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After Trump’s National Address, Democratic Rebuttal, U.S. Government Enters Longest Ever Shutdown

In his first address to the nation from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump remarked on the “growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border, which is just a smaller part of the contention between both parties and both houses of Congress on immigration reform. Although the address – followed by a Democratic rebuttal from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) – marked a few moments of semi-civility in a Washington filled with political volatility, the partial government shutdown continues into its record-setting length of 21 days tomorrow as a deal is yet to be had between Republicans and the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

Federal funding ran out at midnight on Friday, December 21, closing nine departments within the U.S. government.

Last night, the president cited examples of recent violent acts committed by undocumented immigrants, including an instance last month when a Stanislaus County, California, police officer was and killed by a man who was in the country illegally. He attempted to bolster his argument through other negative effects stemming from the border crisis like the ongoing opioid epidemic.

“The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year. Vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from Congress,” the president said. He also added that the border wall would “very quickly pay for itself.”

Reiterating a notion from the days of his presidential campaign, Trump again explained the “wall will always be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico,” referring to the newly-cemented U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

“Some have suggested a barrier is immoral,” President Trump continued in his address, but asked, “then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes?”

“They don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside. The only thing that is immoral is for the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized,” he said.

In the opposition party’s rebuttal, Schumer and Pelosi said the president has “chosen fear” to govern what they call the “Trump shutdown,” adding that the rhetoric from the White House “has been full of misinformation and even malice.”

Speaker Pelosi then charged President Trump to “stop holding the American people hostage…stop manufacturing a crisis,” and to “re-open the government.”

On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump reportedly “slammed the table” and stormed out of a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House after Speaker Pelosi reiterated that the U.S.-Mexico border wall will not be funded in any legislation coming from the new majority party in the House. Following Senator Schumer’s comments during the rebuttal of the Oval Office address, he repeated that Trump has thrown another “temper tantrum” during the government shutdown.

Trump’s most ardent supporters and political allies were quick to come to his defense after the prime time address and this afternoon’s meeting, reprimanding Democrats and accusing them of failing to negotiate a deal for the American people. The president also aired out his response on Twitter shortly after the meeting went south.

“Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO.” President Trump said.

“I said bye-bye, nothing else works!”

According to a report from Business Insider, both House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (LA-1) and Vice President Mike Pence rejected the claim that Trump acted erratic during the meeting with congressional leaders, adding that the president “came into the room and ‘passed out candy.’”

The commander in chief has shown little room to budge off of his request for $5.7 billion in funding for the proposed southern border wall. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), ready to battle a Democratic lower chamber, said that the GOP majority will not deliberate anything the president will not sign.

Regardless of having a clear strategy towards re-opening the federal government, the president said the Trump Administration and Republicans are “totally unified” and are in “solidarity.”

During an exchange with reporters outside the White House, Speaker Pelosi accosted Trump for continuing the government shutdown, which has affected at least 800,000 federal workers who risk falling behind on paychecks. She said he was “out of touch” with those whom furloughs are affecting, although Trump has stated that government workers are “telling him” to “hold out” to “get the wall built.”

“He thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money. But they can’t,” Pelosi added.

On the opening day of the 116th Congress, Democrats introduced a package of bills that would fund eight of the currently-closed federal departments through September 30, with the Department of Homeland Security funded through February 8, contingent on a few specific immigration reforms.

Last Friday, during a White House press conference in the Rose Garden, President Trump said to reporters that he told Democratic congressional leaders that he would keep the government partially closed for “months, or even years,” or “as long as it takes” to get the funding necessary to construct his campaign promise of a southern border wall to stave off illegal immigration.

As Trump is just hours away from breaking the record for the longest ever government shutdown – set by then-President Bill Clinton, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996, at 21 days – he must begin to contend with waning support for the closure as more and more Americans feel the brunt of a closed federal government.

Port Of Virginia Welcomes Nation’s Largest Ship Container Cranes

Virginia just received four of the “nation’s largest” ship-to-shore cranes on Monday to operate at the Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads, marking the most recent effort for the international port to accommodate bigger container ships in their expansion project. Standing 170 feet tall, the Chinese-made cranes made their way through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay as many captured photos of the leviathans, with officials from the Virginia Port Authority set to service the higher-volume Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) currently calling on the port as trade on the Virginia coast had a record-setting year in 2018.

