How to End the Shutdown

Jon Oberg's Suggestions Need to Be Heard

A picture of Dr. Jon Oberg at his farm in Nebraska.

If you don’t know who Jon Oberg is, you should know who he is.

I wrote about Oberg extensively in my book, Solving the Student Loan Crisis: Dreams, Diplomas & A Lifetime of Debt (2016), and on my previous blog, All Education Matters. Oberg uncovered the 9.5% loophole scandal, which involved lenders stealing upwards of $1 billion from the US Treasury, a debacle that most Americans remain unaware of.¹ I will discuss the loophole at a later date, as I want to bring up Oberg’s recent piece about the current shutdown and his suggestions on how to end it.

The shutdown is now in its 36th day. It’s the longest shutdown in history. The second-longest shutdown in history occurred under Trump during his first term in office. According to Bipartisanpolicy.org, “at least 670,000 federal employees are furloughed, while roughly 730,000 continue to work without pay.”

The Republicans are holding the government hostage over the Epstein files. Speaker of the House Mik Johnson is taking advantage of the shutdown by refusing to swear in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ); he adjourned the House, despite the Senate still being in session and open. If Grijalva is sworn in, she will be the vote needed to release the Epstein files.

What does Oberg suggest for ending this situation?

He writes on his always insightful, must-read blog, Three Capitals, the following:

To end this dangerous spiral, which could lead to an end to our democracy, Democrats should immediately name a date in mid-November by which they will re-open the whole government, come hell or high water, by voting for a clean continuing resolution. They should propose two motions before supporting a clean resolution, however, but make clear that the outcome of those motions will not stop them from taking charge to be the responsible party to end the shutdown and its growing chaos. One motion would be a last attempt to deal with affordable health care. The other would create a Select Committee to review why the rise of partisanship has eclipsed loyalty to the Constitution, and what can be done to reverse it.

Senate Republicans would be wise to support both Democratic motions. Republicans do not need a vote pricing millions of Americans out of health care without the excuse of Democratic intransigence over the shutdown. They also should see the value in establishing a Select Committee with representation from both parties. If they do not agree, Democrats should move ahead on their own in a Select Committee format to hear from panels of experts, along with their potential presidential candidates (especially from popular Democratic governors who have won elections in Republican states). The goal of Democrats would be to come out of the process re-establishing themselves not only as the party of the working class once again, but as Constitutional Democrats who place our Constitution and the rule of law above partisanship. Americans will embrace this enthusiastically.

It’s unlikely that the Republicans would agree to such a resolution, which means the Democrats have the upper hand. At the same time, it seems the Republicans have their hands tied in this case, and that’s a bad thing for them. A majority of voters blame the Republicans for the shutdown, too. If Republicans don’t want to play along, Democrats should take advantage of that, go their own way, and end the shutdown, as Oberg suggests.

If the Democrats were to take full advantage of this situation, they could make significant gains and ride an even bigger wave from what they accomplished after last night’s victories across the country. (I’ve seen folks say it wasn’t a wave last night, but sure seems like it was to me.)

What can you do to make this potentially happen?

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121, and ask to be connected to your state senator’s office.

If you are speaking to a Democratic office, tell them that you want them to, as Oberg stated above, immediately name a date in mid-November by which they will reopen the entire government by voting for a clean continuing resolution. Add that they should propose two motions before supporting a clean resolution; however, but make it clear that the outcome of those motions should not stop them from taking charge and being the responsible party to end the shutdown (tell them to yell this from rooftops!). One motion would be a last attempt to address affordable healthcare. The second motion would be to establish a Select Committee to investigate why the rise of partisanship has eclipsed loyalty to the Constitution and to determine what can be done to reverse this trend.

If you are speaking to a Republican office, tell them that you want them to support the two motions that Democratic senators are planning to offer. Explain to them the two motions listed above. Emphasize that they should agree, as there is value in bipartisan representation for the Select Committee to investigate why there has been a rise of partisanship that has eclipsed loyalty to the Constitution. Additionally, if they do not agree to these two motions, the Democratic senators will likely proceed without them. Tell them that the majority of Americans already blame them for the shutdown, and that if they do not work with the Democrats, they will look even worse than they already do. People are rightly placing the blame on them for a reason. In short, it’s in their best interest to go along with these two motions.

These are ways in which we can take charge as constituents. I wish you all the best, and I hope you will call your senators’ offices!

1. I discuss this scandal in Chapter 6 of my book, “The Agencies, the Bureaucrats, and the Politicians,” but I will post a piece on it soon here on my Substack, as it remains worth discussing, despite the situation having occurred in the 1990s. Oberg was a whistleblower who stood up to student loan lenders after discovering illegal activities, hence the reason it was called a “loophole scandal.” He’s a hero in my book (pun intended).