirty years in Washington, DC. There are some higher-crime neighborhoods in the city and problems with youth crime and truancy, so the police could use some extra resources, but the new forces are seldom sent to those areas. Instead, they are largely deployed near national monuments and transit centers, more a show of force than actual crime-fighting.

DT’s rhetoric immediately pivoted from crime to making DC more “clean” and “beautiful” by removing people who are homeless. For the record, people who are homeless are much more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. In DC, they are most likely to be older, low-income adults; to be able to afford to live in the city, one needs about $90,000 in income, which is unattainable for many older folks.

Trump is also using this as cover for bringing in personnel from other federal agencies, including ICE. There have been arrests of suspected undocumented people by masked agents without identifying badges, as we have seen in many areas of the country. There are also government and military personnel being assigned duties for which they lack training. For example, FBI agents are being put out on patrol when their expertise is in investigation; for those of you outside the US, the FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

While DT is claiming that people feel safer and are going out more to eat more often, restaurant and bar owners are complaining that their business is down by 25% or more compared to this time last year. Many people in Washington, joined by others around the country, are protesting the militarization of the city. The presence of troops on the streets feels intimidating to them, making them less likely to go out.

Several Republican governors have mobilized their own National Guard troops to send to Washington. This doesn’t make sense because these troops would not have proper training for the situation. Deployment also takes the troops away from their regular jobs and families and hinders their availability to deal with emergencies or disasters in their home states.

Trump is threatening similar tactics in other cities where the mayors and governors are Democrats, such as New York. However, he is not threatening cities like Nashville, Tennessee, which has a higher rate of violent crime and murders than Washington. Tennessee has a Republican governor and local elections in Nashville are officially non-partisan, although the current mayor is affiliated with the Democratic party.

Because Washington, DC is not part of a state and is the federal capital, the president has somewhat more leeway legally to call in troops. It would be more difficult to use this tactic in other cities, although Los Angeles shows that Trump can manufacture an “emergency” even when there isn’t one. The fear is that Trump will militarize cities where the electorate is heavily Democratic in order to suppress the vote in the midterm elections next year. This falls in line with Trump’s requests for Republican-led states like Texas to redistrict to try to increase the number of Republican-leaning districts in their states to keep from losing their Congressional majorities in the face of the unpopularity of their policies and actions. It also goes along with Trump’s vilification of vote-by-mail, which he perceives as favoring Democrats.

I don’t know if the lawsuits, protests, and possible legislative intervention will be enough to get the military off the streets of American cities or not. It seems that these deployments violate the Posse Comitatus Act. There is a really good explainer about Posse Comitatus here which elucidates what it says and ways it is sometimes circumvented.

If you are in the United States and worried about this issue, you can contact your Congressional representatives and let them know. Trump is only supposed to have a military presence in DC for 30 days unless Congress grants an extension, so you can urge them to vote no and encourage their colleagues to join them. You can join a local protest in solidarity with Washington residents. It also helps to be aware of the scope of Trump’s ignoring or twisting of facts and the law to suit his purposes.

Facts still exist. Make sure you are following the facts and not lies.

One-Liner Wednesday: Congressional accountability

To any member of the US Congress voting to cut health and food assistance to their constituents in order to give huge, permanent tax cuts and subsidies to the very wealthy, including fossil fuel companies: You can expect that your voters will choose a candidate in the next election who will represent their interests, not those of millionaires and billionaires who only care about their own riches and not the common good or the planet.

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/07/02/one-liner-wednesday-take-me-out/

Disintegration

Vote for Democracy #37

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

I am watching the United States, the only country where I have lived for over sixty years, disintegrate around me.

My heart is broken and I don’t know how well I can convey the gravity of the situation, but I have to try.

I will say that there is massive and growing resistance among the public and within the government at various levels but it’s unclear whether or not we can keep our democracy and its Constitution and laws in effect.

The Trump/Vance administration has defied court orders trying to contain their illegal behavior. There have been orders to reinstate employees and officials wrongfully terminated, to restore funding cuts and agency closures that the administration has enacted when only Congress has the authority to do so, and to give due process rights to immigrants and visitors who have been imprisoned in different parts of the country or even sent to a notorious foreign prison in El Salvador.

