WASHINGTON — The Washington Post conducted a snap poll of 1,000 people asking who’s to blame for the federal government’s shutdown. The largest share of respondents said it is President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.
The poll, conducted by text messaging, may not be as accurate as more traditional polls. Nevertheless, it found that 47% of the respondents blamed Trump and GOP lawmakers for the shutdown, which began Wednesday, while 30% blamed congressional Democrats.
The poll also determined that a sizable 23% of the respondents said they were not sure whom to blame.
The Post also asked an open-ended question about who is responsible for the shuttering of the government. Those blaming Trump and Republicans cited a refusal to compromise, the party’s control of the presidency and Congress, and Trump’s controversial actions.
Those who blamed Democrats criticized the party for refusing to compromise, always opposing Trump’s policies, and some echoed false claims broadly promoted by Trump Republicans that the concession Democrats are seeking is to provide free health care to immigrants living in the United States without legal permission.
Related: Low-income Minnesotans likely to be the first to feel impact of government shutdown
More bad news for Trump on the second day of the shutdown is that two unions have sued his administration over threats to conduct mass firings of federal workers during the shutdown — and the lawsuit may have teeth.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed the lawsuit in federal court in California, asking a judge to find the layoff threats illegal and to invalidate any actions the administration takes to conduct layoffs during the shutdown.
The proposed firings, known as RIFs, or reductions in force, could run afoul of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits the federal government from obligating or spending any money not appropriated or incurring new expenses during a shutdown.
Federal workers who are fired are due severance payments, which could be considered an illegal obligation or payment.
Federal law also requires that each of the 750,000 federal workers who have been furloughed — and those deemed “essential” who are still on the job without pay — receive back pay after the shutdown ends.
“Nothing in the Antideficiency Act or any other statute authorizes RIFs of employees who work in agencies or programs with a lapse in funding,” the lawsuit says. “Instead, the Act expressly provides that all employees who are not paid during a shutdown — whether furloughed or excepted — must receive back pay for that time period once funding is reinstated.”
Soybean farmers decry Trump’s bailout of Argentina
Minnesota’s soybean farmers are frustrated, confused and even angered by President Donald Trump’s offer this week to prop up Argentina’s economy and aid the country’s embattled president, Javier Milei.
Trump has offered a $20 billion bailout of Argentina, which is a competitor to the nation’s soybean farmers and recently sold China 35 cargoes of soybeans after the nation temporarily suspended its import tariffs. China, meanwhile, has not purchased a single soybean from U.S. growers this year in response to hefty tariffs Trump has imposed on the Asian nation.
“The frustration is overwhelming,” American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland said in a statement. “U.S. soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the U.S. government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina.”
Bob Worth, who with his son raises corn and soybeans on 2,200 acres near Lake Benton in southwest Minnesota, said he was perplexed by the U.S. policy toward Argentina.
“I don’t know why they did what they did,” Worth said of the Trump administration. “(Argentina) is our competitor. Why are we helping them out?”
Worth, and other Minnesota farmers, are hoping the Trump administration keeps its pledge to help them with payments to cover their tariff-related losses this year.
During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on China that provoked Beijing to impose retaliatory duties on soybeans, corn, wheat and other American imports.
When those Trump tariffs roiled American farm country, his administration fashioned a rescue package out of money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund that gave Worth and other U.S. farmers hardship payments.
“I don’t want people to think farmers want a bailout,” Worth said. “But I also don’t want to see all our young farmers gone, either.”
Worth said China once accounted for 30% of the U.S. export market for soybeans “and it hasn’t bought a single bushel” this year. Tariffs on China are unlikely to ease, despite ongoing talks towards a comprehensive deal targeted for November.
While U.S. farmers are looking to the White House for help, it’s unclear where that aid would come from. The Commodity Credit Corporation fund paid out $23 billion to compensate farmers. But there’s far less money in that fund now and it is needed for other emergencies that drive down the price of commodities.
Related: How a federal government shutdown would affect Minnesotans
Trump has said he might use tariff revenue to aid U.S. farmers — perhaps $10 billion or more, according a Wall Street Journal report — but Congress would have to authorize the use of that money and the U.S. Supreme Court may determine it is not legal and require the return of the money that has been flowing into the U.S. Treasury.
Trump plans to meet with Milei in mid-October to finalize the details of the proposed Argentina financial bailout, but tensions over Argentina’s soybean exports threatened to complicate the deal.
In other news:
▪️ Matthew Blake wrote that Gov. Tim Walz, facing pushback on the issue in the state Legislature, is considering a constitutional amendment that would ban assault weapons. And Hamline University professor David Schultz explains in a Community Voices piece why the odds of it passing are slim.
▪️ Wren Warne-Jacobsen led the reporting on a story about how hunger in Minnesota is bad, and getting worse, as the USDA ends a vital report that tracks food insecurity, saying the document is “politicized.”
▪️ No one knows how long the federal shutdown will last, but anti-poverty programs will be the first to run out of money.
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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