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         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

US: Trump rejects spending bill, sparking possible shutdown

US President-elect Donald Trump has called for Republicans to force a government shutdown in a standoff with Democrats. Temporary funding looked set to pass with bipartisan support until Trump pulled the plug.

Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Republicans to reject a bipartisan plan aimed at averting a government shutdown, throwing Congress into a spin as lawmakers prepare to head home for the holiday season.

The about face means that Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans must attempt to renegotiate a new deal or face a shutdown when federal funding ends on Friday. 

Trump and incoming Vice President JD Vance released a statement on Wednesday demanding Republicans to "get smart and tough."

"If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then call their bluff," the statement read, adding that any concessions would be seen as "a betrayal of our country."

Democrats were incensed at this latest move by Trump, who suggested raising the debt-limit — something his party has continuously railed against — to avert a crisis.

Trump later threatened the political fortunes of Republicans who didn't heed his warnings, writing in a post on Truth Social: "Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried."

https://www.dw.com/en/us-trump-rejects-spending-bill-sparking-possible-shutdown/a-71101842

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

The US House of Representatives has voted against a Donald Trump-backed funding measure, bringing a government shutdown this weekend a step closer.

A revised spending plan failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed in the lower chamber of Congress, with 38 Republicans voting against the bill on Thursday night, defying the president-elect.

Trump had thwarted a previous cross-party funding deal that the Republican House leadership had struck with Democrats, after heavy criticism of the measure by tech billionaire Elon Musk. 

After the bill failed by 174 votes to 235, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would come up with another solution on Friday before government funding lapses at midnight.

The Trump-approved replacement bill would have tied government funding to a two-year suspension of the federal debt limit, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills. 

Republican rebels objected because they oppose increases in government spending, while Democrats voted against it because they said the extra borrowing would be used to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

Here are five things to know about the possible government shutdown:

The now-looming government shutdown can be traced back to September, when another budget deadline loomed.

Johnson failed to pass a six-month funding extension. Mostly Democrats voted against the extension, which included a measure (the SAVE Act) to require proof of citizenship for voting.

Instead, Congress came to a bipartisan deal for a bare-bones bill that would keep the government funded through 20 December.

Johnson pledged to his Republican conference then that come December, when the funding was set to expire, they would not have to vote on an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink spending bill ahead of the holiday recess. 

But when congressional leaders released the text of the latest spending bill on Tuesday, three days before lawmakers were set to break for the holidays, it totalled 1,547 pages. 

The bill would have extended government funding until March 14 - nearly three months after Trump is set to return to the White House.

It included more than $110bn (£88bn) in emergency disaster relief and $30bn in aid to farmers; the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009; federal funds to rebuild a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore; healthcare reforms; and, provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from deceptive advertising.

Some Republicans criticised Johnson for abandoning a more basic spending bill, specifically condemning left-leaning provisions that were negotiated to win support from Democrats.

Johnson defended the deal, putting the blame on "acts of God" for needing some of the added provisions, like disaster aid and assistance for farmers.

Still, opposition for Johnson's spending deal grew on Wednesday.

Musk, who Trump has tasked with identifying spending cuts by co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency ( which is not an official government department), lobbied heavily against the existing deal with dozens of posts on X.

He called it "criminal" and often referenced false statements about the bill in his posts.

• Musk flexes influence over Congress in shutdown drama
• Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US

Musk wrote on X that any lawmaker "who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years".

After Musk drummed up opposition for the spending bill, Trump and JD Vance, the incoming vice-president, dealt the final blow to Johnson's deal that evening.

They said in a joint statement they wanted streamlined legislation without the Democratic-backed provisions that Johnson had included. 

They also called for Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, and limit the funding legislation to temporary spending and disaster relief.

They called anything else "a betrayal of our country".

Johnson and House Republicans introduced the streamlined legislation on Thursday, which then failed in a vote that evening. It's not clear what they will do next. 

Lawmakers are not expected to vote again on Thursday, meaning they'll return on Friday morning with less than 24 hours on the clock until a potential shutdown. 

But it's clear the partisan blame game is in full swing. After the Thursday bill was shot down, Johnson told reporters it was "very disappointing" that almost every House Democrat had voted against it. 

"It is, I think, really irresponsible for us to risk a shutdown over these issues on things that they have already agreed upon," he said.

Johnson will likely need Democratic support, especially as divisions inside his own party over the bill became clear this week. 

But Democrats are unlikely to help Johnson with support for a revamped funding bill, blaming him for breaking their bipartisan agreement.

"You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow," Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X, which is owned by Musk.

And others seemed to taunt Republicans for seeming to take their direction from the unelected Mr Musk. 

On the House floor on Thursday, Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro - the top Democratic appropriator in the House - called the billionaire "President Musk", to laughter from fellow Democrats. 

"President Musk said 'don't do it, shut the government down,'" she said. 

Still, Johnson needs to find a way to win over Democrats in order to pass a spending bill, especially when pent-up anger within his own caucus is set to boil over.

Time is also of the essence. These negotiations usually take weeks.

Federal agencies rely on annual funding to function. When Congress fails to pass the 12 spending bills that make up the spending budget, these agencies must discontinue non-essential functions.

Essential services - like border protection, in-hospital medical care, law enforcement and air-traffic control - continue to operate.

But many federal employees may go without pay.