Trump has written executive orders that don’t reflect reality, declaring states of emergency where there is no emergency so that he can attempt these illegal actions that are terrorizing millions of people, in the United States and around the world.

At the moment, he is trashing our national economy and disrupting the global economy with his tariff policy. He has threatened the sovereignty of other nations who are our allies. The world order that rose from the ashes of World War II over the past 80 years, led by the United States, is damaged and, I’m afraid, irreparable because our allies will not be able to trust us again.

What should be happening is that Congress should impeach and convict the president of high crimes and misdemeanors and remove him from office. Other executive branch officials, including the vice-president, should resign or themselves be impeached for their unconstitutional actions. This would include the current House speaker, who would become president under the Constitution, if he would not restore the rule of law and stop the takeover of the government by oligarchs and corrupt politicians.

Given the way the Republican majorities of both houses of Congress have been behaving, the above scenario will only happen if dozens of Republicans either decide to fulfill their oaths to uphold the Constitution and laws or resign their seats, either to protect their families from threats or to accede to the demands of their constituents who are being harmed by the Republican regime.

I have no illusions that this scenario, which is in accordance with the way our Constitution is designed, is going to happen.

I know that things can get worse. There is the possibility that Trump will try to declare a state of emergency to allows him to use the military within the US to go after peaceful protesters. He could try to jail members of the media or elected officials who oppose him. He could start a war with Canada because he wants to annex them or with Denmark over Greenland, either of which would turn into a major conflict as the other NATO nations would come to the aid of Canada and Denmark under Article 5 of the treaty that formed NATO in 1949.

Or any number of other horrible things that would harm millions of people.

That’s why so many of us are speaking out to resist Trump/Musk/Vance/DOGE.

While my fears are national and global, they are also personal. Among my friends and family are people who are immigrants, naturalized citizens, people of color, part of the LGBTQIA+ community, living in poverty, dependent on government programs for health care or food assistance or income, retired, dealing with illness and/or disabilities, children, elders, students, writers, teachers, government workers, people of various faiths and non-religious philosophies, rural, suburban, and urban dwellers.

In all of that, I think I am typical of most people in the United States.

When I hear about funding cuts for medical research and vaccines, I know that my own health and that of my family and friends has been vastly improved by these in the past and will suffer in the future if these cuts remain in place.

When I hear about visitors from other countries being harassed, turned away, or even imprisoned without cause, I worry about what might happen the next time the UK branch of my family comes to visit because it includes a foreign national.

Watching the wild gyrations in the stock, bond, and currency markets, I worry about our financial stability as we begin our retirement.

I don’t know what will happen next, but I know that millions upon millions of us are trying to keep our democracy intact so there is some chance to repair some of the harms of the last few months.

I wonder if this is how people felt at other times of national peril, especially during the Civil War.

We are not currently forming “a more perfect Union” as the Preamble to our Constitution calls us to do. We aren’t fulfilling any of the purposes of government found there either.

Deep breath.

Keep trying.

One-Liner Wednesday: Cory Booker

In gratitude for the witness, intelligence, fortitude, and patriotism of Senator Cory Booker (Democrat of New Jersey), who set a record for longest floor speech in the United States Senate yesterday evening at 25 hours, 4 minutes, during which he spoke against the immoral, damaging budget that the Republicans plan to ram through the Congress; the previous record had been held by Strom Thurmond, who in 1957 spoke against the Civil Rights Act, making it all the more fitting that Sen. Booker, a Black man who Thurmond would have wanted to keep segregated and poorly educated, was the one to so eloquently speak out on behalf of the American people, especially those most vulnerable.

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/04/02/one-liner-wednesday-what-the-heck/

One-Liner Wednesday: following the US Constitution

Vote for Democracy #32

Under the United States Constitution and laws, Congress appropriates funds and the president and executive branch spends those funds as Congress has directed – and Trump and his administration need to do this or resign because they are breaking their oaths to uphold the Constitution.
*****
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays and/or Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/29/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan25-the-29th-snowy-walk/

January 6th

Vote for Democracy #24

Under the United States Constitution, January 6th is the date that Congress meets in joint session to certify the electoral college votes for president and vice president that took place the prior November.

