Hey, From what I heard, the budget needs to be approved by a 60% majority in the Senate. This means that the Democrats can currently veto a budget. If this is extended without end, could they functionnaly disolve the federal government and maybe start a new union of Democratic states? Do taxes continue to be perceived? What happens legally if the shutdown lasts until the midterms? Can states form another Union without leaving the current Union?
This is mostly a legal question, because the Democrats are never going to agree to such thing, and because the Republican would then start a civil war to stop it.
The military can only be funded for two years. But otherwise some things are indefenent. Laws would still be valid. But with nobody getting paid it would crumble, yes. Theres a reason why these things typically last weeks.
The record, the GOP could, if they wanted to, have a simple-majority vote to change the rules for this particular vote, such that it would only require a simple majority to pass.
They don’t want to do that, because this shut down gives trump extreme power to determine what is or isn’t “essential”. So, ICE, FBI, law enforcement, the Military will continue working/operating without pay. same with the fuckers building the ballroom. people who are not essential- like national parks, the government’s cybersecurity guys, people that support wick or snap or HUD etc… the courts…
yeah. So. basically it’s all just a giant cash and power grab. Nazis doing Nazis shit.
In any case, if somehow they manage to not ever get a bill past, yes, eventually the government collapses and shit gets real fucked real quick.
Thats more or less what the GOP want, though. which is why they made it incredibly objectionable and refused to negotiate with the Dems.
and yes, if the government gets funded again, you will still owe taxes.
There is a process called reconciliation that gets triggered in the senate in a budget impasse situation. I would say it typically involves a whole lot of horse trading but at the end is a bill that can pass with a simple majority. So I don’t think either party will be able to drag this out indefinitely or just to the midterms.
Dragging this out generally is a bad idea for Democrats. The cult following of stable genius is going to accept the negative consequences longer as long as they get fed a narrative along the lines of “we prevent immigrants from getting health care and drain the swamp of lizard people.” Or whatever. The Democrats will feel their feeble support dwindle when unpaid government workers are done with their savings, which will happen before the cult runs out of patience. The whole battle is mainly fought on the backs of people whose only fault was choosing a career in government. The Democrats will take pity on them and eventually agree to the least dehumanizing compromise you can negotiate at the “12th” hour.
Here’s the problem: SCOTUS more or less Ok’d the previously illegal “pocket rescission”.
This means the administration can literally decide to not fund anything appropriated by Congress. That makes negotiations for funding anything pointless. There has to be a line somewhere. At least (for now I think) the administration can’t fund things without congressional approval. It’s literally the only leverage Democrats have.
I don’t doubt that. My crystal ball tells me they will compromise at some point for the good of the workers, for the good of the country - whichever line works best at that moment. I wouldn’t want them to do that but I’m pretty sure it will pan out that way eventually.
Federal workers will get back pay. You’re parroting the right’s messaging. People wanted the left to fight.
Because of how the people gave the right all of the levers of government last election, this is one of the few areas where dems have any power to wield - senate needs 60% to pass any funding legislation.
You wanted a battle, the dems took it to the mattresses. We should be praising them for being bold and we, the left, should be seeking out those government workers who are struggling the most and doing gofundme’s to care for them. This is a war and they are soldiers on the front lines, directly in the line of fire. We need to be their support regiment.
Conversely, the right needs to feel the pain of what a lack of federal government looks like, because a lot of them don’t value it at all, because they don’t understand how it serves them. They only see it as “protection money” that come out of their paycheck. For them, we need to find the union workers who left the left. We need to gain back the dirt farmers in Montana, the disenfranchised Hispanics in Southern Texas and in the burroughs of NYC and the suburbanite moms in Bucks County. Moreover, we need to fight like hell to show that we give a damn and have a spine and that we will, we will, fight for them.
