I can't believe this actually worked out. I was so sure my fellow Americans were going to be thrown under the bus and forgotten. I'm kinda in disbelief. Well done.
I can't believe this actually worked out. I was so sure my fellow Americans were going to be thrown under the bus and forgotten. I'm kinda in disbelief. Well done.
Finally some good news from America I don't want to give democrats any undeserved credit for just doing their dang jobs; I will credit the marches in so many cities showing the outrage of the...
Finally some good news from America
I don't want to give democrats any undeserved credit for just doing their dang jobs; I will credit the marches in so many cities showing the outrage of the American people.
C'mon, two more pieces of good news this week, and I'll post a meme response in celebration
This is why, as annoying as it was to re-open government for seemingly nothing in-hand, I do think pushing the CR to now in 2026 made sense. No one wants another prolonged government shutdown,...
This is why, as annoying as it was to re-open government for seemingly nothing in-hand, I do think pushing the CR to now in 2026 made sense. No one wants another prolonged government shutdown, particularly in a midterm election year. The government shutdown back in October was already a disaster for Republicans in the off-year state/local elections and special elections for Congress back in November.
Pushing the CR to early 2026 gave Democrats some more power in negotiations. If Republicans kept playing hardball during this current CR and budget negotiations, there's nothing like Thanksgiving or Christmas in the next few months to "get in the way" of a prolonged shutdown. Memorial Day and the busy summer travel season are months away.
I'm not saying Congress would allow a shutdown for that long -- it'd be devastating to the economy, to say the least -- but I don't know if that's something that Republicans want to test. Democrats finally showed they were willing to have the longest shutdown on record. And given the national mood against Republicans and Trump and everything that's going on, Democrats might be willing to try for a new record. Which starts cutting into election season. The first primaries start in March, after all.
So good on Democrats for pursuing what's looking like a winning strategy. And getting something very, very good out of this so far!
I feel like I am taking crazy pills here. What exactly did they achieve? It seems like the conservatives slipped some super insane shit in so that democrats would accept the slightly less insane...
I feel like I am taking crazy pills here. What exactly did they achieve? It seems like the conservatives slipped some super insane shit in so that democrats would accept the slightly less insane shit. Why are we celebrating the democrats being horrible negotiators? Why shouldn't they shut the government down entirely? If they did not pass any funding, these policies wouldn't have passed anyways.
We have to work within the reality that we have, not the reality that we want. And the reality is that Democrats do not control a single chamber of Congress, nor a single branch of government. So...
We have to work within the reality that we have, not the reality that we want. And the reality is that Democrats do not control a single chamber of Congress, nor a single branch of government. So expecting Democrats to pull out some amazing policy win is absolutely unrealistic.
I didn't say it because I didn't want to "ruin the mood," but Democrats absolutely did not have to try to get anti-trans provisions pulled from the various minibus funding bills. Trans folks, of which I am not one FWIW, are a minority of a minority. As such, people could easily ask the question, "So what did Democrats NOT get because they decided to protect trans people over the rest of us? Does protecting trans people get my ACA subsidies back? Does protecting trans people stop ICE and deportations? Does protecting trans people make eggs cheaper?" And the answer to all that would be a resounding No.
But Democrats did do it. In spite of all the other things going on in this country that, arguably, affect way more people. Maybe Republicans did put all the anti-trans stuff in these bills fully intending these to be low-hanging fruit for Dems, to better protect Republicans' policies in these bills that are more nearer and dearer to them. Which to me, makes the Republicans the bigger assholes here.
Maybe it's a harsh thing to say, but no one is shutting down the government over protecting trans people. Short of trans folks being rounded up in concentration camps or something, it's just not happening. That's the reality we live in.
As such, we take the W's when we get them. And fight on to permanently get protective laws on the books.
Now, the package has been released—and for the moment, transgender people can breathe again. The final HHS and Education bills contain no anti-transgender provisions: no ban on hospitals providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth, no threats to strip funding from schools that support transgender students or allow them to use the bathroom, and no mandate forcing colleges to exclude transgender students from sports or activities like chess or esports. The bills are strikingly clean. As such, they avert yet another protracted shutdown fight in which transgender people are once again turned into political bargaining chips—and, at least for now, remove Congress as the immediate vehicle for new federal attacks, should they pass as-is.
Considering their minority power position, and the usual fecklessness from Leadership, this is an actual win! Something to be mildly impressed by for once, and I shall be.
Considering their minority power position, and the usual fecklessness from Leadership, this is an actual win! Something to be mildly impressed by for once, and I shall be.
