Will the US Government Shut Down by February 15? Odds Say No
- Is the US Government about to shut down again?
- President Donald Trump and Congress agreed to a temporary spending agreement that ended a 35-day shutdown
- That deal expires February 15th
Is the US Government on the brink of another shut down? At the moment, that depends upon who you ask. Democratic leaders are of the opinion a deal on a new budget is close to completion and a shut down will be avoided.
Trump did not mention shutdown once in his #SOTU tonight
— Nicole Goodkind (@NicoleGoodkind) February 6, 2019
US President Donald Trump has suggested, “We’ll see,” when questioned about whether he’d shut down the government again, but it was telling that he made no mention of a shut down during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
Odds have been offered favoring that there won’t be a second shut down on February 15th, the point at which stopgap funding for the government comes to an end.
Odds the US Government Will Shut Down By Feb. 15
| Will the US Government Shut Down By Feb. 15? | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | +140 |
| No | -200 |
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated that to avoid a shut down, a budget deal would need to be in place by Friday in order to have enough time to ensure passage of the legislation by the February 15th deadline.
Democrats Confident Government Won’t Shut Down
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby met Thursday with Trump and exuded a belief afterward that compromise could be reached and that a deal would be forthcoming.
Lawmakers work to hash out border deal to avoid new government shutdown https://t.co/OMgnBMoeFS
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 8, 2019
The stumbling block in past negotiations has proven to be Trump’s demand for the budget to include $5.7 billion in funding for his border wall, an issue that’s been a non-starter for Democrats. But Democrats have expressed a willingness to offer funding for other areas of border security. Whether that will be enough to satisfy Trump remains to be seen.
Is Trump Willing to Roll the Dice Again?
The 35-day shut down of the government failed spectacularly for Trump, who plummeted in opinion polls and eventually was forced to capitulate and end the shut down. People blamed Trump for the shut down and there were even indications that it was beginning to chip away at his base.
EDITORIAL: The American people overwhelmingly blame Trump and the Republican Party for the shutdown, as polls show, and the president will get hammered even harder if he dares to shut the government again. #TrumpCavedhttps://t.co/xmj0dQXUJ4
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) January 26, 2019
Similar polls offered evidence that Americans are overwhelmingly against the idea of a wall along the southern border of the United States. Is Trump willing to risk further eroding his support and damaging his brand by engineering another shut down?
New: Per new Navigator Research survey out today, in the aftermath of the shutdown, 68% of Americans say "enough with the shutdowns" and it's never right to shut down the government, "even if it's for an important cause" (including 71% of independents; 43% of Republicans). pic.twitter.com/3WehEDfKAx
— Bryan Bennett (@bryanbennett85) February 8, 2019
Probably not. There is a bigger risk at play here for Trump, and that’s the support of the Republican-controlled Senate. He’s been able to get the GOP to go along with his demands for most of his Presidential term.
Chances of another shutdown are “next to nil,” US Rep Chuck Fleischmann tells @BloombergTV.
The Republican, who is on the panel working on a border deal, says he’s hopeful a "grand compromise" will be reached soon.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 8, 2019
Sensing what a hot button the wall is among the American people, and the negative image another shut down figures to engineer, might this finally be the issue that Republicans in Congress are not only willing to stand up to Trump, but even to vote against his wishes?
As another potential government shutdown looms, a growing number of Republicans are pushing back at the president's threat to declare a national emergency to build his border wall. https://t.co/IQlIf9TR4P pic.twitter.com/ZGRLUsq3uq
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 5, 2019
It’s a dangerous political football and Trump doesn’t want to be on the receiving end. That’s why another shut down won’t happen.
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
