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While you were a bit distracted

Well, there’s nothing like a massive hurricane like Florence to distract the American public from what Congress is doing.

Thursday afternoon as we all watched Florence take dead aim at poor old Wilmington, N.C., Republican and Democratic representatives and senators stealthily reached a bipartisan deal to keep the government open.

The government is set to shut down Oct. 1 unless a deal is reached. The matter was complicated somewhat because President Donald Trump said he would veto any compromise that did not have $25 billion in it to build his border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. A couple of times he opined that a government shutdown might be a good move before the midterm elections.

The deal reached Thursday does not have $25 billion for a border wall.

Now, we would theorize that the agreement was reached Thursday because all the cable network news shows were concentrating on Florence. We read about the deal in The Washington Post.

Since everybody knows the president watches cable TV incessantly — and hates to read — we’re betting congressional members are hoping to just slide this one past him.

Actually, though, the funding for the Department of Homeland Security is just part of a large continuing resolution. Wall funding would fall under DHS’ budget.

Congressional leaders would prefer to have the border wall funding fight after the midterm elections.

Now we’ll have to see if they can convince the president.

* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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