Paul and Paul

Hey, Paul!

Am I referring to Mr. Paul of the Senate or Mr. Ryan, Speaker of the House?  Both, actually.  The Senate worked out a bipartisan deal to keep the government running, spending more money on the military and on vital domestic programs, but the Kentucky senator doesn't want to commit the government to more spending (and so is blocking a Senate vote on the deal), and the Speaker can't muster the votes for it in the House.  And even if he could, Democrats don't want to vote on anything that doesn't fix the DACA immigration issue.

"Yes, I want a strong national defense," Rand Paul wrote on his Twitter account.  "I believe it's actually the most important thing the federal government does. But you have to ask yourself whether a $20 trillion debt makes us a stronger country or a weaker country."

I have to ask myself whether another shutdown - which will happen less than fifteen minutes after I post this - will make us weaker.   

Oh well, at least the Democrats won't be blamed for a shutdown this time.  Not that they had any power to stop it.

Nancy Pelosi's floor stunt?  I'll get to that . . ..

I'm glad the Winter Olympics are starting.  I'll get to talk about that instead.