Delaying the Inevitable?

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 16^th. [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]

Sources:

[1] http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/17/house-passes-continuing-resolution-avoids-another-shutdown-threat/

[2] http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html

[3] http://www.gallup.com/poll/141512/congress-ranks-last-confidence-institutions.aspx

[4] http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

How Budget Battles Keep the Economy in Limbo

President Obama proposed a $3.7 trillion budget in February. But as the new fiscal year starts, there's still no final budget in place.

This post is in reference to the article “How Budget Battles Keep the Economy in Limbo” by Marilyn Geewax of National Public Radio. The article was written on October 2, 2011.

     Congress has already caused a stir with the approval of a stopgap-funding bill to keep the government operating. With the fiscal year beginning on October 1, Congress has delayed an official budget plan for the year. This has become a popular trend since the 1970s and last year the stopgap bill lasted over half of the fiscal year. A stopgap-funding bill is a temporary spending bill until the US budget is set. It’s hard to believe that the US government would ever stop operating, but if there was not an opportunity to employ stopgap funding it could, at least theoretically.

     Stopgap-funding delays every government funded venture – people working directly or indirectly for government-funded industries don’t know their budgets, and so they delay both their business and personal plans.

     I recommend reading the article. It may make you aware or increase your intolerance to the way government works and may press upon you to have a voice in what happens in government. The stopgap funding affects multiple parts of the government including Congress and federal agencies and could have an adverse affect on public opinion. Potentially, someone you know has been negatively affected by the budget delays.

Embedded link: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/02/140961812/federal-budget-uncertainty-weighs-on-economy