"Well, Joe, you have to go back to what the strategy was at the beginning of the shutdown, King said. There were two goals, both of which I support. One was standing up to Donald Trump. The other was getting some resolution on the ACA premium tax credit issue. The problem was, the shutdown wasn't accomplishing either goal. And there was practically, well, it was zero likelihood that it was going to."
"In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power, King said. Exhibit A being what he's done with SNAP and SNAP benefits across the country. Oh, by the way, Joe, you're gonna love this: Guess who's getting paid during the shutdown? Not the park rangers or air traffic controllers. The ICE agents. Under special law, under that big awful bill that they passed last summer, the ICE agents are being paid. Nobody else is."
A left-leaning senator who caucuses with Democrats voted to help end the government shutdown because the shutdown failed to achieve its objectives and strengthened executive authority. Two goals were identified at the start: standing up to President Donald Trump and resolving the ACA premium tax credit issue; neither was being accomplished. The senator argued the shutdown increased presidential leverage by allowing selective continued pay and executive actions affecting programs like SNAP. He noted ICE agents were receiving pay under special law while park rangers and air traffic controllers were not. Electoral gains by Democrats showed some success, but diminishing returns and failure to bring Republicans to the table motivated ending the shutdown.
#government-shutdown #angus-king #aca-premium-tax-credit #snap-and-ice-payments #trump-executive-power
Read at www.mediaite.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]