Is the shutdown coming to an end?
I’d heard for a while that the Democrats were planning to keep the shutdown going till Tuesday’s election, because they thought it would help them, and then after that some sort of compromise would be reached since the shutdown had served its purpose.
Word is that that may be happening. I don’t get the sense that the GOP is “caving,” although I’m sure some will disagree. I think there are concessions and both sides want to move on. The dispute wasn’t over much in the first place:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told fellow Republicans in a private lunch that he plans to hold a vote Friday that could pave the way to end the government shutdown, according to two people in the room who were granted anonymity to describe his comments.
The plan, the people said, is to bring up the House-passed continuing resolution that Democrats have repeatedly rejected and then seek to amend it with a new expiration date very likely in January as well as a negotiated package of three full-year spending bills.
While Thune believed the plan would win the support of enough Democrats to advance, Democratic senators emerged from their own private lunch determined to seek out a better deal, and they are expected to block the House CR again absent additional progress in negotiations, according to two other people granted anonymity to describe the deliberations.
In any case, Senate GOP leaders are preparing to keep lawmakers in Washington to try and force a resolution to the record-breaking shutdown. Asked if the chamber will be in through the weekend, Majority Whip John Barrasso said “yes.”
Your guess is as good as mine. Hey, maybe even better.
NOTE: More verbiage here, but not much more news.
Thanksgiving may be the impetus to shut down the shutdown. This will affect people that have political clout.
We’re planning on going to Puerto Rico for Christmas and it already makes me nervous and that’s a month and a half away. Didn’t buy flight insurance and I don’t know how flight cancellations would affect the tickets. But we can’t be flexible about the dates (kids taking PTO, grandkids out of school) so it would be a mess.
Why Peurto Rico? I told the kids I wanted to go somewhere warm and Hawaii was going to be too expensive.
We were traveling last month and went to Glacier (which was open– in the sense the gates weren’t locked, but no services). But a park in Oregon was locked. Was the difference between a red state and a blue state?
The point being, the shutdown doesn’t affect our family. Once it does, we’ll be more interested in getting it over.
Well we were safe but all good things come to an end.
Call your Senators. Patty Murray – (425) 259-6515
Maria Cantwell – (425) 303-0114
They need to hear from outraged citizens.
Call your Senators. They need to hear from outraged citizens.
Cantwell – (425) 303-0114
Murray – (425) 259-6515
“The dispute wasn’t over much in the first place”
“FACT: Democrats’ proposal would result in nearly $200 billion spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants and other non-citizens over the next decade — enough to fund the entire Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/10/fact-democrats-shut-down-government-over-free-healthcare-for-illegals/
Bill Glahn of powerlineblog says there is no deal
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/11/no-deal-on-ending-shutdown.php
“ NO DEAL ON ENDING SHUTDOWN
Democrats think they are “winning” the shutdown. As long as they continue to think that, it will continue, into 2026, perhaps into 2029.
Yesterday’s offer from Senate leader John Thune (R-SD) has been rejected. From The Hill newspaper,
Deal to reopen government falters over Democrats’ distrust of Trump.
A “deal” can’t “falter” if there never was a deal. Distrust of Trump? The Hill reports,
Democratic support for a potential deal to reopen the government has crumbled because of deep mistrust among Senate Democrats over whether they can trust President Trump to act in good faith to extend health insurance subsidies or to stop firing federal workers.
Was there ever any Democratic support? They mistrust/distrust/don’t trust that Trump will meet 100 percent of their demands. Is that Trump’s “fault”?”
Dems are hoping for an airline collision they can blame on Trump, but these things take time.
“Dems are hoping for an airline collision they can blame on Trump, but these things take time.” – Ray Van Dune
If enough people call the Dem Senators and tell them they’ll have blood on their hands, it might change their calculations. The Dems are counting on people not paying much attention. Air travelers are being affected and will be more so each day. If every one of them called and demanded the government reopen, it would resonate. One call doesn’t matter but several thousand gets their attention. Just do it. It’s like voiding – except only on one issue. It’s why they have phone numbers – to get voter input. I don’t understand why people won’t do it. It’s easy. Takes maybe four minutes or less.
The airline reductions also raise the issue in my mind of why exactly do we need the air traffic controllers to be federal employees at all? Vs. private sector organizations. Put that cost directly into the cost of tickets where it belongs, along with related airport infrastructure.
Yes, screeners were private sector back in the day, and converting/expanding that role into TSA has been a mixed blessing. False ideas about the religion of peace have been the core issue avoided here all along. TSA precheck and related vetting programs should be making the security time slog faster and more reliable. Better focus on auditing and surprise inspections and other metrics might make the ATC and related services justified as private sector elements.
It might be a stretch but I suspect some folks are exploring the use of AI in the ATC role. Less risks due to fatigue, or issues with disagreements with spouses or children, etc.
I think because Democrats feel they “won” Tuesday’s election; they are going to keep the shutdown going a bit longer because they feel like to can get more concessions now. I don’t feel like they won much more than their own constituents, with Virginia being the only partial exception. So now, they are trying the court again, but this time to demand Trump act illegally. They think the court can demand Trump appropriate funds and spend them specifically without Congressional approval. And while they know that cannot and will not be done; they are using the media to spin it as Trump trying to block spending, rather than Trump saying the President doesn’t have the authority and neither does the court. Once that silliness is run its course in the news cycle; maybe they’ll be a compromise to shutdown.
However, as other note, there is more pain to come with the busiest flying days of the year and airports being shutdown. Well, not actually shutdown, more like a gamble on whether you can get through security within half a day.
Not exactly sure why they should end it…
Example n to the nth:
“Ethos, pathos, and logos”—
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/11/ethos-pathos-and-logos.php
Trump is being accused en masse (by the Projection Party and other usual hysterics, pervs and wackos) of being prepared to cause the deaths of millions of Americans—ESPECIALLY KIDS!! (But of course…)
Nope. Not exactly sure why they should end it.
What would happen if the Senate went back to the old-fashioned talking filibuster? Would that make it easy to break a filibuster, or would it be inconsequential?
@ Barry: ““Ethos, pathos, and logos”—”
Somewhere in that enlightened education we need to reassert the concept that a system that makes the people sovereign over their government, so they can maximize their personal and group liberty and minimize dependence and slavery, requires that they also face reality and accept responsibility for what they find. To my mind that folds logic, authority, and emotion/ sensibility into the mix as part of achieving the greatest human flourishing.
Shutdowns did not exist before 1980. Jimmy Carters ag’s interpretation.
Can this be changed?
https://time.com/5493596/government-shutdown-history/
I strongly suspect that much of what this shutdown has really been over is Schumer’s worries about a primary challenge from AOC.