BloggeRhythms

There’s lots of noise being made in DC about funding the Department of Homeland Security whereas its $40 billion budget runs out  onFeb. 27.

 

Fox News.com reports that, “Governors in both parties meeting in Washington this weekend warned of economic and security concerns should Congress fail to resolve its latest budget standoff. Republicans, however, want to use the issue as an instrument reflecting their opposition to the president's granting of amnesty to almost 5 million illegal aliens.

 

After all is said and done, though, a little research shows that, also according to Fox, “A department shutdown would have a limited impact on national security. Most workers across agencies, including the Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection, fall into exempted categories of workers who perform work considered necessary to protect human life and property and would stay on the job in a shutdown.”

 

Furthermore, although “all personnel involved in administering grants would be furloughed, including Federal Emergency Management Agency workers who make grants to state and local governments, fire departments and others to help them prepare for or respond to various threats and emergencies, there’s plenty of leeway in this area too, as follows:

 

“According to a FEMA spokesman, during a lapse in funding, grants for major disasters and emergencies would be processed only if the requests were determined to be necessary for the protection of life and property. FEMA could also acknowledge -- but not process -- requests from governors for presidential declarations of emergency that are not deemed necessary.”

 

So, when you boil it all down, might there be some inconvenience? Probably, yes. But when you research all the fine print, there really isn’t much risk, if any, in delaying the department’s funding. It’s just more headlines about politics as usual.

 

Then, this morning, after I dug my car out for the third time this week from under the latest snowfall, I did some quick research to see what the latest poll show about global warming. Because it sure isn’t warm around here in NY and hasn’t been all through the long winter.

 

Sierra Rayne writes in americanthinker.com/blog that; “The latest poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows clearly that Americans don't really care about global warming.  Out of 23 public priorities, global warming ranked second to last, just ahead of the vague "global trade" priority.

The details show that, “Only 15 percent of Republicans ranked "dealing with global warming" as a top priority for the president and the Congress in 2015, placing it dead last by a mile among all priorities for those on the right side of the political spectrum.”

 

However, “Even Democrats didn't rank global warming as a high priority, putting it mid-range among the 23 options.  Independents ranked global warming second lowest among the options, tied with "supporting scientific research" in the basement of the priority list.

 

“Age wasn't a major player, either. The 18- to 29-year-old group ranked global warming as the fourth lowest of the 23 priorities, the 30-49 year old cohort ranked it second lowest, 50-64 year olds placed it fourth lowest, and the 65+ age group ranked it second lowest."

 

Therefore, Ms Rayne concluded that, “Whether it is the young or the old, or those on the right or left of the political spectrum, Americans simply do not rank global warming as a high priority.”

 

But, that likely won’t deter the administration because most people don’t like anything else that it does, but that doesn’t matter to the president either and never did.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios