🚨GOP Senators BLOW UP their OWN FUNDING BILL at MIDNIGHT!!!

What this episode is about

Republican senators failed to pass their own government funding bill due to internal conflicts, pushing the government closer to a shutdown. Originally planned compromises involving appropriations bills, particularly regarding the Department of Homeland Security funding, fell apart, leaving the Senate in disarray and requiring any changes to be revisited in the House.

Key takeaways

• Republican senators turned a potential funding win into a government shutdown comedy of errors at midnight.
• Lindsey Graham's tantrum over legal loopholes proves even GOP can trip over their own legislative ambitions.
• With the House in recess, government shutdown plans have all the urgency of a holiday Monday!
• Trump's plea for compromise fell on deaf ears; MAGA chaos outshining his brand of 'unity'.
• In a twist of irony, MAGA Republicans are now the architects of their own funding fiasco—who knew?

Who speaks in this episode?

• Lindsey Graham (Host) · 1 min speaking
• Donald Trump (Guest) · 1 min speaking
• Chuck Schumer (Guest) · 1 min speaking
• Andrew Dadario (Guest) · 1 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: MAGA Republican, Department of Homeland Security, Lindsey Graham
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, MAGA Republican, Jack Smith
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, MAGA Republican, Chuck Schumer
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Donald Trump, Scott Besson, MAGA Republican
5. 12:00 – 13:41: Department of Homeland Security

Notable quotes from "🚨GOP Senators BLOW UP their OWN FUNDING BILL at MIDNIGHT!!!"

• On ICE and Border Patrol. And all of this was supposed to pass on Thursday, but then the MAGA Republicans got into a fight with each other. Now, if the appropriations bill…

  about MAGA Republican · at 0:55

• Right around midnight, Lindsey Graham, I guess, realized for the first time that the House of Representatives in their appropriations bill, removed an a provision from a prior…

  about Department of Homeland Security · at 3:04

• And utter mess. And they also weren't listening to their furer Donald Trump because Trump was saying please pass this compromise right now was what he was saying which as you…

  about Donald Trump · at 4:50

• And you had MAGA Republican Congress members like Anna Paulina Luna and others saying that they were going to put provisions to require that the federal government take over…

  about Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna · at 6:04

• A House provision repealing what's called the Arctic Frost provisions authorizing millions of dollars in payouts to senators for special counsel Jack Smith lawfully issued…

  about Jack Smith · at 7:24

• Evening while the Senate blew up their own bill at midnight? Well, you had Donald Trump at another premiere for the Melania movie, and he sure looked thrilled to be there. This…

  about Melania movie · at 8:41

• Lawsuit against his own Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. So he's going to now enter into a settlement with Bessant and his own DOJ to pay him $10 billion of our taxpayer money.…

  about Scott Besson · at 10:52

• In federal disaster funds for states has been delayed over the past year. The article states, The delays stem from a directive issued by Miss Gnome in June that said any…

  about FEMA · at 12:26

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political figure / alleged instigator in narrative · 9 mentions · first at 3:32
  Central figure tied to Jan. 6 phone-record subpoenas, GOP infighting, and a described $10B lawsuit against Treasury/IRS; also referenced as pressuring Republicans to pass a compromise.
• Lindsey Graham — Person · Primary referenced senator driving the episode’s conflict · 6 mentions · first at 2:59
  Portrayed as the key holdout who derailed the Senate funding deal over a removed provision enabling lawsuits tied to Jack Smith subpoenas and Jan. 6-related phone records involving calls with Trump.
  Appropriations bill, the House of Representatives, they removed that provision and Lindsey Graham got pissed and he said, No, that provision has to stay. There was a big fight.…
• Jack Smith — Person · Referenced legal authority (special counsel) driving the dispute · 2 mentions · first at 3:27
  Described as the special counsel whose subpoenas for phone records related to Jan. 6 triggered the contested provision Lindsey Graham wanted preserved for potential lawsuits.
• Chuck Schumer — Person · Referenced opposing-party leader commenting on the standoff · 1 mention · first at 7:04
  Cited as the Democratic leader who publicly blamed Republicans and Lindsey Graham for the breakdown and urged them to resolve objections to avert a shutdown.
  Democratic leader Chuck Schumer left the Senate chambers and he said Republicans need to get their act together and that Graham is the holdup, but wouldn't say when asked several times if Dems are clear of objections on their side. We.
• Scott Besson — Person · Referenced executive-branch official named as lawsuit target · 2 mentions · first at 9:27
  Named as Trump's Treasury Secretary whom Trump allegedly sued (as framed in the episode) in a $10B action tied to IRS/tax-record disclosures.
• Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna — Person · Referenced House member cited as escalating the conflict · 1 mention · first at 6:04
  Mentioned as an example of House MAGA Republicans threatening retaliatory provisions (e.g., federal takeover of elections) that would complicate Senate passage.