Recent port expansions at the Panama Canal have increased the usage of larger container ships between the Eastern Hemisphere and the East Coast of the U.S. As the cranes should be up and running in Portsmouth in March, they will join four new truck gates at Virginia International Gateway (VIG) as part of a $320 million project to increase capacity and efficiency at the terminal, according to a report.

The VIG project is part of a $700-million expansion of the Port of Virginia’s two primary container-handling terminals, the other being Norfolk International Terminals (NIT).

The new cranes will be able to reach across a vessel that is 26 containers wide, three to four containers wider than most cranes.

“Having these cranes sail into our harbor says, very clearly, to the ocean carriers and the industry that we are prepared for the next evolution and the one to come after that,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority in a report from AP.

Luckily, the type of Chinese crane the Port of Virginia purchased was taken off the Trump Administration’s tariff list. The port had approved $40 million in spending for the cranes, with the proposed 25 percent tariff meaning that cost overruns could have exceeded $10 million for which it was not originally budgeted.

Nevertheless, as battle between other domestic ports is underway to attract the most shipping traffic – with dredging occurring in Georgia and South Carolina and bridge elevations in New York City – officials in Virginia will work to dredge Norfolk Harbor to 55 feet and widen the entrance channel to the port to 1,300 feet to host larger container ships. The plan was released last January by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, part of the president’s infrastructure program.

GOP’s Kilgore Says Northam’s Gun Control Bills ‘Dead on Arrival’

Republican Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City) said Governor Ralph Northam’s sweeping package of gun control bills was “dead on arrival” in the House of Delegates, reaffirming the party’s commitment to defend the Second Amendment ahead of a critical legislative session during an election year.

The lawmaker from Southwest Virginia, who strongly favors gun rights, weighed in on the upcoming session during a Tuesday morning interview on the John Fredericks show.

While the interview began with discussion of the House GOP’s tax relief plan, the conversation quickly pivoted towards gun rights, which became a top issue for session after the Democratic governor unveiled a sweeping gun control agenda last Friday.

Kilgore said defending the Second Amendment was a priority for Republicans in 2019. He also dismissed unfounded Internet rumors suggesting that Republicans were planning to cut a deal with Governor Northam on gun control.

“There’s some rumor going around, here’s a text I got from William in Norfolk, VA, who said: ‘John you said the Republicans wouldn’t go after our guns. Well, one of the new laws they’re trying to propose and cut a deal with Ralph Northam is an assault weapons ban. There’s secret meetings. I saw this all over the Internet,'” reported Fredericks, highlighting unfounded accusations he received from a listener via text message.

“No, that’s not true,” responded Kilgore. “Our caucus believes in the Second Amendment. We’re not making any secret deals with Governor Northam to take your Second Amendment rights away, to ban assault weapons, anything of that nature.”

“People just make things up and get behind a keyboard and start typing,” Kilgore continued. “I don’t know where those come from, but I can tell you, those bills are dead on arrival. I do not see any of those even getting to the floor, and then I don’t see them passing.”

Last Friday, flanked by Democratic lawmakers, Governor Northam unveiled a broad gun control package which would ban certain semiautomatic weapons, ban private party transactions, reinstitute Virginia’s “One Handgun a Month” law, and institute “Red Flag” laws which gun rights supporters say fall short of constitutional due process requirements.

Some reports indicated that the proposal was so overreaching, it would ban the common 10/22 rifle used by countless youth to learn gun safety and marksmanship, based solely on the size of detachable magazines that model is capable of accepting.

Aggressive gun control proposals have even made their way to the campaign trail, where Dan Helmer, a Democratic candidate challenging Delegate Tim Hugo (R-Clifton), called for “SKU-level reporting” of every box of ammunition sold to a central database, which investigators would would comb through to try and identify mass shooters. Helmer offered no means to distinguish law-abiding gun owners from a would-be killer who purchases only a few boxes of ammo.

Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) also weighed in on the debate, calling the unfounded reports, “very frustrating fake news” during an earlier interview with Fredericks.

“I’m certainly not negotiating a backroom deal with the governor,” Cox said. “I’ve been very clear with him, on any meetings, that I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. You can look at my voting history.”

“The Virginia House GOP will steadfastly fight to defend the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens from far-left gun control proposals this session,” Cox tweeted yesterday.

While gun rights appear to be safe, for now, November’s elections could change the political landscape and make passage possible if Democrats succeed in winning majorities in the General Assembly’s House of Delegates and Senate, both of which are currently controlled by Republicans, each by a one seat majority.

Northam’s gun control bills will be heard and debated during the 2019 legislative session, which convenes in Richmond tomorrow.