Today, this certification happened smoothly and quickly, marking the peaceful transfer of power that had been the norm in the US until it was shattered on January 6, 2021, when a mob violently stormed the Capitol after weeks of unfounded claims by Donald Trump and his team that the election had been stolen from him, even though government officials around the country had certified that the election results were fair and valid and dozens of court cases challenging the results had failed.

Members of Congress had to be evacuated to safer locations, but about 140 police officers were wounded in the assault, with five deaths being attributed to the attack and its aftermath. Donald Trump waited for hours to ask his supporters to leave the Capitol. When Congress re-convened later that night, there were still 147 Republicans who voted against certifying all the electors, which was unconscionable, given the threat that the riot had posed to them and their colleagues. (To read the most comprehensive report about the January 6th, 2021 attack, please visit this link, which has the full report from the House Select Committee plus supporting materials, such as court documents, videos, interviews, and depositions.)

Despite all of this, Donald Trump managed to convince enough voters that the attack didn’t happen at all, that it was a “day of love,” and that the people who had been convicted at trial or had pleaded guilty in the attack planning or execution were political prisoners, that he won the 2024 election which was certified today.

Trump has indicated that he may pardon all or most of the convicted after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20th. He has threatened to arrest the people in Congress and the Justice Department who investigated the attack and his role in it.

I will continue to be part of the millions of Americans who believe in the truth, the Constitution, and the rule of law. Trump and his Republican gang cannot erase the mountain of evidence against them. Bizarrely, one of the things that Trump is claiming the members of the House Select Committee did was to destroy all the evidence; the link above shows that they instead made the evidence public.

Don’t fall for Trump’s lies about January 6th, 2021 or anything else. Look at the evidence. Find the truth and proclaim it.

We are going to need to do it a lot to get through these next four years with our democracy functioning.
*****
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Vote for Democracy ’24 #21

a political fantasy

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

As I watch with growing alarm the parade of unqualified and corrupt cronies that DT is nominating for his administration, I have started to indulge in a political fantasy regarding Congress.

As has become more obvious with each passing day, DT is planning to grab all the political power possible to make money for himself and his already exorbitantly rich cronies, to cut government services for the citizenry, and to keep Congress and the courts from checking him.

The Republican majorities in both houses of Congress are very slim, so it will only take a small number of members to keep the Republicans from enacting legislation that DT demands.

During part of the Andrew Cuomo administration in New York, the State Senate swung from many years of being majority Republican to majority Democrat. However, several Democratic senators formed their own independent caucus, resulting in the Republicans still being able to maintain majority control.

I call on all Republican members of Congress who are non-MAGA and care about our democracy and governing for the good of the people to establish a caucus independent of the Republicans. Even if there were only a handful in each house willing to do this, it would give control of legislation to the Democrats and prevent gutting Social Security, our health care system, government services, and our tax system. It would also make it more likely that the Senate would reject DT’s nominees for positions that are meant to destroy the departments or agencies that they would head.

Maybe they could be called the Constitution Caucus. Or the Independent Conservative Caucus. Or the Protect Democracy Caucus. Or the Political Courage Caucus.

Whatever they chose to call themselves, they could join with Democrats to craft and pass reasonable budgets and legislation and keep the United States from degenerating into a kleptocracy, plutocracy, autocracy, oligarchy, or any of the other forms of government that are threatening us.

The United States Constitution established a federal democratic republic.

Congress needs to fulfill their duties to keep it.

It’s time for Republican members of Congress to step up and take a stand for the Constitution and the American people. While it’s true that these members could be primaried in their next election, these next two years are crucial for the country to continue to have a functioning federal government.

So, Congressional Republicans of conscience and courage, step up! I know I am indulging in a political daydream but, sometimes, fantasy can become reality.

One-Liner Wednesday: prescience

I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.

– Senator Margaret Chase Smith (Republican – Maine) addressing the Senate on June 1, 1950 near the beginning of McCarthyism

Please join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/05/one-liner-wednesday-snakes-on-a-plane/

Vote for Democracy #7

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

Over the last several decades, it’s become customary to ask the electorate in the run-up to presidential elections if they were better off four years ago.