Companies & orgs

• Department of Homeland Security — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 0:30
  Key entity in the funding bill discussions, particularly regarding ICE and Border Patrol funding.
• FEMA — Company · Case study · 4 mentions
  Mentioned in the context of defunding and delays in federal disaster funds.

Concepts & topics

• MAGA Republican — Concept · Key argument · 8 mentions · first at 1:01
  Central to the discussion about the government shutdown, highlighting internal conflicts and political strategies.

Media & podcasts

• Melania movie — Media · Incidental · 1 mention · first at 8:47
  Mentioned in passing regarding Donald Trump's activities during the government shutdown.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Republican senators just blew up their own government funding bill at midnight. They got into a big fight with each other in the Senate chambers. They all scured out very quickly moments ago. Now we move closer to a government shutdown. What everybody expected was going to happen this evening was that the Republicans and some Democrats were going to enter into a compromise where they were going to approve certain appropriations bills. They were going to remove the Department of Homeland Security funding bill from a package of five other appropriations bills. They were going to pass the five appropriations bills. The Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which includes additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo, was going to be passed via a continuing resolution for two weeks for there to be negotiations about certain restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol. And all of

0:58 this was supposed to pass on Thursday, but then the MAGA Republicans got into a fight with each other. Now, if the appropriations bill passed in the Senate, it was then going to have to be sent back to the House. Even though last week the House passed an appropriations bill that included six separate appropriations bill, which is referred to as a minibus, they sent that to the Senate. Democrats in the Senate objected to some of the funding for ICE and the Border Patrol. So, if the Senate makes any alterations to the appropriations bill at all, it has to be sent back to the House because the House and the Senate have to pass identical appropriations bills. Nothing can be different. And once both chambers pass the appropriations bill, then it would go to the president to be signed. But when the Senate was going to make an alteration, what we expected was going to happen was that on Thursday, the

1:56 Senate would pass the appropriations bill, they would do the five that they would approve, then they would do the one Department of Homeland Security with ICE and Border Patrol as a continuing resolution for two weeks, then negotiate restrictions over those two weeks, send it back to the House. Maggamike Johnson sent the House of Representatives on another vacation last week when they passed the appropriations bill. So they're in recess. So what we thought was going to happen is MAGA Mike was going to have to call back the House, perhaps get everybody there on Sunday, but we didn't expect all of the MAGA Republicans to show up on Sunday. And so maybe the MAGA Republicans would show back up on Monday. But you see, the government shutdown is set to start basically midnight on Friday, technically 12:01 a.m. on Saturday. We are in another government shutdown. So, it appears to be clear right now we're

2:50 heading into a government shutdown. So, what were the MAGA Republicans fighting with each other over and how did they blow up their own funding bill? Well, the big fight was between Lindsey Graham and other MAGA Republicans. You see, right around midnight, Lindsey Graham, I guess, realized for the first time that the House of Representatives in their appropriations bill, um, removed an a provision from a prior appropriations bill that allowed Lindsey Graham and some other MAGA Republicans to sue the Department of Justice, basically to sue the taxpayers because special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed phone records regarding individuals who called Donald Trump during the insurrection and Lindsey Graham and some other MAGA Republican senators and Congress members, their phone number showed up. There was no wiretapping or eavesdropping or the text messages weren't received. Just the actual phone number itself, like on a

