Ten thousand illegals a month arrive in NYC says the mayor. They need food, shelter, healthcare, jobs, education and translators costing millions over and above the city’s budget. Adams claims, “this issue is destroying New York City.” So what did NY State Sen Jose Serrano, D-Queens think when he introduced a bill to make NY a “sanctuary state?”
Noble offers of humanitarian aid cost nothing as long as the crisis was thousands of miles away in small towns like Del Rio, Tx. Their sanctimonious gestures were just signs and photo ops until reality swamped their social services, so Adams blamed the Texas governor for sending 13,000 migrants to NYC, while at the same time he shipped migrants off to Buffalo.
Democrat officials across the nation have shown zero competence in meeting the challenge they created. In response to pleas for help, Biden wandered over to the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, which he referred to as the Black Congressional Caucus, to detail his plan, a costly deal presented to Congress setting up a political standoff and a campaign issue knowing Republicans oppose more spending until the border is secure.
Since 2000 Democrats twice controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. That provided them a golden opportunity to lead enacting comprehensive immigration reform and so-called sensible gun legislation. They could have achieved a balanced budget instead of forcing these government shutdown dramas. In each case they didn’t so they can use unresolved issues against Republicans purely for cheap political gain.
Meanwhile in the US Senate, Democrats adopt the “slob look” while Joe Biden strolls about noticeably diminished as the custodian of national decline.
Ralph Miller
* * *
All of Mr. Miller’s statements are wrong except his very first statement: “Since 2000 Democrats twice controlled both houses of Congress and the White House.”
So, why does Mr. Miller omit the times when the Republicans had a trifecta, controlling Congress and the Presidency? Obviously, to place 100 percent of blame on the Democrats for the country’s woes he later described.
For those woes, which I’ve copied in subsequent paragraphs, he omits the glaring fact that Republicans are no less equally culpable, and actually even more so.
Since 2000, a Republican trifecta has also occurred twice. The first, under George W. Bush, occurred for four years, from 1/2003 to 1/2007. The second, under Trump, occurred for two years, from 1/2017 to 1/2019.
What is more telling is that the total years of a Republican trifecta is six, versus only four years for a Democratic trifecta: two years under President Obama, from 1/2011 to 1/2013, and two years under President Biden, from 1/2021 to 1/2023.
Mr. Miller stated “ . . . that provided them (Democrats) a golden opportunity to lead enacting comprehensive immigration reform and so-called sensible gun legislation. They could have achieved a balanced budget instead of forcing these government shutdown dramas. In each case they didn’t so they can use unresolved issues against Republicans purely for cheap political gain.”
Mr. Miller, why didn’t the Republicans correct those woes when a Republican trifecta existed? They actually had two more years to correct these woes than the Democrats.
Regarding blame, an examination of each woe would be exceptionally revealing. I believe that both Parties are to blame, with the Republicans more so by having the trifecta for two additional years.
Each woe (immigration, gun legislation, a balanced budget, and government shutdowns) is singly deserving of examination, but would result in an epistle or treatise beyond the space to which could be devoted to a single response to Mr. Miller.
So let’s examine Mr. Miller’s statements assigning blame solely to the Democrats. His statements: “They could have achieved a balanced budget instead of forcing these government shutdown dramas. In each case they didn’t so they can use unresolved issues against Republicans purely for cheap political gain.”
As I said above, Mr. Miller is totally wrong. And there is no way to spin it otherwise.
1. Only one shutdown, during the Clinton Administration, was related to a balanced budget. A primary issue (described below in the 1995 shutdowns) was a Republican lead issue to balance the budget within seven years.
Clinton actually had budget surpluses for fiscal years 1998–2001, the only such years of budget surpluses from 1970 to 2023. That surplus was gone before the end of the Bush II Administration during the first Republican trifecta. (National Archives)
2. Each remaining shutdown was Republican deviousness, not Democratic.
3. Since the shutdowns were Republican deviousness, the Democrats could not have remotely used the “unresolved issues against Republicans purely for cheap political gain.”
Now, let’s examine government shutdowns in reverse order back to 1995. My source is CBS News History of Government Shutdowns. And the term “fake news” is a Trump fallacy he concocted and was unheard of before his Presidency.
12/21/2018: Under Trump with a trifecta, immigration was again at the center of the government funding fight. This shutdown involved Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
That shutdown lasted 34 days.
1/19/2018: Under Trump, again with a trifecta, the shutdown stemmed from a fight over immigration, and specifically Democrats' demands for protections for "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
The White House said it would not engage in negotiations over the "Dreamers” while the government was shut down.
That shutdown was for only one day.
9/30/2013: The GOP-led House passed two spending bills, one of which would've delayed implementation of Obamacare, which were both rejected by the Democratic-led Senate.
Obama called for a spending bill with no conditions attached, but Republicans ultimately opted to shut down the government over their opposition to the landmark health care law. That shutdown lasted 16 days.
11/13/1995 and 12/15/1995: First, Republicans controlled both Houses.
The shutdowns that occurred during Clinton's Presidency centered around his dispute with Congressional Republicans of their pledge to balance the budget and repeal President's Clinton’s 1993 tax increases.
The GOP-led Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution that sought to boost Medicare premiums and required the President to balance the budget within seven years, among other measures.
But Clinton vetoed the legislation, which led to a shutdown by Republicans. Clinton and Republican Congressional leaders ultimately reached a deal to fund the government for several weeks and allow negotiations to continue.
However, the additional time given to Congress and the White House in November, 1995 to continue talks wasn't enough, and funding lapsed again in mid-December.
Unlike the November 1985 Republican shutdown of five (5) days, the 12/15/1998 shutdown by Republicans lasted 34 days.
To conclude, Mr. Miller is not only deficient in his fact checking, he is deliberately misleading readers. He is entitled to his opinions, but his opinions are not facts.
It’s exceptionally disappointing that persons on both sides refuse to determine the accuracy of what they read or hear. They blindly choose only the media that fits their narratives.
That’s especially true for Republicans. There are more sources of biased, radical right wing media available to them; hence, more lies and misinformation. I know from experience those sources are viewed as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Just like Mr. Miller’s letter.
Though more Republicans than Democrats, those persons refuse to challenge their sources or examine what the other side is publishing for complete truthfulness and accuracy.
That makes it worse for all of us.
Joe Warren
Ringgold