Government shutdown may be first since 2013, but isn’t unheard of

The government has partially shut down three times in the past quarter-century - and far more often in decades past. Shutdowns have led to furloughs of several hundred thousand federal employees, required many government activities to be stopped or curtailed, and affected wide swaths of the economy.

PHOTO: Former President Barack Obama, left and President Donald Trump.

One year after exchanging pleasantries with a newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump and ascending onto Marine One for the final time, former President Barack Obama has remained a central figure across the United States and global political scene. As his successor has seemed to systematically target key components of his legacy, Obama has been strategic, according to current and former aides, in choosing when and how to speak out.

Analysis: Emboldened Democrats take a risk on a shutdown

Congressional Democrats are taking a page from the playbook of President Donald Trump and hard-line conservatives: Fight for your base and don't blink. In forcing a showdown over immigration - and triggering a government shutdown - Democrats have embraced a confrontational, rule-breaking strategy they once blasted as irresponsible when practiced by the other party.

Doc looks back wistfully look at Obama-era diplomacy

Greg Barker had assembled nearly all his footage for "The Final Year," a behind-the-scenes look at President Barack Obama's globe-trotting foreign policy team, when something unexpected happened - so unexpected that it left its main characters literally speechless. The development not only shocked those onscreen, but changed the trajectory of the film rather dramatically Suddenly, a documentary that would have been interesting mainly to diplomacy wonks and foreign news junkies became one that will, to many Trump opponents - the film's likely audience - be both a painful trip down memory lane and a frightening reminder of how tenuous diplomatic deals can be, once the regime changes at home.

Here’s What Trump Said About Presidential Leadership During 2013 Government Shutdown

"I mean problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top," Trump said of Obama during the interview with Fox News . As the White House on Friday refused to accept any responsibility for the government shutdown that will result if Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a spending deal before midnight, remarks made by citizen Donald Trump in 2013 reveals what he thought then about the role of presidential leadership during a similar political crisis under President Barack Obama.

Clock running out for Congress to avert government shutdown

Racing against a midnight deadline, the U.S. Congress will try on Friday to send President Donald Trump legislation to keep the government operating and avoid federal agency shutdowns that would otherwise begin on Saturday. The House of Representatives voted 230-197 on Thursday night for a bill to extend expiring funding through Feb. 16. But with tempers frayed and Republicans and Democrats deeply divided over immigration legislation that has found its way into the government funding fight, the bill appeared to be on the verge of collapse in the Senate.

Global Poll Shows U.S. Prestige Plummeting Under TrumpThe disdain our …

Throughout his 2016 campaign and the first year of his presidency, Donald Trump made it clear again and again than unlike his globalist predecessors he'd be an "America First" president who didn't care all that much what non-Americans thought of him and of Uncle Sam. If he was inviting disdain from those non-Americans, it seems to be working.

Progressives find little support for an Oprah campaign

Oprah Winfrey speaks during an interview at "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations" event in New York on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016. Oprah Winfrey speaks during an interview at "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations" event in New York on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016.

Republicans in Congress push for vote to avoid shutdown

Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress stepped up their efforts to pass a temporary extension in funding and prevent the federal government from shutting down, scheduling a vote on the measure for later on Thursday. For months, the Republican-controlled Congress has been struggling to fund the government, which is now operating on its third temporary funding extension since the 2018 fiscal year began on Oct. 1. Democrats insist that a long-term spending bill include protection for "Dreamers" - adults brought to the country illegally as children, who were protected from deportation by former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

Liberals press Dems to act on immigration, shutdown or no Source: AP

Shrugging off the prospect of a government shutdown, liberal activists are demanding that Democrats protect thousands of young immigrants from deportation, no matter what. The conflict comes to a head this week as the Republicans who control Congress scramble to get enough votes -- including some from Senate Democrats -- to avoid the partial shutdown.

Wolf taking steps to expand who gets OT pay in Pennsylvania

Stymied by Republicans in his effort to pass a law raising the minimum wage, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is moving to boost pay in Pennsylvania through another means - by making hundreds of thousands of additional salaried employees eligible for overtime pay, administration officials said Wednesday. The proposed regulation extending overtime to more salaried employees would need approval only from a five-member board whose members are appointed by Wolf, two top Republican lawmakers and two top Democratic lawmakers, giving it a 3-2 Democratic majority.

Citizen engagement with Congress reached a high in 2017. How will it fare in 2018?

It's one of several ways for people who aren't lobbyists or donors to engage with the people who govern their lives. Aside from all the solo callers, coordinated efforts that catered to the movement against President Donald Trump - like the Indivisible Guide, 5 Calls and Resistbot - gave direction to constituents , about whom to call, when and about what.

Trump administration to appeal ‘Dreamer’ immigrant ruling

Protesters calling for an immigration bill addressing the so-called Dreamers, young adults who were brought to the United States as children, carry a sign supporting DACA in the office of Senator Chuck Grassley on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday.

‘Very strong’ Democratic sentiment to oppose GOP budget bill

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Wednesday there's "very, very strong" sentiment among Democrats in the chamber to oppose GOP-drafted legislation to keep the government's doors open, comments that could indicate the chances are increasing that the government could shut down at midnight Friday night. Democrats' votes are needed to advance the stopgap measure through the Senate, but they have been rebuffed in their demands to add protections against deportation for younger immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

On Haiti and African countries*Jan. 16, 2018, 10:30 PM Ast

During the 2016 US presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump promised to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme which Barack Obama, as president, had instituted in 2012. DACA allowed some individuals who had entered the country as minors and remained illegally, to receive a two-year period of deferred action from deportation.