UNBIASED - Possible Government Shutdown, Sen. Menendez Indictment Explained, US/Mexico Immigration Agreement, Border Patrol August Report, Writers' Strike Ends.

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

1. Days Until Possible Government Shutdown; What It Means and Why We're Here (1:49)2. Hollywood Writers Reach Tentative Agreement Ending Strike (10:42)3. Senator Menendez Indictment Explained (15:29)4. Immigration Update: Mexico and US Reach Agreement, El Paso at "Breaking Point", CBP Release August Report (21:57)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review and share it with those you know that also appreciate unbiased news!Subscribe to Jordan's weekly free newsletter featuring hot topics in the news, trending lawsuits, and more.Follow Jordan on Instagram and TikTok.All sources for this episode can be found here. Click here for Reuters' Government Shutdown article referenced in episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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news and legal analysis. Enjoy the show. Welcome back to the Jordan is my lawyer podcast. Happy Tuesday. I hope you are ready to get caught up because I have four stories for you today. The first is going to be about this potential government shutdown. I just kind of want to talk about what a government shutdown is, what it means and why we're here. And then of course, if the government does shut down, I would like to do a full length episode dedicated to kind of a more in-depth explanation, but I figured a surface level explanation could benefit all of us. And then the second story will be about this writer's deal that was struck with studios, ending potentially a writer's strike. The third story is going to be about Senator Bob Menendez's indictment.

And then the fourth story is sort of an immigration update. It's really three stories in one. I'm going to combine an agreement between Mexico and the United States that was just reached on Friday, CBP's August report, and also a little update as to what's going on in Texas. And that'll be the fourth and final story. So before we get into it, let me just give you the reminders I give you every episode. Number one, if you love what you hear today, please go ahead and leave me a review on whatever platform you listen. If you have thank you so much it truly is so appreciated and finally yes i am a lawyer no i am not your lawyer so without further ado let's get into today's stories there's a lot of talk around a possible government shutdown on october 1st so let's talk about what

it means and i don't want to make this too complex as i said if the government shuts down i would like to do a more in-depth dedicated episode episode to the history behind it and why we're here and what it means. But I want to keep this pretty surface level because the reality is we get close to this shutdown every year. In the last few years, we've avoided shutdowns within days, sometimes within hours. So it's not really anything atypical, but government shutdowns are relatively new when looking at the history of the United States. They didn't start happening until the 1980s, and they tend to get more prevalent or they tend to happen more often as we get more and more divided politically. So let's keep this super basic. I think this conversation could benefit all of us. What a government shutdown is or how it happens is this. If Congress can't agree to fund the government, the government has no money to spend and it shuts down. However, a shutdown doesn't always mean a complete shutdown, right? You can most definitely have partial shutdowns where some parts of the government are funded and some are not.

So we'll talk about that more in a little bit. But basically, all governments have to figure out how to spend their money. Every country has to figure it out. And this happens annually. So fiscal years is what they're called. Our fiscal year here in the United States starts on October 1st, which means the government has to figure out how we're going to spend our money before that fiscal year starts on October 1st. If they don't figure it out, that's when you face a shutdown. That period of time between the deadline of October 1st and when it's eventually figured out is what

we call a funding gap. Now, the difference between us here in the United States and most countries is that we actually have to create laws to spend our money. So Article 1, Section 9 of our Constitution says this. It says, quote, no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law, end quote. So what that means is that the government can't spend money without an actual law allowing it. Now, this concept was later really set into stone by the Anti-Deficiency Act, and then the Attorney General in the 1980s really set it into stone with two different opinions. But again, I don't want to get into that much detail in this episode.

