Open and shut

Good Thursday morning to you.  In my case it’s getaway day, as I have been traveling overnight for the past few days.  Looking forward to getting home later today.

As of last night, our federal government is now reopened.  Is everything fixed?  Not so much.  The bill that the Senate passed did not include any provision for extending the COVID-era subsidies that benefited many recipients of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.  It also contained, hidden within the text, a separate provision for settlement payments of some astronomical money to senators whose were surveilled in an investigation of foreign influence on our lawmakers.

That’s how it is now, you know.  If someone in government is investigated and that investigation leads to no criminal charges, people are entitled to some sort of compensation from the government.  Starting at the top, it seems.

So, will SNAP benefits again be fully funded and available?  We don’t know that yet.  Will federal employees who were furloughed or permanently laid off return to work?  We’re told that they will.  Will these people receive back pay?  That’s also uncertain.

And the big question is whether it will be more than a calculated risk to buy a plane ticket and attempt to travel by air anytime soon.  The current administration has thrown a lot of alternatives against the wall regarding bonuses or punishment of air traffic controllers who did or didn’t show up to work during this latest shutdown.

But now we come to it.  The newest member of the House Democratic Caucus was sworn in yesterday and she instantly signed on to the petition that was started by House Democrats to force the release of all of what we all now refer to as ‘the Epstein files.’  In response, the White House circled the wagons yesterday and had a high-pressure meeting IN THE SITUATION ROOM to discuss how to stop the release of all of this information.

Ironically, while that was happening yesterday, it appears that another 20,000 or so pages of information was released by the House Oversight Committee.

It seems all but inevitable that the public will have the opportunity to make their own judgments about the “files” in the near future.  Inevitably, some will label them a witch hunt or much ado about nothing, but let’s remember that King Charles of Great Britain excommunicated his own brother from royal family status for his role in what’s documented.

Alongside all of this, the Defense Department has moved a carrier group into the Caribbean to show Venezuela who’s boss, the average Thanksgiving dinner for most American families will cost considerably more than it did last year, the Resolute desk has been removed from the Oval Office for “light refurbishment” and either the original or a very good copy has turned up at Mar-a-Lago surrounded by velvet ropes and a sign.

And no one seems to know where the money collected in response to all of the tariffs that have been levied has gone. If that’s not worthy of Congressional investigation, I don’t know what is.

Let’s just see if things turn even a little bit in the next few days and weeks.