I am hesitant to make this comment but hopefully you folks will give me the benefit of the doubt. How exactly is this a win? There were no trans protections passed here, no laws overturned. No...
I am hesitant to make this comment but hopefully you folks will give me the benefit of the doubt.
How exactly is this a win? There were no trans protections passed here, no laws overturned. No previsions to prevent executive orders from passing these policies. I am happy to see that transgender people are not being targeted in this situation, but why should dems support government funding at all? Anything but the complete defunding of ICE and this garbage government is a complete failure by democratic leadership. Why are people celebrating this cowardice? Democrats shouldn't fund this shit.
Encoding these changes into law would be much harder to undo and much easier to just renew by a less determined opposition party. I am not sure it's even possible to ban executive orders. Without...
Encoding these changes into law would be much harder to undo and much easier to just renew by a less determined opposition party. I am not sure it's even possible to ban executive orders.
Without a funded government people will starve and freeze and die from lack of healthcare. It is much harder to control the blame of that than people think and even when you do, people are dead.
I can acknowledge that things aren't perfect and hold them accountable and also celebrate small wins. It's not different than being glad that someone gets released from ICE custody when so many others are still being held. Shit is still bad, but we have to acknowledge joy.
My response here isn't "this wasn't enough so fuck you" it's "that was good, now do better here because this is fucked."
I'm not American, not queer, and I don't want to talk too much politics on this particular subtildes because it's an upsetting time for many right now, and I'm thinking this was posted because...
I'm not American, not queer, and I don't want to talk too much politics on this particular subtildes because it's an upsetting time for many right now, and I'm thinking this was posted because there are few wins to celebrate right now.
This article has more details on the DHS / ICE portions of the bill. (NBC) -- the DHS portion will be a seperate vote that won't jeopardize shutdown. My uneducated guess is that R's will want to pass the bill to avoid shutdown no matter how much their constituents don't want DHS / ICE funding, so moving these away from the bill will at least guarantee these items aren't even up for debate this round. Modest victory. Very modest. But the sigh of relief needs to have its moment as well.
Appropriations bills are bills that direct funding. They have to pass in order to keep the government running. This was part of the reason why the US federal government shut down in October —...
Appropriations bills are bills that direct funding. They have to pass in order to keep the government running. This was part of the reason why the US federal government shut down in October — Congress couldn’t agree to pass their appropriations.
As part of the re-opening, the government decided to extend the deadline for some appropriations bills until the end of January from their original October 1st deadline.
A rider is an unrelated policy matter that gets added to a bill. It’s called a “rider” because it’s essentially hopping on the main bill “for a ride.”
In this instance, Republicans had added anti-trans measures as riders to the budget appropriations bills, and Democrats were able to successfully have those riders removed as part of the negotiations process.
The Democrats did something!
I can't believe this actually worked out. I was so sure my fellow Americans were going to be thrown under the bus and forgotten. I'm kinda in disbelief. Well done.
Finally some good news from America
I don't want to give democrats any undeserved credit for just doing their dang jobs; I will credit the marches in so many cities showing the outrage of the American people.
C'mon, two more pieces of good news this week, and I'll post a meme response in celebration
This is why, as annoying as it was to re-open government for seemingly nothing in-hand, I do think pushing the CR to now in 2026 made sense. No one wants another prolonged government shutdown, particularly in a midterm election year. The government shutdown back in October was already a disaster for Republicans in the off-year state/local elections and special elections for Congress back in November.
Pushing the CR to early 2026 gave Democrats some more power in negotiations. If Republicans kept playing hardball during this current CR and budget negotiations, there's nothing like Thanksgiving or Christmas in the next few months to "get in the way" of a prolonged shutdown. Memorial Day and the busy summer travel season are months away.
I'm not saying Congress would allow a shutdown for that long -- it'd be devastating to the economy, to say the least -- but I don't know if that's something that Republicans want to test. Democrats finally showed they were willing to have the longest shutdown on record. And given the national mood against Republicans and Trump and everything that's going on, Democrats might be willing to try for a new record. Which starts cutting into election season. The first primaries start in March, after all.
So good on Democrats for pursuing what's looking like a winning strategy. And getting something very, very good out of this so far!
I feel like I am taking crazy pills here. What exactly did they achieve? It seems like the conservatives slipped some super insane shit in so that democrats would accept the slightly less insane shit. Why are we celebrating the democrats being horrible negotiators? Why shouldn't they shut the government down entirely? If they did not pass any funding, these policies wouldn't have passed anyways.
