The partial government shutdown is on its 17th day, which started on Saturday, December 22nd to partially shutdown a quarter of the federal government, which included nine government agencies: the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. What the media and Democrats are refusing to reference is the fact that three-fourths of the government is fully funded through fiscal year 2019, ending on September 30, 2019.

When the 116th Congress started last Thursday, all pending nominations from the 115th Congress were sent back to the White House and the nominees will need to be renominated to be considered for confirmation by the new Senate.  The hundreds of nominations sent back to the White House included a record number of judicial nominees, due to Democrats' delay and obstruction.  Tom Jipping of the Heritage Foundation described the problem and the Democrats' tactics:

During the 115th Congress, President Donald Trump, former White House Counsel Don McGahn, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have had great accomplishments regarding the appointment of conservative judges. There have been 85 new federal judges confirmed, including Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, 30 circuit court judges, and 53 district court judges. Despite these accomplishments, Senate Democrats continue their obstruction by holding up the confirmation of six more circuit court judges and 48 district court nominees.

Yesterday, the Senate voted to overturn new IRS rules which are meant to protect certain tax-exempt organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status from the requirement to report the names and addresses of their contributors who donate more than $5,000 in a given year.

The Democrats' smear of Justice Brett Kavanaugh is having an effect in the Senate.  The Senate is by tradition a place that runs on unanimous consent.  Nominations have rules and decorum that have to be followed.  If they are not, the minority can slow things down.  Democrats have done this on almost ALL Trump nominations. 

Democrats file cloture on every nominee, which kicks off 30 hours of debate even if no Senator is opposed. They figure if they can’t defeat nominees they can delay and consume valuable time. Democrats have forced 117 cloture votes—versus 12 in Barack Obama’s first two years and four in George W. Bush’s.

The question this month is whether Senate Democrats will accept a deal to confirm more judges and nominees, which would allow vulnerable Members to return home to campaign.

While Saturday Night Live and the biased media are offering one sort of portrayal of what is going on regarding the Kavanaugh nomination, the facts and reality are different.  Here are some highlights with links if you want to go more in depth.

Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor hired by the Senate Judiciary Committee notes:

"In the legal context, here is my bottom line: A 'he said, she said' case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that," she wrote. "Dr. Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them. For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard."

Today, RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen wrote in The Daily Caller about how Senator Dianne Feinstein has harmed the Senate, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and Judge Brett Kavanaugh through the politically calculating way she handled the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Judge Kavanaugh.

Led by Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley Republican Senators have patiently listened and investigated the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.  The results at every turn back Judge Kavanaugh and it can be considered telling that the only person not to provide a statement to the committee (which are subject to criminal penalties for perjury) is Dr. Ford.  That has made Democrats more desperate in their smear campaign against Judge Kavanaugh. 

Now other Senators have gotten into this fight to stop the effort to smear a great man and Judge.  Let’s start with Leader Mitch McConnell's speech today:

Democrats have signaled for months they’d put on whatever performance the far-left special interests demanded and throw all the mud they could manufacture. Well, it’s not like they didn’t warn us. But even by the far left’s standards, this shameful smear campaign has hit a new low. I’ll get into the specifics in just a moment. But I want to be perfectly clear about what has taken place.