3:49 phone bill appeared because Lindsey Graham was speaking to Donald Trump during the January 6th insurrection. So Lindsey Graham in a prior bill built in a cause of action or a legal claim that never existed before because a lawsuit like that would be banned for him to make millions of dollars suing the United States government and the taxpayers. There was lots of backlash to that. So in this most recent appropriations bill, the House of Representatives, they removed that provision and Lindsey Graham got pissed and he said, "No, that provision has to stay." There was a big fight. Everybody stormed out. And now we approach Friday where there is no bill that the Senate has agreed on. They're going to show back up Friday morning and try to figure something out. But we saw all these MAGA Republicans run out of the Senate chamber. We're like, "Okay, I guess they're not going to be voting on the

4:45 appropriations bill on Thursday." So again, the MAGA Republicans are a total and utter mess. And they also weren't listening to their furer Donald Trump because Trump was saying please pass this compromise right now was what he was saying which as you know was a bad compromise of Trump saying you know please pass it. Although there are some arguments to be made by I guess some people that you know the Democrats can use those two weeks to try to you know stop or block any further funding to the uh to ICE or the Border Patrol to stop them. Let me be clear where I stand. ICE and Border Patrol need to be abolished.

5:22 Those who were involved in the terrorizing of communities in the killing of Alex Prey and Renee Nicole Gidd and others must be prosecuted forth with. And again, get ICE and Border Patrol out of the streets, defund them, abolish them. See you later. That's my perspective. But in any event, people expected that this bill was going to be passed in the Senate, that it would be sent to the House. The House wasn't going to be there. They were going to have to fly back. But then there were worries that some MAGA Republicans in the House were then going to retaliate against the MAGA Republicans in the Senate. I know it's like third graders with these MAGAS. And they were going to add some provisions that would require the Senate to take another vote as well.

6:04 And you had MAGA Republican Congress members like Anna Paulina Luna and others saying that they were going to put provisions to require that the federal government take over all elections which would never pass um in the Senate. And so in other words, it's a big mess. So you have some reporters on Capitol Hill like Andrew Dadario who he announces it's official no votes tonight on the appropriations bill. Seems like we're heading into a government shutdown. The Senate will arrive early on Friday to talk about all of this, but it is a complete and utter mess. So, Senator Thun, the majority leader, he left the capital as the Senate was without any agreement for a funding deal as we head into a government shutdown very soon. And Senator Thun, the MAGA Republican leader in the Senate, says, "Well, I hope we can get these issues resolved. Right now, we've got snags on both sides, but tomorrow's another day. Hopefully,

7:00 people will be in a spirit to try and get this done tomorrow. That's my hope. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer left the Senate chambers and he said Republicans need to get their act together and that Graham is the holdup, but wouldn't say when asked several times if Dems are clear of objections on their side. We also learned that it was Lindsey Graham who put a hold on the funding deal over a House provision repealing what's called the Arctic Frost provisions authorizing millions of dollars in payouts to senators for special counsel Jack Smith lawfully issued validly issued subpoena. Graham apparently got into a big fight with Senator Thoon.

7:42 Everybody was fired up screaming at each other and that's what went down. Lindsey Graham told the reporter Laura Weiss and others, "I fixed the problem that people had. I'm not going to ignore what happened. If you were abused, you think you were abused, your phone records were seized, you should have your day in court." Graham was also railing against the funding deal, saying, "The cops need us right now. They're being demonized. They're being spat upon. They can't sleep at night." Who are the cops here, Lindsay? You mean the ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo? They're not cops.

8:18 They're not law enforcement. They're not trained. They do something for 47 days because Trump's the 47th president. So, they have a 47day whatever you want to call it. It ain't training. It's not the extensive training required of law enforcement. And these are SS. These are Gestapo. These are Trump's paramilitary that need to be abolished immediately. So, what was Donald Trump doing this evening while the Senate blew up their own bill at midnight? Well, you had Donald Trump at another premiere for the Melania movie, and he sure looked thrilled to be there. This is the movie that was funded $40 million. Bezos paid Melania $40 million bucks, and then he paid an additional 30 plus million to promote it. And nobody wants to see this utter disaster. Trump looks absolutely thrilled. I'm being sarcastic here playing this clip

9:10 to them and what is something that you want people to take away from this film?

