Cut and Run
Trump’s first 2025 federal government shutdown looms Friday March 14th, 2025 @ 11:59 pm which is the time by which the federal government will need to have passed the dubious ‘Continuing Resolution’ bill which would fund the federal government until the end of September 2025.
On Tuesday March 11, 2025 the House of Representatives passed a bill to fund the government until the end of September 2025, which turned out to be about as much of a party line vote as one could expect: 217-213 with only one (1) Republican voting against the bill which passed the House.
Now the Senate is clearly in the spotlight as attention turns to that chamber. The focus on the Senate is heightened as the House is set to cut out of Washington, D.C., while the Senate debates whether or not to pass the House's bill, now, in front of it. Basically, this is going to come down to the Senate’s vote and in particular the democrats in that chamber. Why the democrats? Since the democrats are opposed to all of the spending cuts in the bill, despite the USA being $36 trillion in debt, a filibuster will likely be called into play which would require 60 votes in the Senate to overcome. In essence, this means that eight Democrat Senators would need to side with the Republicans to overcome a filibuster.
Fat Chance
Sorry folks. Don’t bet the farm on the democrats siding with republicans. Thus, Legalhotwater predicts there is a 75% chance that a federal government shutdown will occur come March 15, 2025. This is how polarized and dysfunctional the federal government truly has become over the years. Each side is going to paint the picture that it is the other side that is responsible for a shutdown. If a shutdown occurs as expected, ante, it will likely be brief lasting a week or two at most. The collateral damage will be extensive and some political heads are going to roll. That much is true.
The politics in the United States is a wrecking ball of political wayward corrupt politics with no end in sight. No matter how you slice the pie, at some point there has to be an expectation of something stupid like: Fiscal Responsibility. And why all these other countries believe they are entitled to billions of dollars in funding -- directly or indirectly, is a modern human mystery of psychology. So it is going to come down to the Biden administration holdovers against the Trump newcomers and where the country lands financially. The previous administration created a climate of corruption and untold money crimes that has fueled the sense of a bottomless bucket of money whereas virtually everyone on earth, in even the darkest corners of the world, believe they are entitled to federal government handouts. Meanwhile, of course, (there is always a 'but' as the saying goes) the federal government has not paid its debt with respect to a frivolous FOIA stonewalling lawsuit against the wayward Department of Justice (FBI in particular).
As for the incoming Trump administration, they are going to go down as being the worst or best administration in modern history: there is no middle ground in that respect. Only time will tell. The reality is that bringing about fiscal responsibility will without a doubt cause direct and collateral damage: And severe at that. At that point, that is where the opportunity would present itself to steer the ship on a more sound financial course. The only question that really remains is how much does the country really want to be: On the right course? It would appear that the country, in very large part, is only concerned with looking the other way and continuing spending at unprecedented levels feeding endless Pork Projects, entitlements, and social programs, funded in part via Superpacs by way of federal grants, the aim of which is to continue with the social warfare against anyone and anything which seeks to make sense of the looming financial debacle otherwise known as the United States federal government. What a mess.
As Trump’s first 2025 federal government shutdown looms, Legalhotwater predicts a short but damaging shutdown. Buckle up folks as the ride is going to get bumpy and some political heads are going to roll. It is surprising; however, that no indictments have come to date. At least none meaningful anyway. You might even witness an indictment or two during the same projected shutdown period.