My Less Than Humble Opinion

On March 18th, Chuck Schumer was a guest on “The View“. He spoke about the reason that he voted in favor of the Republican’s not-so-clean continuing resolution. He had a choice between two terrible options:

1. He, and at least six other members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, could vote for cloture, thereby eliminating a filibuster, after which the Republicans could pass the bill on a simple majority.
   
   
2. He and the others could vote against cloture and shut down the government.
   
   

The first choice passed an ugly budget plan for the rest of the year, but did not totally cede power to the White House. The second put all spending decisions solely in the hands of Donald Trump (and Elon Musk).

Senator Schumer can explain it better than I can:

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After a station break and commercials, Senator Schumer continued. Then, the hosts turned the discussion toward his new book.

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I think that Senator Schumer and the other members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who allowed the budget resolution to go to a final vote did the right thing. They did not just “roll over and play dead”. Had the government shut down, President Trump and his Cabinet aided by Elon Musk and his minions could have had 9 months … or more … of absolute power to decide how and where to spend Federal funds … and when, if ever, to end the shutdown. As bad as the continuing resolution is, it sets some limits on the authority of the Executive Branch.

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