(Washington, D.C., December 21, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today detailed which functions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will remain available in the event of a lapse in government funding.
“There may be a lapse in funding for the federal government, but that will not relieve USDA of its responsibilities for safeguarding life and property through the critical services we provide,” said Secretary Perdue. “Our employees work hard every day to benefit our customers and the farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers who depend on our programs. During a shutdown, we will leverage our existing resources as best we can to continue to provide the top-notch service people expect.”
Some USDA activities will be shut down or significantly reduced and some USDA employees will be furloughed. However, certain USDA activities would continue because they are related to law enforcement, the protection of life and property, or are financed through available funding (such as through mandatory appropriations, multi-year discretionary funding, or user fees). For the first week of a potential shutdown, 61% of employees would either be exempted or excepted from shutdown activities. If the shutdown continues, this percentage would decrease, and activities would be reduced as available funding decreases.
USDA activities that would continue in the short-term include:
Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and easement programs).
The following USDA activities would not be continued and would be shut down in an orderly fashion during a government funding lapse. These activities include:
A summary of USDA’s shutdown plans can be found here.
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Should we rethink presidential powers?
By Wim Laven
1045 words
On Dec. 18thit was agreed that Donald Trump’s charitable foundation would be dissolved. The decision was reached as a result of findings that Donald Trump and his family abused the tax exempt status and abused campaign finance laws.
The lawsuit is not over; a decision on $2.8 million in restitution and penalties as well as possible permanent ban against Trump and three of his children serving on nonprofits in New York still needs to be reached.
Given what was described by the State’s Attorney General office as:
“a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation -- including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests,”
one hopes they are prevented from betraying the public’s trust in the future. One might ask, “what does this mean?”
Trump is selfish and willing do whatever it takes to get what he wants for himself. His favorite tool is dishonesty—it is all purpose, he lies all the time. In his version of winning the public’s loss is his gain, and we’ve been "big league" losing. Reflecting on the dissolution of his corrupt Trump Foundation, as with so much of his storied career of dishonesty, reveals an ingenious ability to deceive unfettered by any moral decorum—his absolute willingness to betray. He is proof, in financial terms, that in this broken system cheaters do win, and he publicly brags that he doesn’t pay his debts because he is smart.
On Dec. 21sthis nearsightedness emerges with even greater clarity. In order to secure $5 billion in funding for a completely unnecessary border wall Trump is willing to shut down the government just in time for Christmas. Forget the fact people don’t want it, and that it cannot get the votes to pass, the cost to taxpayers for a government shutdown is $6.5 billion per week. It is a repetition of his coercive practice. Trump has regularly used this terrorist tactic, earlier this year in an effort to block funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program is one example.
But what if it is all much much worse? Trump is making everyone pay a huge price. His nuclear bomb on the economy could very well be another stunt. He has called himself a debt master, so I wouldn't doubt that he has plans. He seems to have learned that destruction is easier than creation decades ago; he stole fortunes and left people in ruins by not paying his own bills. His echo chamber continues to get scarier, Sect. of Defense Mattis has just resigned in protest to what is ultimately Trump’s complete refusal to acknowledge expertise as he makes supreme mistakes in policy decisions. Putin and Assad are celebrating the victory Trump has gifted them this week.
Is it his ego? Does he fill his emptiness by seeing that his lies on twitter can make a complete rollercoaster out of the stock market? When he bragged about accomplishments in China a couple weeks ago investors were optimistic, but when his lies were revealed for what they were the market plummeted. Or is it revenge? The reality that he is not above the law is likely setting in. Trump and kids are threatened with serving jail time for their corruption and other crimes. Is this just his way of lashing out against the people he sees as having done this to him? He has ushered in the worst December since the Great Depression.
I honestly don't know his intentions. I'd guess with the first; that he is fully prepared to devastate the nation in securing greater personal fortune. But, that is only because he has lived his whole life with complete disregard for others. I am scared because he has truly mastered the craft of selfishness and, at least for the office of the President, he is running out of time. This all begs the question: Does Donald Trump wield too much power? Ought we rethink the destructive force of a single individual?
Trump’s singular focus appears to be wealth, and his administration shows a willingness to break and bend rules to achieve goals, but it could be worse. Foreign emoluments are a big deal, because they suggest conflicts of interest in making decisions as head of the state, but what about flat-out selfishness? It is time that we face the ugly truth that selfish interest and military power are deadly combination. We may never know how many soldiers have been killed or terrorists recruited as a direct result of Trump’s self-serving tweets. His lies have consequences, the worst of which are experienced by others. What if he decided to support his base and bomb the caravan like many of them request about his make-believe invasion? We also never thought a President would tell 6,420 lies and misstatements in 649 days in office. It just seems unthinkable that such a corrupt individual could wield so much power, and maybe it is more power than a single person should have ever held.