We have to work within the reality that we have, not the reality that we want. And the reality is that Democrats do not control a single chamber of Congress, nor a single branch of government. So expecting Democrats to pull out some amazing policy win is absolutely unrealistic.
I didn't say it because I didn't want to "ruin the mood," but Democrats absolutely did not have to try to get anti-trans provisions pulled from the various minibus funding bills. Trans folks, of which I am not one FWIW, are a minority of a minority. As such, people could easily ask the question, "So what did Democrats NOT get because they decided to protect trans people over the rest of us? Does protecting trans people get my ACA subsidies back? Does protecting trans people stop ICE and deportations? Does protecting trans people make eggs cheaper?" And the answer to all that would be a resounding No.
But Democrats did do it. In spite of all the other things going on in this country that, arguably, affect way more people. Maybe Republicans did put all the anti-trans stuff in these bills fully intending these to be low-hanging fruit for Dems, to better protect Republicans' policies in these bills that are more nearer and dearer to them. Which to me, makes the Republicans the bigger assholes here.
Maybe it's a harsh thing to say, but no one is shutting down the government over protecting trans people. Short of trans folks being rounded up in concentration camps or something, it's just not happening. That's the reality we live in.
As such, we take the W's when we get them. And fight on to permanently get protective laws on the books.
If only the Republicans shared that vision...
Yeah, they helped fund ICE. Great job, Democrats.
My comment is meant to be largely sarcastic even though there is a win here.
Considering their minority power position, and the usual fecklessness from Leadership, this is an actual win! Something to be mildly impressed by for once, and I shall be.
Fucking bless.
I'd seen that they'd been successful and was holding my breath about it.
Sarah McBride is doing solid work!
I'm assuming autocorrect got mixed up, and that you mean Sarah McBride!
Worst autocorrect mistake 💀
The s and e are too close on the keyboard.
I'm glad they stood up for us but I'm sure we were just a bargaining chip for the other side. What concessions were made to give us this?
We're all bargaining chips in the end. None of us are that special to not be! And that's real equality! 😅
I am hesitant to make this comment but hopefully you folks will give me the benefit of the doubt.
How exactly is this a win? There were no trans protections passed here, no laws overturned. No previsions to prevent executive orders from passing these policies. I am happy to see that transgender people are not being targeted in this situation, but why should dems support government funding at all? Anything but the complete defunding of ICE and this garbage government is a complete failure by democratic leadership. Why are people celebrating this cowardice? Democrats shouldn't fund this shit.
Encoding these changes into law would be much harder to undo and much easier to just renew by a less determined opposition party. I am not sure it's even possible to ban executive orders.
Without a funded government people will starve and freeze and die from lack of healthcare. It is much harder to control the blame of that than people think and even when you do, people are dead.
I can acknowledge that things aren't perfect and hold them accountable and also celebrate small wins. It's not different than being glad that someone gets released from ICE custody when so many others are still being held. Shit is still bad, but we have to acknowledge joy.
My response here isn't "this wasn't enough so fuck you" it's "that was good, now do better here because this is fucked."
I'm not American, not queer, and I don't want to talk too much politics on this particular subtildes because it's an upsetting time for many right now, and I'm thinking this was posted because there are few wins to celebrate right now.
This article has more details on the DHS / ICE portions of the bill. (NBC) -- the DHS portion will be a seperate vote that won't jeopardize shutdown. My uneducated guess is that R's will want to pass the bill to avoid shutdown no matter how much their constituents don't want DHS / ICE funding, so moving these away from the bill will at least guarantee these items aren't even up for debate this round. Modest victory. Very modest. But the sigh of relief needs to have its moment as well.
I didn't even realize what group this was. Apologies for the overly political discussion. Thanks for pointing that out.
All lives are political in some shape or form, so no stress! Your active participation is appreciated, and questions in good faith are welcomed.
What does "riders" mean in the phrasing: anti-trans riders ?
This is not so clear as a non native english speaker.
It means an add-on to a bill, usually that is pretty unrelated to the rest of the legislation.
Rider (legislation) - Wikipedia
Appropriations bills are bills that direct funding. They have to pass in order to keep the government running. This was part of the reason why the US federal government shut down in October — Congress couldn’t agree to pass their appropriations.
As part of the re-opening, the government decided to extend the deadline for some appropriations bills until the end of January from their original October 1st deadline.
A rider is an unrelated policy matter that gets added to a bill. It’s called a “rider” because it’s essentially hopping on the main bill “for a ride.”
In this instance, Republicans had added anti-trans measures as riders to the budget appropriations bills, and Democrats were able to successfully have those riders removed as part of the negotiations process.