§74 —
On the mantle
Democrat
TACO
The bill for the mantle, from the government's own accountant: the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the shutdown at $11 billion, about $3 billion of it never recovered 1. Wall money obtained: zero; the bill signed to end it was the one on the table before it started 2. That is the oldest entry on this ledger with a dollar figure: the threat cost more than the fold recovered, and the fold was to the original offer.
Now the callback, seven days before the vote. The fiscal year turned October 1 with no shutdown, because a stopgap passed the House 370 to 48, the Senate's version 90 to 6 in July, and the president signed it September 2 34. The continuing resolution runs to December 11; of the twelve appropriations bills, none has been enacted 3. The mantle stayed in the closet through the election, and the cliff was moved to five weeks after it. The last time it came out it cost $11 billion and bought the deal already on the desk.
Sources
- The partial shutdown cost about $11 billion, of which about $3 billion is not expected to be recovered — Congressional Budget Office, 28 January 2019 ↑
- The shutdown ended with no wall funding, on the deal previously rejected — NBC News, January 2019 ↑
- The House passed the stopgap 370–48, following the Senate's 90–6 in July; the continuing resolution runs to 11 December 2026 with none of the twelve appropriations bills enacted — Government Executive, 1 September 2026 ↑
- The president signed the funding bill on 2 September 2026, avoiding a shutdown ahead of the midterms — Fox News, 2 September 2026 ↑
Republican
THE MANTLE
The sentence was said on camera in the Oval Office on December 11, 2018, to the two Democratic leaders, and it is rare in the genre for asking for the blame in advance: "I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down" 1. The demand was $5.7 billion for the wall. The case as made: a border is a line, a line needs a barrier, and a government that will not fund the barrier can close until it does.
That is a coherent position, and taking the mantle is the honest way to hold it — you own the shutdown so the other side cannot. The shutdown ran 35 days, the longest in the country's history, and ended when the president signed a bill reopening the government with no wall money in it: the same deal he had rejected before it began 2. The mantle was taken. What it was worn for is priced in the next column.
Sources
“I'm the guy who can't afford the thing, so I read the invoice twice. Thirty-five days. Eleven billion dollars, says the Congressional Budget Office, three billion of it not coming back. Wall money in the deal he signed: zero. This year: a stopgap, 370 to 48, signed September 2, good through December 11. Bills finished out of twelve: none. Sorry — I forgot my pen — the vote is in a week and the cliff is in six. Who picked those two dates?”— Lou
“"I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down." Thirty-five days, eleven billion dollars, three of it gone for good, and he signs the deal he'd already refused — no wall money in it. This year the stopgap passed the House 370 to 48 and he signed it the next day, no mantle. The next cliff is December 11, after the election, and none of the twelve bills is done. The mantle's in storage till it's useful.”
“The shutdown was leadership, ending it was leadership, and signing this year's stopgap without a fight was leadership of a quieter kind, the kind you do before an election so that you can do the other kind after one.”