On Thursday evening, the US House of Representatives yet again put into place a temporary spending bill to keep the federal government up and running. The bill is working its way through Congress right now and is awaiting Senate approval. The current spending appropriations were extended because the federal government was scheduled to run out of finances this coming Friday. A long-term solution would be preferable but at this point something just needed to be done. The temporary measure extends the current spending plan until December 16th. [1]
This isn’t the first time the House of Representatives has had to scramble to keep the government running. A stopgap bill was used in early October for needed disaster relief and to keep the government afloat entering a new fiscal year. [1] In August, the debt ceiling was increased to avoid a default on our debt. This action enabled continual borrowing and spending for government programs. [2] There seems to be a trend in the current Congress for delaying the inevitable. Often things can get worse before they get better, but this year there a repeatable trend of things getting worse – too many accounts of creating short-term solutions to long-term problems. This continual round about methodology of Congress has made them lose American confidence. [3] The constituents are taking notice and actually starting to take action as well.
The reason for all of the short-term solutions, rather than a restructuring or long term plan, is the inability of our Congress to collectively decide upon budget appropriations for the 2012 fiscal year. Amazingly, it has been more than 15 years since both chambers of Congress – the House and the Senate - have passed a bill laying out the spending measures for all government supported programs. Over that time, Congress has supported continuing past resolutions or bundling appropriation bills. [1] There is undoubtedly a problem with this “last-minute” legislation trend of inaction. Our dawdling Congress needs to get its act together and start working towards long-term solutions. Clearly, there needs to be a change in Congress’ culture; this begins with the constituents. This isn’t an issue of party politics; this is an issue of getting the American people what they deserve - a diligent legislative body working cooperatively to make our country stronger and more fiscally sound.
I realize that this may sound harsh. I’m not suggesting that present solutions are horrible or ill advised, but instead, that our government’s representatives need to grapple with the hard stuff, and that as citizens, we need to support them in doing so. Collectively, we need to make a better effort to work together and do what is best for ALL of the American people. Passing a federal budget and deciding how the money is allocated is the job of Congress; it is clearly laid out in the Constitution. As US citizens we have a responsibility to uphold this sacred document- to ensure that we the people form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. [4]
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I don't think I could have put it in better words myself. I remember the first news I heard of the government "shutting down" due to a financial disaster. I personally saw this as a childish blunder as a result from very poor planning. Although this isn't the first time this has happened, I believe this marks the 4th time this year that this has been called to order. I will admit I don't fully understand how and where a $700 million bailout comes from. But as Shane said, their only stalling until things get worse. Unless of course, the big boys and girls in washington can come up with a solution that can actually last more than a 1/4 of a year. I highly respect the view of this blog and do not see the opinion as harsh at all. Its constructive criticism, these mistakes are getting embarrassing. I have very little respect for the government as it is, I don't need to be hearing about them having to pay themselves to keep themselves alive. They need to get their act together, and figure something out that would last.
ReplyDeleteIt's just one thing after another with this government. First the banks, now our government... pretty soon we're going to have a global economic collapse and be stuck back in the dark ages. I mean really people, $700 BILLION dollars? Does anyone grasp the concept of that amount of money? I think I've won the lottery when I get a $700 paycheck in a week. What does that kind of money even look like? It's too bad that we couldn't have figured out this budget crisis years ago: putting it off till now only makes it harder and harder to bear living in this country. Pretty soon we're going to have an entire nation of people on welfare, no one can afford to live decently these days. I'm only hoping that next time around we can elect someone who can actually solve problems, not approve band-aids to patch them up. Congress needs to wake up and stop padding their pockets with corporate incentives and solve the economic crisis for the good of us all!
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