In the long history of government shutdowns, this one was a record: the shortest ever.Largely due, of course, to Rand Paul for whom perfect is the enemy of good, who slowed talked the bill in the Senate.
The lapse in federal funding lasted less than 6 hours—with the government officially unfunded from 12:01 a.m. on Friday to about 5:30 a.m. when lawmakers scrambled to pass a six-week spending bill.
President Trump still has to sign the budget bill that cleared Congress for the money to start flowing. But he’s expected to do so, and the government should be up and running without interruption Friday.
This was the second shutdown in a month—and the 20th since the 1970s, according to a tally by the Congressional Research Service.
Four previous shutdowns, all in the 1980s, lasted just one day—but a full day—according the CRS data. The longest shutdown?
A 21-day spending impasse that stretched from Dec. 5, 1995 until Jan. 6, 1996—pitting then President Bill Clinton against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Oh, Bette...
Where’s Rand Paul’s neighbor when we need him?— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) February 9, 2018
I'm with Rand Paul on the problem of the deficit, but I'm afraid our Republican form of government makes it very difficult to agree on anything requiring the size of government to diminish with respect to the size of our population. Too many votes depend on implicit bribery.
I am slowly coming around to the belief that a financial crisis brought on by increasing debt crowding out all other funds is the only possible means of correcting it. We will be lucky to emerge from it with democratic institutions more or less intact. I guess I'm hoping for it to be delayed beyond my lifetime.
Sorry kids and grandkid(s?).
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