Schumer backed down and framed the CR as a win.

Schumer backs down on shutdown threat, giving Senate Republicans a political win

Senate Democrats abandoned months of brinkmanship and backed a bipartisan spending bill to keep the government open, a retreat that Senate Majority Leader John Thune says was driven by cold electoral math ahead of the midterm elections.

The Senate advanced a continuing resolution on Saturday to avert yet another government shutdown, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus supporting the measure after weeks of resistance. The CR would fund federal agencies at current levels through December 11, pushing the next budget fight past Election Night and into a lame-duck session of Congress.

CR stands for a continuing resolution. It is a temporary emergency spending bill that funds federal government operations and prevents a government shutdown when regular annual appropriations bills have not been passed by the October 1 start of the fiscal year.

Thune told Fox News Digital that Democrats made a political calculation, not a principled one. He said the minority party did not want to spend the next three months fending off Republican attacks over a shutdown they could have prevented.

"I think they didn't want to spend the next, well... three months defending attacks from Republicans about wanting to shut the government down."

Thune went further, describing his Democratic colleagues as operators who live and die by polling data.

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Interior Secretary exposes corruption

Democrat melts down after Secretary Doug Burgum drops bombshell about NGOs during committee hearing

Democrats had a meltdown during a committee hearing while grilling Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on all of the programs he is attempting to shut down.

And no one was ready for his answer.

HOLY CRAP! Trump Interior Sec. Doug Burgum just revealed he found NGOs where up to 100% PERCENT of their revenue was the federal government...

...and their CEO would make $650K a YEAR, and pay lobbyists $400K.

He exposes it: "We found organizations that were receiving grants from Interior, where 80 to 100 percent of the revenue of that NGO was a grant from the federal government."

See video on X

Cuting off the Federal money supply

Foreign Aid to Europe

Funding Fight Sparks Political Standoff

White House stands firm on DHS funding amid shutdown threat

Washington is bracing for a potential partial government shutdown as a bitter funding dispute over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intensifies.

The White House has rejected Senate Democrats’ demands to remove DHS funding from a major federal spending package, while Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), threaten to oppose the bill unless it’s renegotiated, with a critical vote expected this week and a shutdown deadline looming on Jan. 30.

The issue has sparked heated debate over priorities and principles in the nation’s capital.

So why the holdup? Perhaps it’s less about reform at DHS and more about scoring points against Trump’s immigration stance.

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NO more funding to Sanctuary States and Cities

Trump Declares Funding Cuts to Sanctuary Cities, States

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will halt federal funding to cities and states that have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal aliens beginning next month.

Trump made the remarks at the Detroit Economic Club in a speech that aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 free online streaming platform.

"Starting Feb. 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens," Trump said to applause.

"And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come. So, we're not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities."

The Department of Justice has designated 11 states and the District of Columbia, three counties and 18 cities as sanctuary jurisdictions based on policies that impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations.

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Lake Worth Beach is a sanctuary city, specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, a status declared by a city commission resolution in September 2023 that passed unanimously.

This declaration is largely symbolic and intended to affirm the city's commitment to inclusivity and protection from discrimination. It does not appear to be an immigration "sanctuary city" in the traditional sense of having a formal policy to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies, and local law enforcement (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office) does assist federal agencies.

European Leaders Sabotaging Trump's Peace Deal

European Leaders Got Caught In Leaked Call Revealing Their Plan To Sabotage Trump’s Peace Deal

President Trump's peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine finally brought both sides to the table after three years of endless war. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner spent five hours in Moscow this week discussing the President's 28-point framework with Vladimir Putin. The proposal includes territorial concessions from Ukraine, military caps, and security guarantees modeled on NATO's Article 5.

Trump's making progress where Biden failed for three straight years. But somebody doesn't want peace to break out. German magazine Der Spiegel obtained a transcript of a confidential December 1 call between top European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

What they said behind closed doors tells you everything about Europe's real agenda:

• French President Emmanuel Macron warned Zelenskyy that "there is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees." He called Trump's efforts "a great danger" for Ukraine.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz piled on, telling Zelenskyy to be "extremely careful in the coming days" because American negotiators are "playing games, both with you and with us."
• Finnish President Alexander Stubb declared "we must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys," referring to Witkoff and Kushner.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed: "I agree with Alexander — we must protect Volodymyr."