I'll save that for when I do a dedicated episode. But because we have to create laws to spend our money, that means that Congress has to adopt 12 spending bills, otherwise known as appropriations bills, and then get them signed by the president. So that same legislative process we see with all the other laws we have, that's what has to happen every year before the start of a new fiscal year. Now, these spending bills, they fund various components of the government. So the Defense Department, the Education Department, the Department of Homeland Security. As I said before, if and when a government shuts down, it doesn't have to be the whole government. Sometimes some departments

get funded, but others don't. And only those that don't get funded will shut down until they are funded. So to kind of give you an example, during the 2019 shutdown, the Department of Veterans Affairs stayed open, as did the Department of Health the 2019 shutdown, the Department of Veterans Affairs stayed open, as did the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Social Security. But those that closed due to the shutdown were the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice, and there were more. But I just want to kind of illustrate the idea that some departments can shut down while others remain open. But here's the thing,

just because a department shuts down doesn't mean that those employees aren't working. So sometimes these are what we call essential employees. These essential employees still have to go to work even though they're not getting paid. Their departments aren't being funded, which means they're not getting paid, but they still have to go to work. So the most recent example we saw was that 2019 shutdown I was just talking about. And around 800,000 employees were going into work without getting paid. They weren't paid for 35 days. That's how long the shutdown lasted.

Now, they do get paid eventually, right? They'll get back pay once the appropriations bill for their department is signed into law. But for those 35 days, they're not paid. So for instance, the Department of Transportation shuts down, but we still need our air traffic controllers. They still have to go to work. The Department of Homeland Security shuts down, but we still need TSA workers. So these are what we call essential workers that still have to report to work even if the government shuts down.

Now, as I said, they will get back pay, but these shutdowns do end up costing the government a lot of money. So the 2019 shutdown that I was just talking about cost the economy about $3 billion in permanent losses. And the reality is, the more divided our politics get, the more likely we are to have a shutdown, the more money we're going to lose, right? So when a shutdown happens, the president and Congress, they keep working. They got to figure it out. They don't get to just like go home and take a nap and go to sleep. They got to figure out how to fund the government. Now, there are also certain programs that are funded by what we call indefinite and permanent appropriations. That basically means they're indefinitely and permanently funded. So when the government shuts down, they're not affected. These are things like unemployment payments, payments of interest on

the national debt, social security, and even special counsels, which means that the cases against Donald Trump and Hunter Biden, they wouldn't be affected by a shutdown. They would keep going even though they're being overseen by the federal government. If you're interested in how different agencies are affected, I do have a Reuters link linked for you in the podcast description. It's separate from the sources. I wanted to make it slightly easier to access. So it's there in the podcast description, just in case you want like a quick read on how these agencies are affected. But before we move on, I do want to talk about what's going on this year and why, you know, I guess what the holdup is. So Speaker McCarthy is in a bit of

a tough spot right now, because as I was saying before, the more politically divided you get, the harder it is for Congress to agree and get these appropriations bills passed. But with that said, Speaker McCarthy doesn't necessarily want a shutdown. He's said it before. He knows it doesn't help anyone. It's not good for anyone. The problem is not only do you have division between the Republicans and the Democrats, but you also have division within the Republican Party. So there are some Republican representatives that aren't necessarily opposed to a shutdown in order to get what they want. So they're kind of using the shutdown as leverage, so to speak. And McCarthy's not really on board with it. But these Republican representatives are already against McCarthy. So as I said, you have the division, you know, between the two parties, but you also have a bit of division within the Republican Party itself. And it's causing some problems. The House returns on Tuesday, they're going to vote on four spending bills, which would cover the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Homeland Security, and the

Department of State. But basically what needs to happen between today, Tuesday, and Saturday, which is the deadline at midnight, 11 appropriations bills need to pass the House, be negotiated with the Senate, and get the president's signature. And this all has to happen before Saturday at midnight. That's why Congress is kind of anticipating a shutdown. But this whole down-to-the-wire storyline, it's something that's happened every year in recent past. Now, I do want to mention there is something called a stopgap measure. That would keep the government operating past the deadline, past the October 1st deadline, while negotiations are taking place. But some Republican

representatives have said that they are not on board with a temporary measure, which makes it a bit difficult to pass. One more thing before we move on. The reason I said that 11 appropriations bills need to pass the House between today and Saturday is because one actually already passed back in July. So there's 12 that need to pass, one has already passed, so now there's 11 left. So that's what's happening. I wanted, again, to give you a very basic level understanding of what's going on. And with that, we can move on to the writer's strike. The striking Hollywood writers reached a tentative deal with studios, but it doesn't mean that Hollywood is getting back to making content anytime soon.