While Social Security and Medicare checks are sent out, benefit verification and card issuance stops. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program's funding is mandatory, but food stamp benefits may be impacted by a shutdown. This could lead to delays for similar assistance programs. 

Other agencies stop operations entirely.

The Food and Drug Administration halts food safety inspections, the Environmental Protection Agency stops inspections and National Parks close to visitors.

This was the first big test of Trump's influence over current congressional Republicans, and in the vote on Thursday, a number of them balked. 

It also poses a challenge for Speaker Johnson, as the House is set to vote in just 15 days on who will serve as the House Speaker for the next Congress. 

What previously looked like a secured position for Johnson is now seeming less of a sure thing.

Facing backlash from Trump and Mr Musk, the Louisiana Republican is now under scrutiny from those in his own party over his handling of government funding. 

Several Republicans have indicated they will not vote for Johnson to lead the chamber. He cannot afford to lose the support of many Republicans, given that the party holds a slim majority of only five seats in the next Congress. 

The threat to Johnson is serious, given Republicans' recent history.

In January 2023, California Republican Kevin McCarthy went through 15 rounds of ballots before winning the speakership. 

Just 10 months later, he was ousted by Republicans, who faulted him for failing to cut spending and for working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6l9e3jq7xo

SEE ALSO: budget torpedoing...

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

US spent $9 million on ‘anal prints’ and on giving puppies cocaine – DOGE
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has published a list of unusual programs funded by the federal government

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has unleashed a list of some unexpected programs and products that the US government had been reportedly spending the budget money on, including ‘anal prints’ and experiments injecting puppies with cocaine.

In November, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, a panel aimed at reducing federal government waste through audits and reforms. While specific targets remain unclear, Musk has pledged to save taxpayers trillions by curbing inefficient spending.

On Friday, the DOGE issued a post on social media platform X, captioning it ‘What does the US Government use taxpayer dollars for?’

The following list shows that $6.97 million has been spent on studying ‘smart toilets’ that recognize the user’s ‘anal print,’ while $2.3 million went into studies on injecting dogs with cocaine. Some $118,000 was reportedly dedicated to studying whether a metal replica robot of Marvel Comics’ Thanos could snap his fingers, and $75,000 was given in grants on a Harvard study on lizards being blown off trees with leaf blowers.

One of DOGE’s links referenced a 2021 RealClear Policy article on a Stanford study that received $6.97 million in funding. It described smart toilets equipped with AI and cameras to identify users’ unique ‘anal prints,’ analyze urine and stool for health monitoring, and send the data to a secure cloud.

Other studies included the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) $75,000 project simulating hurricanes using leaf blowers to observe lizard survival tactics. Additionally, from 2020-2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $2.3 million on experiments injecting beagle dogs with cocaine to study cardiovascular effects, which drew some public criticism.

According to a Treasury Department website, the federal government spends money on a variety of goods, programs, and services to support the American public.

During his campaign, Trump promised that if he won the November election, he would establish a “government efficiency” commission headed by Musk. The tech billionaire has repeatedly sounded the alarm over US debt, warning that the country is spiraling toward bankruptcy and will quickly go bust if Washington doesn’t curb its spending.

At the time, Musk promised to save American taxpayers trillions of dollars if the Republican candidate won, claiming that “taxpayer money is being wasted and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that.”

https://www.rt.com/news/609710-us-government-spending-musk/

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US avoids shutdown with last-minute funding bill

The US House and Senate have passed a governement funding bill that will prevent a government shutdown.

Both houses of US Congress passed a three-month funding bill  that will avert a government shutdown that would have disrupted everything from law enforcement to national parks.

The Democratic-controlled Senate, in an 85-11 vote, passed the bill to continue funding the US government 38 minutes after it lapsed at midnight local time (0500 UTC/GMT). 

Earlier Friday night, with a 366-34 vote, the House approved the last-minute plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson that will now keep federal operations and disaster aid temporarily funded.

The passing provided immediate relief for about 800,000 federal workers who were at risk of being sent home for the Christmas holidays without pay.

Johnson had said Congress would "meet our obligations" and not allow federal operations to cease ahead of the winter holidays.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the Senate that it was "good news that the bipartisan approach in the end prevailed ... It's a good outcome for America and the American people."

The late-night vote followed a frantic week that saw President-elect Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk — who is set to be Trump's efficiency czar — defeat an initial bipartisan deal, which threw Congress into disarray.

That sparked two alternative slimmed-down bills, which failed to pass. Following the criticism from his own party, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to spend much of Friday trying to find a last-ditch agreement that would keep government agencies running.

There had been uncertainty about the outcome after Trump pushed his demand for the inclusion of a rise in the debt ceiling in the deal. If not, he posted early Friday, let the closures "start now."

However, Trump's final demand wasn't included in the final legislation. It was reduced from the original 1,500-page bill that had included much-derided pay hikes for lawmakers, among other promises.

The White House said President Joe Biden intended to sign the bill into law.

The legislation extends government funding till March 14 and provides $100 billion (€960 million) for disaster-hit states and $10 billion for farmers.

The bill also extends agricultural and food aid programs that were due to expire at the end of the year.

Johnson said on Friday that Republicans would have more power to influence government spending next year, when they will have majorities in both chambers of Congress and Trump will hold the presidency.

"This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending," he said after the vote.

https://www.dw.com/en/us-avoids-shutdown-with-last-minute-funding-bill/a-71128644

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SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN6sbjdZ2ag

READ FROM TOP.

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…