Do we really trust Trump to resist deploying the military if he thinks it will be good for his investments? It isn’t just a matter of convincing ourselves that a serial liar will live up to the oath of office, every indication suggests the only work he has done as President has been to serve himself—he’s only ever been faithful to himself. Dedicated public servants, like Mattis with four decades of service, cannot do it, and it is time to consider the horrific possibility that a single Trump mistake could end life as we know it. It wasn’t good democracy, but at least we thought there were adults in the room to restrain a tantrum, but they’re all disappearing.
We have a corrupt administration, and we should seriously limit the disastrous potential of such an administration or any other. If we survive, we should take the steps to protect future generations. It is just too much that life and death are abused in pursuit of selfish interests—What if he thinks starting a war could help him win an election or protect him from investigation? What if he decided to go out with a bang?
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Wim Laven, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a doctoral candidate in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, he teaches courses in political science and conflict resolution, and is on the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association.
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The meaner Trump gets, the more kindness we feel
By Steve Klinger
680 words
"When someone stands up to violence a force for change is released. Every action for peace requires someone to exhibit the courage to challenge violence and inspire love."
— Thich Nhat Hanh
In this difficult and traumatic holiday season it struck me tonight that a remarkable phenomenon is occurring. With desperate migrants on the move around much of the planet and authoritarian forces frantically erecting barricades, both literal and figurative, to turn them back, this country has shown it is not immune to the global dynamic. But the meaner Donald Trump gets, the more kindness the evolved among us seem to feel.
In our household we’re getting Christmas cards from unexpected sources, such as my 7-year-old grandson in Colorado, and a dear friend who turned a photograph of us into a greeting card of thank you and remembrance. Houses in southern New Mexico’s Mesilla Valley are aglow with extraordinary displays of welcoming lights. Cash-challenged charitable organizations are working overtime to remember those in need. A former president dons Christmas garb to distribute gifts to children.
Outside a cold full moon rises beside a stationary lenticular cloud that glows with eerie luminescence like an inscrutable mother ship. One can’t help speculating about some kind of confluence, though tonight it remains as Churchill would have said, a riddle wrapped in an enigma.
The government is in partial shutdown again, with 750,000 workers furloughed or expected to work without scheduled pay, just in time for the holidays. The president is going off the rails over funding for his “border wall,” while a senator noted dryly the only wall he’ll get is the one closing in on him from Robert Mueller. After a phone call with Turkey’s authoritarian, Trump summarily yanked 2,000 troops out of Syria, abandoning Kurdish allies and thus precipitating the resignation under protest of his Defense secretary. He is increasingly isolated in his own White House, making decisions that grow more impulsive and dangerous by the day. In banishing those who would disagree with him he now truly keeps his own demented counsel.
Meanwhile, Central American refugees seeking asylum under federal statute and international protocols are turned away from ports of entry, channeled toward life-threatening desert crossings, told to wait months or more likely years in Mexico. Acts of racism, anti-Semitism, hate crimes and mass shootings are on the upswing, in some cases exponentially.
Yet the midterm elections showed we also have an awakening populace, as women and minorities ran for and won elective races in record numbers, despite criminal voter suppression and outrageous gerrymandering. People are organizing on grassroots levels to foster change and accomplish it—in sustainable farming, maker spaces, arts and crafts cooperatives, intentional communities and centers of culture and learning. Creative expression is finally becoming acknowledged as a force for change.
In the vacuum created by the shameless example of the most powerful human in the free world—while he demonstrates daily that he is also the smallest, weakest, most petty and insecure—others are rediscovering their own humanity. In stark contrast to the example of Trump’s utter narcissism, we recently grieved the loss of a very human and dedicated public servant, George H. W. Bush, even as many of us acknowledged our deep disagreements over policy. A couple of years ago some of us might not have been quite so moved at his passing, or that of John McCain, but now we mourn them as an all-but-vanished breed.
As we sit under that cold moon tonight, there is no telling if the goodness in human hearts will triumph over the fear, anger and violence in those who refuse to relinquish so much as a thread of the gilded garments in which they cloak themselves, though they may sing seasonal songs of peace on earth and goodwill toward men as they do every year around this time. In their very unChristlike behavior they reek of hypocrisy, but they are armed and they are desperate. It will take all the good within us to subdue them or, better yet, awaken them.
We need to do it together, with love.
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Steve Klinger is a veteran community journalist/editor/satirist and college English instructor based in southern New Mexico.
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