This has not be a year of statesmanship; first we sat through months of political bickering over a government shutdown cause the Pelosi House and Reid Senate had failed to pass a budget for last 3 years followed by short-term Continuing Resolutions (CR) month after month until an agreement was finally reached to get us through September. After the CR debacle the next embarrassment for legislators was the debt ceiling crisis, finally resolved by punting the problem onto a joint super-committee that has yet to do a thing; that comedy show comes to an end by Thanksgiving, though you can expect they’ll find a way to kick that can down the road as well.
This week the House will debate and is expected to pass a temporary CR this week, once again giving them more time to do what they’d failed to complete since April. The House and Senate failed to approve any of the 12 annual spending bills which fund the federal government. The last CR expires September 30th when the federal government begins its next fiscal year.
The latest delaying tactic, if agreed to by both parties, will fund the government through November 18th, for a grand total of 6 weeks; but don’t hold your breath.
Conservative and Tea Party members of the House are not happy with this latest CR proposal. The CR doesn’t follow the fiscal constraints of the budget blueprint fashioned by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. While the House passed several individual appropriations bills over the summer that adhered to the Ryan budget rules, they went nowhere due to the debt ceiling agreement which provided funding for government programs at more than $24 billion beyond the Ryan budget guidelines.
Should the CF make it through the House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will remove any offsets necessary to get fiscal conservative approval and add $7 billion in disaster aid. If Reid’s distorted version of the bill should make it through the Senate it would be dead-on-arrival back at the House; translation: get ready for a whole lot more government shutdown talk.
Remember the recent Congressional recess for the month of August? Well prepare yourself for the next slate of legislative holidays. Next week the Congress is supposed to be out for the week for Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish Holiday. Out of the 435 members of the House and 100 Senators there are a scant 39 Jewish members. So why when 20 million Americans are out of work; the government is about to shutdown and the nation is more than $14.5 trillion in debt, must 535 legislators take a week off when only 39 are directly affected? Certainly the 39 member’s absence would be forgiven and in the meantime the remaining 496 could actually try doing something! It’s almost as if any excuse will do to avoid doing their constitutional duty.
When the “real” people don’t get their work done they put in overtime; if they’re incapable of doing it they’re terminated. In Washington, they get a paid vacation. Is there any question as to why the only politicians that rank lower in favorability than Mr. Obama are the Congress?
If you’re Jewish, enjoy the holiday. If you’re not, get back to work and do what we pay you an average of $174,000/year to do, or please return the money you haven’t earned. Alternatively you can resign or donate your pay to the treasury to go against the debt you built.
The American people are sick and tired of politicians that hardly work, can’t find or won’t try to find middle-ground and take vacations and benefits the rest of us can’t even imagine. CR shouldn’t stand for Continuing Resolution, it should stand for Congress Rests.