9:14 Uh here in Sweden they will see a lot of uh emotion, passion, grief, sadness, celebration, love. Yeah.

9:23 So um that's the message for the and then this evening Donald Trump sued the IRS. He sued his own Department of Treasury and his own government for $10 billion. And that's what Trump did tonight. So, it's good to know that I'm being sarcastic, of course, that while the American people are suffering, living paycheck to paycheck, psychologically tortured if they're lucky enough to get a paycheck, having healthc care ripped away, while MAGA Republicans are behaving like little babies, fighting with each other and blowing up their own bills right now.

9:54 Um, as MAGA Mike recessed the House and they're on a vacation, uh, and they weren't going to make it back and the government was going to shut down. Anyway, Donald Trump is suing the government that's not being funded for $10 billion, saying that when his IRS uh records were leaked, that caused him grave reputational harm, even though every p is whining about something from like 10 years ago, by the way. It's probably well past the statute of limitation also. And every former president produced their tax records other than Donald Trump. And when Trump's records came out, they also came out through lawful means because eventually the Supreme Court allowed them to be released during the first term when Congress subpoenaed. It turns out Donald Trump paid like no taxes.

10:38 There were many years where Trump paid zero dollars. Some years he paid $750 in taxes. But this is what Trump did tonight. 10 While our government's about to shut down. Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against his own Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. So he's going to now enter into a settlement with Bessant and his own DOJ to pay him $10 billion of our taxpayer money. So we're paying taxes right now to give Donald Trump $10 billion. Do we do we all realize how utterly offensive that is? And then earlier today, Donald Trump says that he doesn't want housing prices to go down.

11:18 Let's play this clip right here of Trump saying that. and existing housing, people that own their homes. We're going to keep them wealthy. We're going to keep those prices up. We're not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn't work very hard can buy a home. We're going to get we're going to make it easier to buy. We're going to get interest rates down, but I want to protect the people that for the first time in their lives feel good about themselves. They feel like they've, you know, that they're wealthy people. And I want them to understand it. You know, uh, there's so much talk about, oh, we're going to drive housing prices down. I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes. And they can be assured that's what's going to happen. Uh, finally, you have Republican Senator Tillis before the Senate vote on the

12:06 Senate floor attacking Christome, Department of Homeland Security Secretary for defunding FEMA. Let's play this clip. Earlier this week, now let's fast forward a year. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that approximately 17 billion with a B in federal disaster funds for states has been delayed over the past year. The article states, "The delays stem from a directive issued by Miss Gnome in June that said any expenditure over $100,000 or more must be approved by her office, which oversees the disaster agency to root out waste, fraud, and abuse.

12:50 The bottleneck includes money that already had been approved by regional FEMA offices for things like or the offices for things like debris removal and repairs to roads, bridges, water, and sewer systems. This is being delayed folks. This new reporting sadly confirms what the people of Western North Carolina have known for the past year.

13:17 There you have it, folks. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. Now, hit subscribe. Help us get to 6 million subscribers. We appreciate you so much. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscribers to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipski, adree episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "🚨GOP Senators BLOW UP their OWN FUNDING BILL at MIDNIGHT!!!"?

Lindsey Graham (Host), Donald Trump (Guest), Chuck Schumer (Guest), Andrew Dadario (Guest).

What is "🚨GOP Senators BLOW UP their OWN FUNDING BILL at MIDNIGHT!!!" about?

Republican senators failed to pass their own government funding bill due to internal conflicts, pushing the government closer to a shutdown. Originally planned compromises involving appropriations bills, particularly regarding the Department of Homeland Security funding, fell apart, leaving the Senate in disarray and requiring any changes to be revisited in the House.

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, MAGA Republican, Lindsey Graham, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Jack Smith. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "🚨GOP Senators BLOW UP their OWN FUNDING BILL at MIDNIGHT!!!"?

The episode runs 14 min; the transcript is about 2,302 words in 20 timestamped sections.

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