Late Sunday night, after 15 tries, the U.S. Senate voted 60-40 to break the Democratic filibuster that was preventing a final vote on reopening the federal government under a continuing resolution (CR).  Seven Democrats and liberal independent Angus King of Maine joined with all but one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, to end the blockade.
 
The media will almost certainly continue to garble the story, but the vote underscored what has been the truth all along.  Only Senate Democrats have had the power to prevent the mayhem and suffering the shutdown has inflicted for 40 days.  The GOP does not control three branches of government.  It has the presidency and a margin of two votes in the House – but under longstanding Senate rules the Democrats have had the balance of control in the chamber.
 
What’s next is anything but automatic.  In exchange for their votes on the CR, the eight liberals have secured a package of provisions and opportunities to vote.  The package includes a separate appropriations bill that will fund the Department of Agriculture, military construction, and other agencies through the full fiscal year ending next September 30.
 
Meanwhile, the package would fund the rest of the government until January 30, 2026 (don’t ask if another shutdown is in the offing then).  Finally, the agreement ensures a vote on extending the health insurance tax credit that was allegedly at the heart of the debate.  Fortunately, the GOP did not agree to the $1.5 trillion extension of the credit the Democrats sought, a fiasco that illustrates nothing so much as the complete failure of the Obamacare reforms of 15 years ago that have mangled our health care systems.
 
Now the Senate must vote on the actual package itself, including the CR to reopen the government.  With the filibuster and its 60-vote requirement gone, the CR needs just 51 votes (with Vice President Vance available to break any 50-50 tie) for passage.  Any individual senator can object to the vote and slow it down.  All this underscores there has been no way the Republicans in Congress could have resolved the shutdown by themselves.  For 40 days nothing could move even eight Democrats to do the responsible thing.
 
Senate passage of the package also tees up the House for another vote.  It completed its work on the CR two months ago!  Another test looms for Speaker Mike Johnson and his two-vote majority.
 
One provision of the package includes funding for the legislative branch.  We have to hope the members will get back to work in D.C. swiftly and open the government by the end of this week.   Grandstanding can’t be ruled out, but maybe all sides will see there’s no benefit for this package to stall in the House, where, of course, the GOP would be blamed for any more delay.
 
The headlines today should read that the Schumer Democrats’ resistance has collapsed.  The fact that four of the eight defecting senators are not standing for re-election suggests that the wrath of progressive radicals was behind this brute maneuver from the start.    
 
Some 4,000 laid off federal workers will get their jobs back under the agreement – not a huge number, but the pain to the rank and file was real.
 
For lack of a better term, “regular order” can resume now that this deal has been struck.  There’s plenty to talk about, not the least of which is a real debate over major health care reform that puts workers and families back in charge and reduces the cost of health insurance driven up by massive Obama regulation and payments to insurance companies.
 
That debate is long overdue. Let’s have at it.


 

Always Thankful for the Always Faithful
 
Yesterday marked the 250^th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps, founded in 1775 with a recruiting drive at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia (a replica of which is being built for the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s founding).  The triggering action was the passage of a resolution by the Second Continental Congress meeting in that city.  The resolution was designed to raise two battalions of Continental Marines to serve as landing parties for the Continental Navy in the Revolutionary War.
 
The courage and exploits of the Marine Corps, with its motto Semper Fi, are too many to tell.  Like millions of Americans, the Bauer family honors the memory of those who served down the centuries.  My own father, Stanley “Spike” Bauer, saw some of the fiercest action of that war in the South Pacific.  The Greatest Generation, some 65,000 strong, is still with us but their ranks are thinning.  The memory of their service in arms, to preserve our character and our freedoms, must never fade.
  
I can do no better today than to quote the remarks of Vice President J.D. Vance, who served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007.  Speaking to the Marine Corps Commandant’s Birthday Ball over the weekend, the vice president said:
          
          “We live in an era of technology. In World War II we had planes. We
           had boats. We had tanks. And we had Marines. Here we are in 2025,
           80 years later and we still got tanks, we got boats, we got airplanes,
           and we got United States Marines.

           "And let’s be honest. The battlefield has changed in an incredible and
           profound way. We’ve got technology that would have been inconceiv-
           able when I was a little kid that is now driving the face of the modern
           battlefield.  We’ve got cybersecurity; we have satellites in space;
           we’ve got artificial intelligence; we’ve got all this incredible technol-
           ogy, and of course the United States is the most significant leader
           in technology in the world.
 
           "But I happen to believe that the most important war-fighting tech-
            nology is not a new airplane.  The most important war-fighting
            technology is not artificial intelligence or anything on a computer.
            The most important war-fighting machine is a well-trained and well-
            armed U.S. Marine.
 
            "And we will never forget it.”
 
The vice president is right.  America has reached this anniversary, and looks forward to more, because of what we believe and because no one can touch our fighting spirit.  Vance is likely to be the Republican nominee in 2028 and his message will be as timely then as it is on this special day.               
 
 
   
They Really Do Hate America
 
President Trump attended, in person, the Washington Commanders football game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.  (It wasn’t much of a game!)
 
At halftime, as part of veterans’ appreciation, the president swore-in a group of young Americans joining the U.S. military to protect our country.  With Secretary of War Pete Hegseth next to him, President Trump delivered the oath to these outstanding patriots.  Military recruitment has sky-rocketed under Trump.
 
It should have been a wonderful moment of pride and patriotism, but the stadium rang out with boos from the liberals and leftists in attendance.  They ruined a lifetime memory for the military volunteers.
 
The Detroit Lion’s linebacker, Trevor Nowaske, had a different reaction when he was told Trump would attend.  He told the Detroit Free Press, “That’ll be cool.  I did not know he was going to be there, but that’ll be super cool to have the president.  That’ll be something I’ll be able to tell my kids.  I played in front of the president.  That’ll be sweet.”