Have You Noticed?

That the Republicans want to defund the FBI and Justice Department? Do you remember when the Republicans were all over the Democrats for wanting to defund the police (Even though the Democrats never introduced bills to defund the police.) but it is okay for them to want to defund the FBI and Justice Department.

Trump Indictment Presents New Obstacle in Spending Fight as Shutdown Looms

The far right is pushing to cut funding for the F.B.I. and the Justice Department, another complication for Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he seeks to avoid a government shutdown.

New York Times

By Carl Hulse

August 4, 2023

The political furor over the indictment this week of former President Donald J. Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election is spilling into the escalating congressional spending fight as conservatives, following the former president’s lead, take aim at federal law enforcement agencies, raising yet another obstacle to avoiding a government shutdown.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who has become a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, reacted to the indictment by vowing to try to cut funding for the special counsel Jack Smith while suggesting she would oppose other law enforcement spending measures as well. With Republicans already pressing for deep spending cuts and social policy requirements that have alienated Democrats, they will likely have only four votes in their own party to spare, meaning just a handful of defections could sink the bills.

So much for the “Law and Order” party!

The conservative animosity toward the F.B.I. is a stark break with the traditional Republican orthodoxy of strong support for law enforcement. It has little traction in the Senate, where Democrats and Republicans have been working in a bipartisan fashion to advance spending bills for consideration when the Senate returns next month. Most senators of both parties would be opposed to entertaining the sort of spending reductions for law enforcement sought by the House conservatives.

They are all for “Law and Order” when they are in control but as soon as they are voted out of offices they tear the police and the courts!  Trump even ran as the law-and-order candidate. All of sudden the justice system is evil, even the judges they appointed when the rule in a way the Republicans don’t like.

The Republican’s weapon… the federal budget, they are willing to shutdown the government to get their way. They don’t care the harm it will do to the nations, they don’t care the hardships it will cause the businesses, they don’t care that seniors will not get their much needed Social Security checks.

When Congress returns in September, the House and Senate will have just a few weeks to try to pass their spending bills and reconcile their significant differences before the Sept. 30 deadline marking the end of the fiscal year, an outcome that seems highly unlikely.

To avoid a shutdown, Congress would then need to pass a stopgap spending bill, but even that temporary solution is no sure thing, given conservative demands for guarantees of deep spending cuts before moving forward.

Party before the People! That is the Republican rallying cry.

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I didn't play Saturday 9 this morning because I have been running around trying to get my new washing machine.

It was suppose to be delivered today but yesterday morning a got a phone call that said that it was delayed. I don't know the whole message because the person rambled the message off so fast that I could only make out part of it.

Anyhow, for the last two day I have been at the big box store and emails trying to find out when they  going to deliver and install the washing machine. If it is not delivered by Monday night, I'm canceling the order and buying it at their competitors.