The Senate voted Monday to re-open the federal government after two days of a government shutdown. The deal reached between Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats extends government funding to February 8 while lawmakers further debate DACA and immigration reform.

IVN San Diego has learned from well placed sources that newly elected County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar took a call from House Speaker Paul Ryan, and is being urged to run for the seat vacated by Congressman Darrell Issa.

Gaspar, who is a Republican, was elected to the County Board of Supervisors last November.

She was previously the Mayor of Encinitas from 2014-2016.

In San Diego County, District 3 is included in the 49th Congressional District, so many of the same voters who put Gaspar in office, would be asked to elect her for the Congressional seat.

Update: The Senate voted Monday to reopen the government, and extend funding until February 8, setting up yet another potential shutdown fight.

The recent government shutdown is only the latest manifestation of the partisan logjam gripping America, and sure not to be the last. All the political rhetoric over the past few years — ever since the rise of the Tea Party and the subsequent focus on emotions over results — has been driving us to this point, and it was obvious.

Sadly, it may have also been unavoidable.

Once again members of Congress are discussing a compromise immigration bill. The details on the table appear to be similar to the deal that fell apart last week after a bipartisan group of legislators met with President Trump.

One might reasonably ask: If a compromise deal fell apart last week, why should we expect better things from Congress and the White House this week?

The Republican-controlled Arizona legislature will consider a constitutional amendment that would close all statewide primary elections. HCR 2014, introduced by Republican State Representatives Brenda Barton, Drew John, Jay Lawrence, Becky Nutt, and Kevin Payne, reads:

The list of Republican lawmakers and American citizens demanding the release of a classified report that they say reveals political bias at the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) is growing.

The non-profit legal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is taking the Federal Election Commission to court. Click here to read the actual motion but here is the full press release from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington with a summary:

On the eve of another government shutdown, President Trump told reporters outside the Pentagon that the effect would be hardest felt by the nation’s military, something that the president’s critics were quick to dismiss as hyperbole.

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has made the headlines seemingly every week since his spat with President Trump back in 2017, and since then, it has been a war of words:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/898136462385979392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffreewheelus.com%2Fsenator-flake-actions-speak…

Note: the author is an independent candidate for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District.

Whatever my stance is on any other issue won't matter if we don't take care of this one: the national debt. I have a plan to avoid the coming crisis; however, we need to act now to implement it, as our window of opportunity is rapidly closing.

This chart, from the Congressional Budget Office, illustrates exactly where we are at this point in our nation's history (I added the "we are here" with an arrow):