And here's why. There's two strikes, right? You have the SAG-AFTRA strike, which is the actors' strike, and then you have the Writers Guild of America strike. So obviously, two unions, one's actors, one's writers. This deal that was struck, it's not official yet, but it only applies to the writers. So SAG-AFTRA actors are still on strike. Now, to give you an idea of what's happening here, I want you to think back to the Labor

Day episode. Remember how I talked about at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, people were working 12 to 16 hour work days. They weren't getting paid enough to live just like your basic American lifestyle. People were fed up with it and they started demanding better pay, more reasonable working hours, better working conditions. And they did that by striking, sometimes protesting, rallying, whatever it was until they eventually got what they wanted. We're seeing something similar here. Now, obviously, this is not nearly as large as the industrial revolution, but we're seeing a shift

in the film and TV production world. Not only is there more content than ever because of these streaming platforms, but now with AI, writers are really concerned that their jobs are going to be taken over by AI. So a lot of issues are presenting themselves within the strike. There's a lot of things that the writers are, you know, rallying for and striking for. And I want to keep this conversation on the writers because that's who the deal was struck with and not necessarily the actors, just for time sake purposes. But basically, one, as I said, with AI, writers are like, look, if this AI thing starts to become more prevalent, who's to say that AI isn't going to start to generate the scripts for us and we're going to be out of jobs? Or, you know, what if AI starts to generate the scripts and then these writers are really just there to give that human feel to the script, right? Like editing the scripts that are generated by AI. So they're worried that their jobs

are gonna be significantly altered. Now, on top of that, you have these streaming services. So what they're arguing is that their residual income from streaming services is apparently a lot lower than broadcast television. And as we know, streaming has kind of taken over broadcast TV. So like we got to do something about this. Then you have the wages. scribes at the higher writer producer level has actually fallen by 4% over the last 10 years. And the writers are essentially arguing, we can't even earn an average living with what we're making. Now, granted, they're living in areas like LA and New York where the cost of living is super expensive, but that's where most of the production happens. They have to be there. So really those are the three main issues that the writers are striking for. So what does this tentative deal mean? For

one, as I said, the deal only applies to writers, not actors. No deal has been reached with actors so far. It may come soon, but as of now, no deal. What this really means is that writers can start writing again, but the deal is only in the very beginning stages. So from here, the contract language will have to be finalized. The negotiators will then vote on whether to recommend this deal to leadership. Leadership will then decide if they want to send it to union members for a vote, and only if that vote passes the union would the deal officially be in place. So again, still very much in the preliminary stages, but at least it's a step in the right direction because really no one wants this strike to be happening because it is an economic

loss. The economic cost from these strikes is expected to total at least $5 billion. Because when you think about it, it's not just the actors and actresses and writers that are losing money. There's businesses too that rely on the film industry. You have camera operators, you have catering businesses, you have florists, you have costume designers. Think about a production set or a film set and everything that goes into that. None of those people or none of those businesses are making any money. So it's an economic loss. But that's what's happening with

the deal with the writers. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about Senator Bob Menendez's indictment was indicted on Friday on charges of bribery, extortion and fraud. Let's talk about it. Let's kind of sum up what the indictment says. According to the indictment, in the, you know, a one sentence summary, as I like to do sometimes, Menendez was accepting bribes in exchange for his political influence. But it runs a bit deeper than that. So more specifically, it wasn't only, this indictment wasn't only against the senator. It was also against the senator's wife, whose name is Nadine, and then three men that also

lived in New Jersey. So all five of these people are named in the indictment. Let's run through the parties really quick just so we know who everyone is. You have Senator Menendez and his wife, and then you have these three men. One of these men, his name is Will Hanna, he's originally from Egypt, he has ties to Egyptian officials, and he's been friends with Nadine, Menendez's wife, for years, long before Nadine and Menendez were dating or married, anything like that. Then you have these other two guys.

