Shutdown Chaos Amid Critical Vote Today

It’s Day 38 and the political freeze continues to paralyze lawmakers and shut down the federal government. Yesterday it looked like tensions might be thawing, but as of right now, Republican and Democrat lawmakers remain at a stalemate while essential services face increasing strain.

As reported:

U.S. Senate Democrats continued to hold out on agreeing to end the record-long federal government shutdown on Thursday, despite Republican overtures to reverse federal employee layoffs as part of a bid to reopen shuttered agencies.

Democrats spent nearly two hours in their second closed-door caucus meeting in as many days on the 37th day of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which has furloughed about 750,000 federal employees, forced thousands more to work without pay and shut off food assistance and Head Start subsidies for millions of Americans, including children. A new pressure point was expected to open in the days ahead as major U.S. airports braced for a 10% cut in airline flights due to a lack of pay for air-traffic controllers.

Mind you, there have now been 14 votes in which Republicans put forth a clean CR proposal to reopen the government, but the Democrats have refused to vote in favor of the deal, continuing this stalemate while families prepare to lose benefits.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (SD) had expressed his hopes that his colleagues across the aisle would do the right thing, but he also made it clear he wasn’t optimistic, stating: “My hopes and expectations are always that we’re going to have enough Democrats to actually proceed. . . . We’ll see.”

Here’s what was on the table: After weeks of silence between both parties, Republicans and Democrats finally started real negotiations to reopen the government – basically, a temporary reopening through December or January, paired with a few “minibus” bills. (Think of them like mini-omnibus packages that fund only certain sectors of government.)

The idea was to keep crucial parts of the country running – military, air travel, safety systems – while the rest of the budget debate got ironed out. It wasn’t going to solve everything, but at least it would keep planes in the sky and paychecks flowing.

And then came the plot twist during a two-hour caucus meeting, which turned into a pep talk straight out of a halftime locker room, whipping the far Left up into a frothy furor, promising to hold the line.

Why the pivot? Because they won a few blue-state elections this week. Seriously. They won states everyone expected them to – far from some Leftist coup d’etat. Nevertheless, they seem to think they’re holding all the cards – or keys. According to reports, one unnamed far-Left Senator stated: “You got a bunch of keys, and you’re trying to find the right key to fit a lock.”

The problem they’re seemingly unmoved by is that, while they’re fumbling in the dark for the right lock to fit their mess of keys, people are hungry. People are scared. And everyone is getting fed up.

That’s what frustrates me most—and maybe many of you I suspect —is how allergic Washington has become to the middle ground. We used to be able to pass simple, targeted bills to keep vital services running: Fund the FAA, fund SNAP, fund the military. But now it’s all or nothing. If one side gets a win, the other side has to burn the whole thing down.

How can Congress not pass a two-page bill to keep planes flying or food stamps flowing? Because it’s not about people anymore – it’s about pride. It’s about some twisted sense of “winning.” And the American people lose.

But I’m holding out hope that a few folks in the Senate remember what they’re there to do: represent the people, not the party.

As always we’ll continue to keep you updated on any new developments.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of the gridlock in the Senate and how it’s impacting the country. We were also joined by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell to discuss President Trump’s work to broker peace deals in the Middle East, including the most recent country to join the Abraham Accords.

Watch the full broadcast below: