(12/20) GAS Hour 1 - Averting Government Shutdown

This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. We are going to talk about what's going on with the race to prevent this government shutdown here in just a few minutes. It could hit in a couple of hours. Of course, we've seen some scrambling around the capitol. Speaker Mike Johnson has said that they have now a plan C that they will try

When it comes to Washington, d C.

It'll close out a tough week saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop eleven hundred points in a single day, complete its worst losing streak since the nineteen seventies, when it fell ten days in a row. As of right now, it's a pretty positive bounce back. The Dow is up more than seven hundred points, almost eight hundred points as they're trying to reverse. Like I said, one of the worst weeks that we've seen in a long time. Well, today,

Shannon number one. Thank you for coming in.

You're so welcome. And this is a terrible idea.

Okay, well, we'll see talk to me in four hours and we'll see how it goes.

We're still talking.

If that's the case, then yes, we can discuss it. John Decker is joining us. He is live in Washington, d C. Who has been covering all of the story keeping an eye on what's going on with the potential for a government shutdown. John, where do we stand with this new Plan C and doesn't have a shot at actually passing?

Well, it is planed C because plans A and B have failed largely because of House Republicans, and now they are putting together a plan that they're calling Plans C to avoid a government shutdown, which would happen at midnight tonight. You have to keep in mind of both the House and the Senate. Both parties have very narrow majorities, and for that reason do you need compromise. You need to have both parties working together to come up with a compromise that can pass both the House and the Senate.

What do they change about this one compared to the two previous iterations.

Well, as you may have seen, about thirty eight, House Republicans essentially thumb their nose at President Electdonald Trump. And the reason they did on that bill Plan B is because of one item that was contained in that spending proposal that would have extended the debt ceiling for another few years to twenty twenty seven, and that was a no go for deficit hawks in the House of Representatives who are Republicans. So what Plan C does. It gets

All right, well, that work is gonna take place over the next couple of hours and we'll keep an eye on that. Throw a curveball here. We know that Vice President Harris stayed in Washington. She was supposed to come out here to California. And I saw some reports, and I don't know if they're true or not, that President Biden returned to d C from his planned vacation.

Where what are we doing here? What's going on with that?

No, well, you're incorrect about President Biden. He's planning to take vacation next week. He's heading out of town early next week and heading to Saint Croix. That's a destination that is an annual tradition in the Biden family. So he came back from being in Wilmington for two days earlier this week. He is here today. No comment though by President Biden as it relates to the possibility of a government shutdown. All that we have seen is a statement put out in his name by the White House

So it appears it's just a procedural thing.

She's just getting ready for the possibility, not to mention it, and it would not look great if both the president and vice president were out of DC, if we ended up being a shutdown.

Oh absolutely, I think that is one hundred percent right. And you see the spin coming from both political parties right now. If there is a government shutdown, Democrats will lay the blame at the feat of Republicans. And you know, look, there was a deal that was agreed to by the leadership of both parties and the House and the Senate,

All right, John, thanks for your stuff. We appreciate it absolutely.

I'll talk to you real soon.

You got John Decker there live from Washington, d C. With the latest on this and again the clock is ticking. It's under twelve hours before the potential for a government shutdown. As he mentioned, we're on Plans C and we'll talk about how it is that Mike Johnson thinks he's going to push this thing through today versus the other two iterations that we saw earlier. We already got your first message, so buckle up.

Buttercup Hoffman's voice.

I am a long let me start from the beginning.

Good morning, Jerry and Shannon Hoffman. So excited to hear Shannon Hoffman's voice. I am a longtime listener at least for COVID, but I don't know if you've ever been on the air before, Missus Hoffman, and so I'm excited to get to know you through your voice a little more, even though I feel like we know you as OKAFI listeners. Very exciting.

You're the best.

You guys, have a good day.

Well, Christmas came early for Hern't that's a lot of pressure and for you. She already loves you. That's true. Friendly crowd from the crowd.

Yeah, this is an easier crowd. I hope it's also Friday. People are going to be a little more relaxed. But we're going to come back.

And I can tell by your sweatshirt and ball cap that you're wear into the workplace.

Oh, because so many people at work saw me.

I'm just saying, you're very judge on what people wear to work, and here you are, slumpy.

You are much more dressed up than I ever would be on a front.

I'm a professional.

Gary and Shannon Number one. The stock market is watching what's going on in DC, and actually, right now it's doing pretty well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over eight hundred points this coming on what could have been the tough week. There was an eleven hundred point drop in a single day. We saw ten straight days of losing on the Dow, and that was the longest losing streak for the DAO since the nineteen seventies.

We'll talk more about it next hour.

But workers with the Teamsters union striking again at Amazon facilities around the country, including here in LA. Members of the Starbucks Workers United group have also staged to walk out the first time in thirteen months, and they're doing so here in LA as well as Chicago and Seattle. If your plan and on going to northern California, this could be a rough weekend.

They're saying.

The first of the storm systems that's going to be coming in is expected to move into.

The Bay Area tomorrow morning.

That should be about a quarter of an inch of rain somewhere San Francisco and Oakland, according to the National Weather Service, the valleys up in the North Bay half inch to three quarters of an inchro I mean, it's just a normal storm. But if you're driving or flying in I saw some delays already in and out of Sacramento International because of it's funny to call it Sacramento International, but Sacramento International because they had some fog apparently in

That's a hard way to lose five pounds.

LA County's Department of Public Health said the outbreak stemmed from an event at the Hollywood Palladium celebrating the La Times list of the one hundred and one best restaurants back on the third of December. So before we get back into our government shutdown.

Talk, Hey Gary and Shannon, Good morning Gary and fake Shannon or other Shon Shon.

Number one is a terrible idea.

You're right, you nailed it.

I'm just kidding.

I have a wonderful holiday.

Thank your by. To be clear, everybody calls you Shannon number one. Yes, even Shannon number two's husband calls you Shannon number one.

Absolutely yes, all right, as it should be.

So Mike Johnson says we will have a Plan CE or he's working on a Plan C, because the first two got shut down. This would try to avoid a government shutdown coming up by at nine o'clock.

To night our time.

And he says they're going to try to pass three separate bills.

As opposed to all of them together.

So you got a short term funding bill, you got money for natural disasters, and then a one year farm bill extension with some aid for farmers. A shutdown deadline, like I said, under twelve hours if they do this, and here's another weird thing. If they do this through the Rules committee first, then it only needs a simple

So the first one was fifteen hundred pages, the second one was one hundred and sixteen pages, right, and now that's split.

What have we got to down.

To thirty pages apiece? Thirty five pages apiece something like that. I mean that basically. But the concern was for a lot of Republicans that even that second version, even though it was that much smaller, increased the debt. Chip Roy, congressman out of Texas, yelled at his own party members yesterday.

To take this bill yesterday and congratulate yourself because it's shorter in pages but increases the debt by five trillion dollars. Is asinine. This side of the aisle is profoundly unserious about actually reducing deficits.

One of his compatriots from Florida, a congressman named Carlo Samenez, also Republican. He said an interesting thing in an interview this morning. He said, yes, we want to reduce the debt, just not yet.

Were in the Republican Party. Want to reduce our debt.

But we can't do it overnight, and so we know we have to increase the debt living and so that's why that was in the resolution. The other parts of it, right, you don't want to keep the government open, that's a cr You don't want to help those living ravaged by natural disasters, you don't want to help our farmers. Really, that's what you voted against. No, I'm sorry, that's why I voted for it.

So he was one of those that did vote for it.

Now, it's never as simple as that, because it's stupid politics and they always try to shoehorn stuff into there, and they will continue to do so today. Keep an eye on it. Government shutdown talk is never sexy, but.

It happens all the time, and it happens all the time. Why is anyone surprised by this? And I feel like this crunch is manufactured.

Well, I think it's weird that they're doing it in this lame duck time because Joe Biden doesn't have to do anything, and there's no pressure on him to do anything because it's not his A lot of people think it's not his. Trump put out on a truth social I'd much rather have a government shutdown while Biden is president than after January twentieth when he becomes president, just because of the He doesn't want the stink on him. The question is who gets the stink on this thing.

They all get the stink. Everybody's smelly. This is horrible. It reminds me of what my dad said. He's like, lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. So they're like, everybody feel the pain, and we're not going to give money to X y Z. That's on you guys.

But then they've all and yes, they know it.

They know when they passed the last Continuing Resolution that midnight January twentieth into the twenty first was going to be the deadline. Well why do we get this close to it before we have some sort of a deal. And pressure is you know, the only thing that motivates people in DC.

It sounds like good.

Morning, Gary and Shannon. Number one I'm so excited to hear you guys together today. I remember when Shannon number one was on with you years ago before COVID, because that's how we measure time now. And you guys are doing a segment on Game of Thrones and she and and you were so good. You were intelligent and articulate and I loved it. And you did a great job then, and you'll do a great job today. Have a great show, guys, and Gary, thank you, No Lutie, if you know what's good for you to.

Trust mellu Ti.

I don't remember that Game of thing.

I had forgotten. I was trying to think of the drive in today. When was the last time. We've never done this? But you did interview me in twenty ten after the Haiti earthquake, right, you did not allow it to be live. We appreciaped it.

We did.

Yeah, we sat in a little booth and you asked me questions.

Well, that's because I was also doing the Sunday Show at the time. That's probably why I played it. I played it then. I didn't allow you to be live.

We know it could be dangerous. Where is it?

I said, it's the one that says dump okay down at the bottom there.

I have one too, Jacob Scott one, you have trained to.

Do some tourettes or something and start swearing on air.

You're not gonna it's gonna be Oh Gary, Hello, Shannon number one.

This is Gary and Santa Creta. Got a question for Shannon.

Do you ever listen to Gary during the day and just turn it off and be like, I get enough with this guy at home.

I don't need to listen to this now too.

I do listen to all the thank you I do listen. The only time I turn it off is probably if you guys are a little long in the tooth on football, right.

And then, speaking of which, gas Fantasy for play coming up with twelve o'clock out.

Got my picks when you tell stories wrong, like if if you're talking about something about our kids or me or you and I'm like, oh my gosh, I screwed it up. It's so maddening. But that's what you remember, do you? Those are the key points? Yeah, those are your takeaways.

That's the feedback I get when I get home. I get notes if I tell the story text. Yeah, a couple of stories that we're following Luigi Mangioni, of course, was back in New York. Now he was hit with new federal murder and stalking charges because of the execution of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson that the federal charges now mean that he could be eligible for the death penalty federally, because even with a first degree murder in

Do they allow tweezers in federal prison.

I don't know how he got that cleaned up? Would he looked cleaned up when they when he got off the helicopter. Yes, I mean clearly he had shaved, but I think there was.

That's that's a Tweezer man issue. You got to get you get it in there with the eyebrow there maybe some scotch table do it.

Plug your ears for a second.

College football's twelve team playoff begins today in Indiana at Notre Dame tonight and then tomorrow three more games SMU at Penn State, Clemson at Texas, Tennessee at Ohio State, and of course, the Chargers beat up on the Broncos thirty four to twenty seven last night, so.

They get a little bit closer to the playoffs as a result.

The only response from Shannon last night was that was fun, capital fun, Like she enjoyed watching that game from the sidelines because it was pretty exciting.

Same Sea's, It's not same Ze's.

So the Pentagon announced that two thousand American troops are in Syria. Here's why that's important. That is significantly more than they said were in Syria.

We have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately nine hundred US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher, and so asked to look into it. I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately two thousand US troops in Syria.

Okay, you learned it.

Major General pat Ryder is the Pentagon's press secretary. He's supposed to know those things, and he says he just learned, and he said we So I don't know if he means the communications office in the Pentagon or the Pentagon itself just learned this.

Well, listen, I watched an episode of The Diplomat last night, so I feel like I can chime in on this. Maybe they withheld that information from him on purpose so he could have plausible to toil deniability. Oh, I just learned it.

It's possible. It is possible.

But this was an exchange he had with Jennifer Griffin, one of the Pentagon reporters.

And double the number of troops that we've been told for quite some time.

So are we talking about this has been going on for months, for years?

Is it something that just happened this summer? I mean, we need a timeframe I think is fair.

Yeah, I think it would probably be fair to say at a minimum months. I'll go back and look. But it's the Yeah, it's been going on for a while.

It was the President aware that there were two thousand US troops in Syria.

I won't speak for the White House.

He doesn't know. That seems to be clear.

Now there is something positive about this, the fact that the time is right for us to have that many people in Syria right now. Dan Hoffman is a former CIA Chief of Station.

We have an opportunity right now to achieve some strategic victories to deny Iran that land bridge to Lebanon so that they can provide his Bula with military equipment that's no longer possible right now.

We can ensure that Russia no.

Longer operates bases in Syria, a naval base and an air base that would limit Russia's ability to project power. And we've got to deal with the terrorist threat, the rising threat of drug sales from the Asade regime Captagon, and of course the chemical weapon stock pose.

So maybe it's great that we have two thousand troops there. I mean, Israel has troops in Syria now because they're trying to prevent whatever power vacuum exists in Damascus from from bleeding over or from you know, bad guys getting the chemical weapon stocks or large weapon stocks that existed there in Syria under a sod uh. When we come back, we're going to take some ideas for last minute gifts.

So you're telling me you haven't gotten shopping yet.

I'm not saying that, I'm just saying I'm open to I'm open to suggestions.

Gary Shannon, who no, hopefully this is a clean show. You know, no boot knocked in or or booty booty booty suggestions or Jenotal talk with Shannon does. That's all she likes to talk about. She likes to get everybody riled up and then, uh, you know, play innocent, so he's not playing.

Yeah, what booty boody booty booty booty booty boot boody.

Booty booty booty booty.

Yeah, whaty booty.

Boody booty booty booty booty boots body booty booty booty bo You're so twelve year old.

I want to describe your face. I can't. I just can't.

My wife is in today, so it's it's still the Gary and Shannon Show. It's just just the Gary and Shannon show.

Hey, good morning, Gary and Shannon number one. Well know how successful this gig is.

If you guys drive home in the same car or not, that'll tell us how well it went.

How much is an uber from burbank?

Are about sixty bucks?

Don't say it?

Yes?

Hey, Gary and Shannon number one, Shannon number one, can you tell us something about Gary that most people don't know about? Like does he walk around in his boxing shorts our day or does he does he like eat is food a certain way, like vegetables first and then protein and then starches.

Thanks nice to have you on.

Wow.

They think you're a little weirdo, don't they? Yeah, yeah, you are hyper normal. Hyper normal. That's kind of what I would say.

I do think that white bread from top to bottom, pretty side out.

But I like that.

I will say, when people meet you and they don't know what you do for a living, yeah, it's hilarious to me because when I say, well, he works in radio, he's on a talk show, and they're like, your husband, he's kind of a mute.

How does that work? You're very quiet socially.

Well, yes, I don't.

To the point where I have to tell you when we're going to a party. Okay, now, honey, you have to ask questions. Don't let me do all the work.

Well, And we've had instances where I've I feel sometimes like I dominate. It's it's the nine on the enneagram where I feel like my voice is louder than it actually is.

I feel like I'm yelling when I'm not.

Could that be narcissism though, where you think it's all about you.

I'm not saying it's all about me. I'm just saying I don't.

I'm super conscious of being annoying, and I don't want to be annoying outside of this room.

I don't know.

Well, you also get all your words out.

That is true. I do talk a lot at work, all right. So you're what four days, five days, four.

Days technically from Christmas, and if you don't get something for the Christmas presents, you're, you know, in the doghouse. So there are a couple different versions of York Times actually had a great list of thirty three last minute Christmas gifts. Many of them I feel like some of these you could easily get at a ninety nine cent store. I'm not saying you should, but I'm saying that this is Some of these things are things that you could get at a ninety nine cent story.

I mean those that you don't shop much. What these are not I should get? I get a water the Lexardo cherries jar. Those cost fifteen bucks. Okay, do you think I don't know?

It's not a fifteen dollars store?

Well this is, Well, you're right, but I'm saying that this first one is a twenty four ounce water bottle. You could get a water bottles. See that's the problem. The bluetooth speakers are easy to get. Excellent pocket knife that's going to cost you about fifty bucks from the sat mark next to that one, Well, no, I just it's my little tick. I put a little pen mark there because I prefer that bourbon moth blade, the bourbon blade.

That that guy, that guy sells what too late?

Now?

Yeah, there's artist kits, there's watches. There's the everywhere chair that my parents used to have. They could go to a sporting event with bleachers and actually have a back instead of just sitting on that hard heart aluminum storage case.

An umbrella candles?

Is the candle enough for a for a gift? Okay? Feet I haven't gotten you slippers in a long time.

I have already. I'm good.

That's what I that's the problem.

If you talked about this last week, that's the problem is so we talked to this when Justin was here this week, about what you get kids, you know, and tempering their expectations about what you can get for kids, and people go overboard. We spend way too much money, money on money, money on kids, and have for a

Well, not now, because apparently Amazon's striking, so.

They'll be fine.

You know.

The interesting thing we did with our kids one year, I don't know if you remember this. Would they're making out their big Christmas list. They get the toys r US catalog in front of them. They're circling the target, they're circling everything. And I was getting frustrated and I said, what did you get for Christmas last year? And neither

And that just it really hit them, didn't it.

They really sunk in change their character so much more grateful.

They apologized and they thought, you know what.

They said, let's go volunteer at a homeless shelter, right.

And all these toys I'm circling, I'm going to give them away, That's what they said.

Nope, still far.

Let us know what you have in mind for a last minute Christmas gift. And I don't mean like good Jora mayonnaise. If there is really something that you can still get over the next couple of days, let us know what it is. Leave us a talk back, or the weird family traditions that you do. I don't think we really we don't have a weird tradition. We've been pretty adamant about the at least the four of us on Christmas Day, that.

Morning protected Christmas Morning for the four of us.

Yes, more people can come, but if we're going to do it, we're going to do Christmas the four of us.

At some point, just the four of us, maybe five, Is that weird? I don't know.

I don't know if that's weird. I know other people they'll do Christmas. They'll have two families. They got to hit on Christmas Eve, another one they'll hit Christmas Eve. But it doesn't start until midnight. And then you get up first thing in the morning, you do the stockings on Christmas morning, breakfast, Christmas dinner, all of that.

Yeah.

The tradition your kids tried to push every year was we need to start a tradition of opening up a present on Christmas Eve.

Yeah.

Yeah, because they had friends that did that right, and they thought that they were better and they're.

Not said, that's not in the Christmas contract.

That's not in the Bible. All right, we'll take some of those talkbacks.

Let us know you're crazy Christmas traditions or last minute gifts. The Homeless Agency in LA is not following the rules when it comes to a publicly disclosing information.

We'll talk about that when we come back to The Gary and Shannon Show.

You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio ap