• Home
  • Archive
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
  • March 28, 2023

The Madison Times

The Paper That's More Than Black and White

  • News
    • Local News
    • National News
    • International News
    • Sports News
    • Education News
  • Columns
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Life Lessons with Alex Gee
  • Events
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Lifestyle
  • Classifieds
  • Community
    • Middle Spread
  • Milwaukee
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MADISON TIMES

Government Shutdown, Shenanigans, and Showdowns

December 29, 2018

Legislatively Speaking

By Senator, Lena C. Taylor

Lena C. Taylor

As 2018 nears an end, we can’t help but wonder about the future of our nation. In the less than two years of a Trump presidency, the country is experiencing our third government shutdown this year. Due to the constant barrage of resignations, social media missteps, Russia probes, indictments, and more, it is easy to forget we have been here before. In fact, we started 2018, with a government shutdown.

From Jan. 20 to Jan. 23 of this year, the issues of immigration and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) funding was contentious in budget votes. The best we could do was stop-gap measures to keep us hobbling along until February. On Feb. 9, we faced the second shutdown. Ultimately, a law was passed to increase the nation’s borrowing limit, provide disaster relief, and funding for most agencies for the rest of the year. However, we know that 25% or roughly nine federal agencies saw funding end on Dec. 22. And as we enter nearly a week of our current government shutdown, we realize it may not be a quick fix to get the government back on track. At the crux is the self-hyped deal maker, Trump really is not that effective at the “art of the deal”. Let me explain.

Throughout his campaign and has recently as November, Trump has repeatedly stated that Mexico would pay for his border wall. In addition, he stated that it would cost about $33 billion. Specifically, the administration was looking for $18 billion for the physical wall, $5.7 billion for technology, $1 billion for road construction and maintenance and $8.5 billion for staff. A few days ago, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney basically acknowledged that Mexico would not in fact be paying for the border wall, which is now reported to increase in cost as much as an additional $40 billion dollars.

During the first shutdown, it is rumored that Democrats offered Trump $20 billion for the wall in exchange for Trump’s support of permanent safeguards the roughly 700,000 DACA immigrants. Trump was have initially agreed and then reneged. Here we are at a third shutdown and Trump is insisting on $5 billion to reach a budget deal, but there have been leaks that the administration make accept $1.6 billion, while democrats have lowered the amount, they were willing to fund to $1.3 billion. Couple that with Trump hedging on whether it is called a “wall” or “fence” and not acknowledging that there really is a difference between the two things, we are faced towards a serious showdown. There is no “art” in missed pay, disruption of services, or government dysfunction. Meanwhile, an estimated 800,000 people are directly impacted by the shutdown and the scores of businesses, is yet to be determined. But as Trump, in typical shenanigan style, tweeted out recently that Democrats should know that most of those impacted by the shutdown lean Democratic. The sad reality is that Trump is incapable of understanding the impact of a shutdown is bi-partisan and harm our entire country.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Popular Interests In This Article: Legislatively Speaking, Lena Taylor

Read More - Related Articles

  • Check Yo’ Self, Before You Wreck Yo’ Self
  • Women Anywhere Equals Equity Everywhere
  • A Bill to Teach Children, Before They Become Adults, How to Interact with the Police……. Really?
  • In Every Facet of the Capitol, Representation Matters
  • I Will Always Lift Every Voice and Sing





Connect With Us

Become Our Fan On Facebook
Find Us On Facebook


Follow Us On Twitter
Follow Us On Twitter

Editorials

Karma Chavez
Amanda Zhang
Julianne Malveaux
Benjamin Chavis
George Curry

Journalists

Jacklin Bolduan
Brianna Rae
Aarushi Agni
Rob Franklin
Claire Miller

Topics

Brown Girl Green $
Young Gifted & Black
Universally Speaking
Ask Progress
Civil Rights

Topics

Police Shooting
Police Brutality
Black Lives Matter
NAACP
Racism

Politicians

Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
Gwen Moore
Paul Soglin
Scott Walker

Contact Us

The Madison Times
313 West Beltline Hwy
Suite 132
Madison, WI 53713
608-270-9470

Copyright © 2023 Courier Communications. All Rights Reserved.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.