These aren't leaders worried about Ukraine's interests. They're political operatives panicking that Trump might actually deliver peace.

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New funding to Ukraine is on hold: The Trump administration has not sought new congressional approval for additional military aid funding, focusing instead on a negotiated peace settlement.

President Trump said that Zelensky has not even read the peace deal. NO more $$$ to Ukraine.

Shutdown Stalemate Fuels Funding Freeze

Trump halts $11 billion in Democratic city infrastructure funds over shutdown

The Trump administration has just pulled the plug on $11 billion in federal funds for infrastructure projects, primarily in Democrat-led cities, as the government shutdown drags on with no resolution in sight.

As reported by Fox News, the freeze, announced by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Friday, targets projects in cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore, with Vought squarely blaming Democrats for forcing this drastic step through their refusal to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

This move comes on the heels of an earlier freeze of nearly $18 billion for major New York City projects like the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway, signaling a broader strategy to rethink federal spending priorities during the budget impasse that began on Oct. 1.

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Trump freezes federal funds for New York City project

The Trump administration has frozen about $18 billion for two major infrastructure projects in New York City

pending a review to ensure that funding is not “flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” a top official said Wednesday.

"The funding is earmarked for the Hudson River Tunnel Project known as Gateway, and the Second Avenue Subway project, said Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.

Vought’s announcement came on the first day of the shutdown of the U.S. government after Congress failed to pass stopgap funding bills that would have kept federal agencies and services operating at normal capacity for at least another seven weeks.

The Trump administration has blamed the two top Democrats in Congress—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—for that shutdown. Both Democrats are from New York City.

Maybe next time the state and its corrupt judges will think twice before trying to bankrupt a man for taking out a loan and repaying it with interest. Democrats played hardball. Now Donald John Trump is back on the mound.

As pitcher Mudcat Grant used to say, it is time for a little chin music. That means a pitch up and in and barely under the chin. He was tough. Beat Don Drysdale 8-2 in the first game of the World Series in 1965.

Pitcher Trump’s designated hitter is Vought, which provides Democrats with a new face to sling mud at. They have exhausted themselves and their supporters trying to demonize Trump. They need a surrogate to attack. JD Vance is too cuddly. With the beard, he looks like a Teddy bear—albeit the mean talking one from the Ted movies." [Luthmann News]

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The "Schumer shakedown"

Senate stalls on funding bills as shutdown looms

The Senate shot down both Republican and Democratic proposals to keep the government funded, leaving lawmakers just days before a shutdown deadline. Without a deal, federal agencies risk closures starting Oct. 1 when current funding expires.

According to the Washington Examiner, neither party’s version of a temporary funding measure cleared the 60-vote threshold on Friday. The failed votes set up a high-stakes standoff, with the Senate not scheduled to reconvene until Sept. 29, just two days before the deadline.

The Democratic proposal would have extended funding through Oct. 31 while locking in enhanced health insurance subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act. The GOP version, which already passed the House earlier in the day, planned to fund the government until Nov. 21 but excluded the Democratic provisions, leading to rejection in the Senate.

Democrats insisted on permanent extensions of Obamacare subsidies, which expire at the end of the year.

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States Must Follow Federal Safety Rules

Trump threatens cuts in funding to states that refuse to enforce trucker English rules

California, Washington and New Mexico could lose millions of dollars of federal funding if they continue failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.

An investigation launched after a deadly Florida crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver who made an illegal U-turn earlier this month found what Duffy called significant failures in the way all three states are enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump's executive orders.

Truckers are supposed to be disqualified if they can't demonstrate English proficiency and Duffy said the driver involved in the crash that killed three should not have ever been given a commercial driver's license because of his immigration status.

But the crash has become increasingly political with the governors of California and Florida criticizing each other and Duffy highlighting the Trump administration's immigration concerns in interviews.

“States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow,” Duffy said. “As we saw with the horrific Florida crash that killed three, when states fail to enforce the law, they put the driving public in danger."

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