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美國政客：一丘之貉 January 20, 2018

With government shutdown, Republicans reap what they sow

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We used to live in northern Virginia in a picturesque wooded community called Great Falls. It is a small bedroom enclave about 20 minutes from Washington D.C., the power center of the United States. Whenever we need to go to D.C., we’ll take the Dulles Airport tollroad and I-66 East which will take us directly to the Constituion Avenue in the heart of the district.

Less than a mile or so into D.C., you’ll see Albert Einstein Memorial, National Academy of Sciences and White House on you left, Vietnan Memorial, Washington Momument and Smithsonian museums on your right. The Constitution Ave then merges into the Pennsylvania Avenue which takes us to “The Hill,” or “一丘之貉“的”丘,” officially known as the Capitol Hill.

At this moment, a brief background of “一丘之貉” is needed here. “一丘之貉‘s 貉 is a meat-eating basal animal commonly called raccoon dog. It likes to climb trees and eats insects, rodents, amphibians, birds, fish, reptiles, fruits, nuts and berries. 丘 means small hill which I have talked about earlier. “一丘之貉” literally means all raccoon dogs which live in the same hill, or jackals from the same lair. People of the same ink.? Schumer shutdown” and, essentially, they’re right. Chuck Schumer and his fellow Democrats (with the help of a few Republicans) blocked a bill that would have kept the government open – at least temporarily. rump shutdown Democrats will argue that they had a deal with the president on their bipartisan compromisethat included immigration reform – only to have him backaway during that fateful obscenity-laden Oval Office meeting last week. Republicans will frame this as liberals putting undocumented immigrant protections over military readiness Republicans will frame this as liberals putting undocumented immigrant protections over military readiness and health insurance for poor kids. The blame game began at midnight, and the winner has yet to be decided. Generally, theloser in these types of showdowns is the party entering the fight with the lowest popularity – bad news for Mr Trump and the Republicans. The good news, for both sides, is that their political bases will be thrilled they are playing hardball. Midterm election years,like 2018, tend to encourage this kind of rally-the-base manoeuvres. US budget must be approved by 1 October – the start of the federal financial year. But Congress has often failed to meet this deadline and negotiations continue well into the new year, with the previous year’s funding to federal agencies extended on a temporary basis. Because Congress failed to agree an extension that would have maintained government funding through to 16 February, it means many federal agencieseffectively closed for business as of 00:01 Saturday (05:01 GMT). Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on Monday.Half of workers in the treasury, health, defence and transportation departments willalso not be going to work. Visa and passport processing could also be delayed, and some national monuments, including New York’s Statue of Liberty, have already been closed. But essential services that protect “life or human property”will continue, including nationalsecurity, postal services, air traffic control, inpatient medicalservices, emergency outpatient medicine, disaster assistance, prisons, taxation and electricity generation. And the Trump administration said it planned to keep nationalparks open – their closure in the2013 shutdown provoked an angry public reaction. The shutdown began on the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. He has delayed a trip to his Florida resort where he is due to hostparty – with attendees paying as much as $250,000 (£180,000; €204,500) – to mark the event. What happened during the 2013 shutdown? Many federal employees were forced to take a leave of absence – officially known as being furloughed – during the 16 days of shutdown. some 850,000 employees were off work each day. It cost the government $2bn in lost productivity and ledto “significant negative effects on the economy”, the OMB saidat the time. Donald Trump, interviewed by Fox and Friends at the time, laidthe blame for the shutdown with the then president, BarackObama. “The problems start from the top and have to get solved fromthe top,” he said. “The president is the leader, and he’s got to geteverybody in a room and he’s got to lead.” is the first time that a budget impasse has led to a shutdown when both chambers of Congress and theWhite House are controlled by the same party – the Republicans.