Pierce: There Are Some Things You Can't Shut Down
Inside the confines of the Capitol, our country is broken. Out on the National Mall, there's hope
WASHINGTON—One of the most remarkable—and, certainly one of the most benign—phenomena of this doomstruck political weekend here is the fact that, while the united states of stasis existed within the Capitol, there was a lot of activity out around the building and all the way down the National Mall, and it was bipartisan, and it was multi-ideological. There was an ad hoc rally on the Capitol lawn to support the DREAMers that drew a fairly impressive cast of political characters. There was the annual massive March For Life that clogged the wide boulevards with fresh-faced high-school kids in letter jackets, and an appearance via video from the president* of the United States. (How many of the assembled knew who Stormy Daniels was is best left to unfounded speculation.) And, on Saturday, in the eleventh hour of the government shutdown, the women’s march took over on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, while various senators scurried around pretending that any solution is likely before next week....
"One of the worst things,” Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi told the crowd on Saturday, “is that they’re hiding behind children.” She was referring to the CHIP program, which was thrown into the House continuing resolution pretty much as a talking point against the possibility of the Democrats in the Senate doing what they did, which was to kill the CR by defeating a cloture motion on Friday night. Lost in all the parliamentary sturm und drang was how completely shabby that CR really is. For example, it funds the CHIP program, but it doesn’t extend the federal benefits to community health centers, which means the poor kids will have insurance and no place to use it. (This, by the way, is probably why Jon Tester of Montana didn’t join people like Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp in breaking party ranks. Those centers are vital to health-care in rural areas.)
The CR’s other flaws were ably addressed by Robert Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, on the floor of the Senate, when he pointed out that there are a large number of issues pending before the Senate that would not be solved even if the CR passed. For example, there is the Butch Lewis Act, which has nothing at all to do with boxing but, rather, is a bill to protect private pensions from being looted by corporate sharpers. These include pensions earned over a lifetime of back-breaking work by…wait for it…coal miners.
Going into the chamber on Saturday, Casey got off a Parthian shot at the president* who has been so absent throughout these proceedings. “He should get to work and take care of his coal miners,” Casey said. “I’m going in there to take care of mine.”
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15831882/womens-march-government-shutdown/
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