Dem
47
GOP
53
These two features are going to be a little on the short side today. Sometimes, short and sweet is just the ticket.
And speaking of tickets, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is not in Washington, DC, this weekend. Among the half-dozen people who have the most power to maybe bring the shutdown to a resolution, he's gotta be in the top three, right? Him, Donald Trump, and Mike Johnson? This being the case, there is a pretty good argument that he oughta be burning the midnight oil, and working through the weekend, in the (small) hope that, for example, hungry people don't have to go without food. Thune pooh-poohed this when reporters asked, however, and said it would be "a waste of time." Not endowed with an overabundance of sensitivity, this one.
Instead, after the Senate held its last vote of the week, a little after 1:30 yesterday, Thune hightailed it out of the Senate chamber, and caught a cab over to Ronald Reagan National Airport, so that he would be sure to catch his flight back home to South Dakota. As it turns out, he could have proceeded at a much more leisurely pace, as he made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Why was he able to do that? Well, because his flight was delayed. Why was it delayed? Because the airport grounded all flights for 90 minutes, due to not having enough air traffic controllers. And why weren't there enough air traffic controllers? Say it with us: because of the shutdown. If that is not poetic justice, we don't know what is. (Z)