These other two guys are friends and business associates of Will Hanna. One of them works in the trucking and insurance business. However, he was previously convicted of fraud. He had his insurance broker's license revoked. The other guy is a real estate developer and also founded a local bank in New Jersey, but he was charged with obtaining loans under false pretenses from that bank. So he's also had his hand in fraud. So you have these three guys that are introduced to Senator Menendez through his wife, Nadine. The story goes, according to the indictment, that Nadine starts dating Menendez

in 2018. He's a senator at the time. And Nadine and Hana, who are already friends, start introducing Menendez to various Egyptian intelligence and military officials. Now, you might be asking, why Senator Menendez? Like, he was a senator just like other senators. Why does he have so much influence? Well, aside from being a senator, he was a senator just like other senators. Why does he have so much influence? Well, aside from being a senator, he was also the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This position gave him influence over foreign military sales and foreign military financing. So let me explain in the simplest of terms. The State Department is basically in charge of reviewing and approving foreign military sales to Egypt, as well as obligating foreign military financing to Egypt. However, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is the position that Menendez held, had the authority to place these holds or remove holds on foreign military financing and foreign military sales. So Menendez actually had a lot of influence by being able to place or remove holds on, you

know, this financing or sales to Egypt. So now that you know that, you might be asking, okay, well, like, why, what's the deal with Egypt? Well, prior to 2018, Egypt was actually facing a lot of resistance when it came to getting foreign military financing and sales. In 2017, the State Department actually canceled $65 million in foreign military financing to Egypt and withheld another $195 million and basically said to Egypt, until you can show us that you've improved your human rights and democracy, we're not giving you this money. So from there, obviously, Egypt is trying to find ways to get this financing because more and more senators here in the United States are raising human rights objections to financing and sales to Egypt. So Nadine allegedly says, hey, friends, you know, you guys have ties to Egypt.

My husband happens to be the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so he could probably help your Egyptian official friends get the financing they're looking for if you, you know, pay him the right amount. So that's what gets the ball rolling. And without getting really into this indictment, because there's a lot of moving parts, it's a complex web of entanglements. That's pretty much what this is. It all stems from Menendez's role as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And he was able to, you know, remove holds on certain financing. And the reason he would do that is because these guys

would say, hey, we'll pay you X amount. So that was the nature of their relationship. Now, as I said, it's very complex. Senator Menendez at one point was helping one of these guys get off criminal charges, and he was getting paid in gold bars, and there was a halal company that was granted an exclusive monopoly with Egypt, and that company was paying Senator Menendez. There's a lot of moving parts here, but I wanted to give you the most basic understanding of the indictment. I do want to note that this isn't the senator's first indictment. In 2015, he was indicted for very similar things. So between 2006 and 2013, Senator Menendez allegedly accepted close to a million dollars worth of gifts. We're talking private flights, commercial flights,

vacations, campaign contributions, contributions to his legal defense fund. And in exchange, he was using his office as senator to influence the outcome of contractual disputes and Medicare billing disputes for an ophthalmologist in Florida. And he was also allegedly supporting the visa applications of several of these girlfriends of this man. So anyway, he was facing similar charges in 2015. He was acquitted, though. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The DOJ said it was going to retry the case, but it ended up dropping the charges two weeks later. And throughout the whole thing, Menendez said that he was innocent. He never did anything wrong. Since the most recent indictment, Senator Menendez has stepped down

