{"id":12846,"date":"2019-01-07T18:10:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T02:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=12846"},"modified":"2019-01-08T18:40:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T02:40:16","slug":"how-to-solve-the-government-shutdown-give-trump-what-he-asked-for-bradcast-172019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=12846","title":{"rendered":"How to Solve the Government Shutdown? Give Trump What He Asked For: ‘BradCast’ 1\/7\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

On today’s BradCast<\/i><\/a>: Desi and I are back after the holidays — and to end the shutdown! You’re welcome! There’s a LOT of news to catch up on as Democrats officially settle in to their new U.S. House majority with the federal government remaining partially closed thanks to Donald Trump’s new demand for $5 billion in tax-payer money (not Mexico’s) to fund his southern border wall. [Audio link to show follows below.<\/i>]\n

The federal shutdown is beginning to cause very real and negative effects across the country, particularly at our national parks<\/a> and monuments and, if it goes on much longer, in food assistance<\/a> to the poor. Oddly enough, National Park Service rangers are still deployed<\/a> to one historic site in D.C. — the one that happens to be inside the Old Post Office building….which is now the Trump International Hotel.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump has announced<\/a> plans for a prime-time speech to the nation on Tuesday night to address his pretend<\/a> “National Security crisis on our Southern Border” and is requesting<\/a> airtime for it from the national TV networks. However, while Trump is standing firm on his demand for some $5 billion to fund his border wall, (and Dems are standing equally firm in not giving it to him), his very own proposed budget plan for 2019 [PDF]<\/a>, as given to Congress last year, requested just $1.6 billion for the wall<\/i>. (Seriously, open on the PDF and click on the section for the Dept. of Homeland Security, where it details the Admin’s 2019 request: “Critical investments include $1.6 billion for construction of the border wall.”) That’s almost exactly what the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to give him last year, which Trump agreed to…before criticism from Righwing media led him to increase his demand two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

So, it’s left to me, I guess, to explain how Democrats should give Trump exactly what he asked for in that proposal last year — as written by Office of Management and Budget chief and now Trump’s Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney — in order to solve the very real shutdown crisis.<\/p>\n

Also, among the many other stories covered on today’s show:<\/p>\n