I can safely say that our family is much better off now than four years ago.

During Trump’s last year in office, we spent a lot of time in either complete COVID isolation or significant restrictions. There were shortages of many consumer goods. While we were fortunate that B’s job could be done remotely, our finances had been negatively impacted by the Trump/Republican tax cuts, which saved wealthy individuals and corporations millions of dollars but raised federal income taxes for those of us who live in states with higher property and state income taxes by restricting our ability to itemize. (Republican Claudia Tenney was our representative at the time and put out an illustration of how much a family with three children under 14 would save in federal income tax, ignoring that the vast majority of her constituents didn’t fit that model and certainly a household like ours, older couple with no dependents, had a significant tax increase, not a cut.) Our retirement savings took a hit as both stocks and bonds were suffering from the disruption of the world economy due to the pandemic.

While we were fortunate to have a stable home and employment, 2020 was generally a scary time. Many in our community had job losses and health problems, including serious COVID cases. Too many people suffered lasting health consequences or death from the pandemic. While our state government did their best to deal with those early pandemic months, President Trump was a hindrance rather than a help in safeguarding our well-being.

In this final year of President Biden’s first term, things are much better for our family. With federal support for vaccines and treatments and with our own precautions, we have only had one relatively mild COVID case in our household. While inflation has raised some of our household costs, wages have gone up, too. We have appreciated higher interest rates on our savings and the record levels of the stock market have helped our retirement savings to recover and grow. The current unemployment rate in Broome County NY, where I live, is 4.5%, slightly higher than the national average of 3.9%. By contrast, in April 2020, our county set its record high unemployment rate at 15.2%.

While I know there are individuals who were better off four years ago, the majority of people are healthier and in a more stable situation than they were in 2020.

Still, many people feel differently. Perhaps, the trauma of the early part of the pandemic caused them to forget the fear, illness, job losses, shortages, and isolation we experienced. Perhaps, their personal income wasn’t able to compensate for inflation. (For the record, the supply chain problems that caused some of the inflation surge have resolved but the extra profit-taking by companies has not, especially with products that have only a handful of suppliers. The blame for price gouging should fall on greedy corporations, not on the administration.) Perhaps, some people are victims of fear-mongering or misinformation about the economy and public policy.

Admittedly, as I decide which candidates to support, I prefer to look at the broader picture of my local community and the country rather than the small picture of my household. In my area, there are lots of infrastructure improvements underway, especially with our roads. The local hospital just opened a new building. There is lots of government and private support for new and expanding business because we are a nationally recognized center for battery technology. Old factory buildings that were sitting vacant for decades are being renovated for housing and business use. Our regional airport is undergoing enhancements.

Many other counties around the country have similar stories of positive change.

I hope that voters will look honestly at their own past and present when evaluating the economic and health aspects of deciding among candidates. Don’t let other people or the media tell you what you should think. It’s also helpful to look at how government helped or hindered the economy or public health. The United States economy, including employment and inflation, has recovered much more quickly from the shock of the pandemic than other countries with advanced economies. The actions of the Biden administration are a factor in this economic strength.

An example of how public sentiment diverges from legislation and statistics is this poll from late April which finds that, when asked whether Biden or Trump did “more to promote infrastructure and job creation,” the results were 40% Biden, 37% Trump, 12% both equally, 12% don’t know. The fact is that no major infrastructure bills passed during the Trump administration while the Biden administration was heavily involved in crafting the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This law along with the American Rescue Plan, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act have contributed to 15 million jobs added to the US economy under President Biden while the Trump presidency saw a loss of 2.9 million jobs. That the poll opinions deviate so dramatically from the legislative record and statistics suggests that other factors are at play, such as dis/misinformation, taking personal experience as universal, fear, and partisanship. Robert Reich had an interesting piece on his Substack yesterday exploring some of the facts, possible reasons they aren’t breaking through with the public, and possible ways to address the disparity.

When I look at this question of how my family, community, state, and country are doing during the Biden presidency and contrast it with the Trump presidency, it’s clear that Biden has the better record and plans for the future. I will vote for Biden and for Congressional candidates who will support Biden’s agenda.

I hope that all voters will evaluate the facts on the economy as they make decisions about voting.