as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee but he does not plan on stepping down as senator so the new jersey state governor has asked him to but what he said in his first public remarks since the indictment is quote i firmly believe that when all the facts are presented not only will i be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey's senior senator, end quote. Fourth and final story, an immigration update. So first we'll talk about the CBP's August border report. We'll then talk about kind of like what's going on in Texas still, and then we'll talk about an agreement between Mexico and the United States. But we'll get through it all fairly quickly. So the CBP, which is the Customs and Border Patrol, released their August numbers on Friday, and what it shows is that the number of border crossings for the month of August in total was

about 233,000. 181,000 of those encounters happened at legal ports of entry. All the others were just, you know, across the southern border. The report also said that in the last four months, the Department of Homeland Security has returned more people to their home country than in any previous full fiscal year. Since May 2023, the Department of Homeland Security has returned more than 250,000 people. Of those 233,000 encounters in the month of August, CBP says only 11% of those involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the last 12 months. So this number is significantly down from August of last year. The repeat encounter rate in August of last year was 35%, but that was a high percentage. So to kind of give you a little more context, from fiscal

years 2014 to 2019, the repeat encounter rate was 14%. So this August, although border crossing numbers were high, the repeat encounter rate is lower. In April of this year, which was the month before Title 42 expired, repeat encounters accounted for nearly 23% of all encounters. So all of this to say, CBP believes that the expiration of Title 42 and the implementation of Title 8 is what's causing the drop in repeat encounter rates. Now, this report came at an interesting time. The report was released on Friday, which was the end of a record high week for border crossings. If you listened to last week's episode,

you know that the mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas declared a state of emergency, and that state of emergency came after there were 2,700 crossings on Tuesday, just in the city of Eagle Pass, and 3,000 more on Wednesday. And the most recent mayor to kind of express concern over this influx is the mayor of El Paso. After last week, the mayor said that they are at a breaking point. He said just two weeks ago, immigration agents were releasing between 300 and 400 migrants per day into El Paso. But as of last Monday, that number had reached 1,200 per day. Because of this influx in border crossings, Mexican officials actually met with CBP officials on Friday in Mexico to try to mitigate the situation. And as part of the agreement that was reached, Mexico said that it's going to try to depressurize its northern cities that border

our cities by deporting migrants back to their home countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc. This isn't going to be an immediate thing. Mexico did say that it first has to negotiate with the governments of those countries, specifically Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Cuba, to make sure that these countries will take their citizens back. But Mexico did say that this year alone, it has deported more than 780,000 migrants back to their home country. There were 15 other terms of this agreement. Some of the other things that were included were establishing checkpoints along Mexico's largest rail route, because what's happening is a lot of people are jumping onto freight cars and getting to the border that way.

So Mexico says it's going to start implementing these checkpoints. They're also going to start submitting a daily report of the number of migrants on the train system to CBP's El Paso sector. They're going to conduct interventions on railways and highways. So it's kind of like the checkpoint thing I was talking about. But again, 15 total terms of the agreement. And as far as what's causing the influx, as I said last episode, it's not super clear, although some people do have ideas. I said last week the sheriff in Eagle Pass thought it had to do with the cartels. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owen said something similar. He said that smugglers are illegally crossing big groups of people for profit and then using them as a distraction to run drugs and

criminals into the country. One woman who runs a nonprofit that helps these migrants when they're brought in said that misinformation is a big issue. She said that she actually sees a lot of these migrants sending videos to people on the other side telling them they've been allowed into the country, not really explaining that they're on parole status or whatever it is. And then the people on the receiving end of these videos think that they've just been allowed in and they follow suit. And then it's just this kind of cycle. So that's your update on immigration and what's happening at the border. And that is what I have for you today.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please don't forget to leave me that review. I hope you have a great week. Thank you for being here and I will talk to you on Friday.