Here we go again. Think about the following ridiculous factoids. In the last 40 years our hardworking members of Congress have only managed to approve FOUR budgets on time. Exactly one every 10 years. Imagine how screwed up our corporations would be if they performed this miserably. Since 2000 the American people have been forced to deal with TEN government shutdowns. It’s like, hey folks, we are not capable of doing the job you sent us to here to do. Keeping and gaining power is more important to us than your wellbeing. You’ll just have to suffer through our incompetence. Finally, since 2009, Congress has passed THIRTY-SIX Continuing Resolutions (CR). That is more than 2 a year! A CR is like a mulligan in golf. Congress missed the opportunity to pass a budget, so they invoke a do-over in the form of a CR. For the sake of clarification, a CR allows the government to continue paying its bills into the new fiscal year, while self-serving members of Congress haggle over how they will waste record amounts of our hard-earned tax dollars. If we want to put an end to future shutdowns all we need to do is force our lawmakers to pass a bill that would require them to forfeit their wages for every day the shutdowns continue. It completely escapes me as to how the people who caused the shutdown, Congress, get paid while it is shutdown.
The above points out the increasing inability, or unwillingness, of both Parties to do the work their constituents elect them to do. That these high paid egotists are willing to play Russian Roulette with the lives of the American people should be reason enough to remove from office every Senator who voted against this particular CR. Most every previous government shutdown involved nothing more than a pure power grab by both Parties. The latest is also an attempt to secure power but also involves a last-ditch effort by the Progressive Left to derail a string of nearly uninterrupted successes rattled off by President Trump. And lest we forget, when the POTUS is successful it almost always translates into good things for we citizens.
This latest shut down is similar to the others, except that this time the President is Donald Trump. The Dems. would rather punish federal employees, including brave members of our military, with the loss of income than to give in to Trump. They have no problem with the potential for delays and cancellations of commercial flights. The are not concerned that their action to shut down the government might make those flights more dangerous, as long as the “orange man” looks bad. Why are Americans being held hostage again?
There is basically 1 main reason. In 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act which boosted subsidies to help low and middle-income Americans afford their health care premiums during the COVID pandemic. Most of us are aware that the pandemic ended years ago. (Apparently, Congress has not yet received the memo). To quote Nobel Peace Prize winning economist, Milton Friedman: “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” It is almost axiomatic that once a benefit is given, it is nearly impossible to take away. It is estimated that these subsidies cost U.S. taxpayers between 1 and 1.5 TRILLION dollars a year. It is due to expire at the end of this year. Democrats have shut down the government in their effort to renew it into the future.
Republicans refuse to renew the subsidies because a huge chunk of those dollars are funding healthcare benefits for illegal aliens. They believe it is unfair to force hard working citizens to pay for the health care of people who are here illegally. Dems. say that is a lie, it is against the law for illegal immigrants to receive Medicaid or any form of public health insurance. (Remember, they also told us it was against the law for illegals to vote. Yet, every week we find new incidents where that has happened. They lied about that too). Many Democrat led states have built programs that mirror Medicaid, then use budget tricks and funding maneuvers to channel federal taxpayer dollars (our dollars) to cover illegal immigrants. One needn’t be an economist to understand that dollars spent on those who have no right to receive them reduce funds available to those who have earned them.
I have never understood the logic of giving a furlough to “nonessential” government employees during a shutdown, then providing them with back pay when the shutdown ends. That sounds like a paid vacation to me. I don’t understand why you and I are required to fund the salaries of “nonessential” employees . . . ever. In previous shutdowns as many as 30-50% of government employees were deemed “nonessential” and stayed home from work. Maybe it’s just me, but the first time I received such a designation I would have started looking for other employment. If you are self-employed, can you afford “nonessential” employees? In this day and age, nobody, other than the federal government can afford that luxury. These folks have reason to be concerned this time around. They shouldn’t be surprised if President Trump refuses to pay people for work they didn’t do.
I don’t think this shutdown will last very long. Somewhere around 60% of Americans, including Dems., were polled as saying that Dems. should sign the CR to keep the government open while continuing to negotiate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer finds himself in a very untenable situation. Throughout his career he has consistently voted in favor of CRs saying that government shutdowns were dangerous and created real chaos for federal employees. To vote for this one would please most Americans but alienate the Progressive Left. They represent the wing that is currently controlling his Party. Passing the CR requires 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans currently have 53 members. So, it will only take 7 or 8 out of 47 Dem. Senators to vote yes, to get it passed. You can bet Schumer is having conversations with those Dem. Senators living in deep blue, “safe”, states. He is asking them to give him an off ramp out of this predicament. He will beg them to vote for the CR while admitting he can’t vote with them and may even have to chastise them after their vote. He will promise some future plum appointment or maybe access to some inside information on a stock pick. He needs to find 7 or 8 loyal colleagues willing to change their votes. Colleagues who believe he will be able to maintain control of the Senate. If he can find them, the shutdown will be over soon. If not, a new record for shutdowns may be in the offing. (The current record is 35 days in 2018-19).
These are the very situations that I voted for Trump to handle. Our government has grown to be an uncontrollable, unmanageable, goliath. Every dollar that goes to the government comes out of the producing private sector of our economy. The more control we give the government the less freedom we have. We have to stop insisting that one group or the other pay their fair share in taxes. We must demand to know where the vast amount of money the government confiscates from us is being spent, and if it is being spent wisely. Agencies with overlapping responsibilities should be merged. If “nonessential” employees exist, they have to be dismissed. Most are well trained and educated people. They would be in high demand in the private sector and could finally become producers in our economy. We spend billions and billions of dollars on projects and Agencies that nobody even knows what their function is or why they exist. They need to go the way of the buggy whip. There are failed Departments and Agencies that have outlived their usefulness and must be jettisoned. This shutdown creates a perfect opportunity for a businessman to completely reshape the way our government goes about governing. I hope Trump doesn’t miss his chance to do something great.
Thank you for taking the time to read my latest post. I hope you found it worthy. Bob