Cartoon by Chris Britt, Illinois Times

I’ll make it short. The Republicans in Congress are weak.

There will be no clearer example of their utter abdication of their oath of office than what will happen in the Senate today.

Mitch McConnell is bringing up two bills for a vote regarding the government shutdown after a month of not doing anything. One bill is Trump’s “compromise” bill which gives him everything he wants and includes a bunch of immigration poison pills, i.e. a total nonstarter. But the other bill is the same bill, a “clean” continuing resolution that would re-open the government at current spending levels, that all of the Senators voted for back in December, in the closing days of the 115th Congress.

That bill, that one month ago passed with all 100 Senators voting for it, is now expected to fail to get to the requisite 60 votes for passage. Why?

The only thing that changed is Trump’s mind.

When the Senators passed it unanimously back in December, they had an agreement that Trump would sign it. So they all voted Yes. But then some famous ultra-right conservatives got mad at Trump and he changed his mind and decided to push for the Wall. So now, because Trump won’t sign it, the GOP Senators are going to vote No.

That is NOT their job. Their job is to act as a co-equal branch of government with equal power. It is not to wait for Trump’s permission to do something. If they want to do Trump’s bidding, they should work for him in the White House, not in Congress.

The reason why our government is so broken today is simply because the Republicans are unwilling to follow through on their constitutional duty. They should all lose their jobs.

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Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: Constitution, continuing resolution, Explainers, featured, government shutdown, MItch McConnell, oath of office, Republicans, the Wall, U.S. Senate