... to fund the US Government is that very few of the politicians concerned are actually focused on what the country needs. They're too busy pushing for their pet "porkulus" projects (at taxpayer expense), trying to score political points off each other, and exchanging snide remarks. This applies to both sides - Republican and Democrat - and to congressional representatives of every sex, age and aptitude. There are not enough honorable men and women among their number, who are truly trying to put the nation ahead of their own and their political party's interests.
The rest of us "common people" - those whom they allegedly "represent" - don't feature much in their discussions at all. We no longer count, now that our votes have been counted. We're the background noise to the political uproar in the House.
I accept that some of those voting against the Continuing Resolution are doing so out of principle, refusing to extend uncontrolled spending and increase the deficit yet again. I support their position on this. Unfortunately, fixing the current mess requires flexibility, probably including an increase in the deficit limit. They will argue that this just continues the abuses of the past, and is therefore unacceptable. Others counter-argue that bringing the country to a grinding halt, fiscally speaking, will merely make it impossible to fix the current mess at all. I guess it's the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Something's got to give. If everyone stands on principle, it won't - and therefore the entire country will suffer. Politicians have made this mess, so politicians have to fix it, even if they don't want to. If standing on principle won't do that, then some other way must be found, even if it's only a short-term solution.
I tend to agree that, rather than have a "porkulus" Continuing Resolution loaded down with political earmarks and wasteful expenditure, let's shut down the government altogether. I know that means inconvenience at least for many government workers, and possibly actual financial hardship for some (including myself). Nevertheless, Congress has wasted so much time and so much money that it's got to be reined in. On the other hand, let's not have a Continuing Resolution that handcuffs the government in doing what it has to do, day in, day out. That would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I do have one modest proposal. It'll never be passed, but I think it should be. As part of a continuing resolution, let's include a provision that every single member of Congress and the Senate must, within a reasonable time limit (say, 180 days?), provide a full, auditable list of every financial transaction above, say, $1,000 they've made since their election to those offices, and show where all their income has originated. To name just one example, how did Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul, amass a personal net worth of some $240 million during her years in office? I daresay there are many other politicians, on both sides of the aisle, whose income and net worth are enough to raise more than just eyebrows. Correlating that information on personal wealth with how a politician has voted might open more than a few cans of large, succulent and very corrupt worms . . .
Let it be said in his defense that President Trump has not taken even a penny in remuneration from the government so far. During his first term, he donated his salary every quarter to various charities. At present, as he prepares to assume office for the second time, he's paying for his own transition costs from monies raised for that purpose, and from his own pocket. He's not costing the taxpayer a dime. Good for him.
Meanwhile, we'll watch today's ongoing shenanigans in the House with the contempt most of the participants deserve.
Peter
EDITED TO ADD: This video on X (endorsed by Elon Musk) is an outstanding overview of the current situation. Highly recommended viewing.
17 comments:
Another suggestion, every line item for expenditure request needs to have the author's name attached and each read aloud on Cspan. It's our money and we would like to know who is spending it and on what pet project
I got up this morning and heard the CR failed. Then I saw a report on just one item that had been in it:
Funding to establish TWELVE NEW "regional biocontainment laboratories," for research of viral transmissibility.
As if Wuhan wasn't enough already.
If they're going to puit new funding for new programs into an alleged stop-gap bill meant to keep the minimal needs of dot-gov going...
... then maybe it shouldn't keep going.
Ah; the link on the labs was still in my history:
https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2024/12/20/government-funding-bill-includes-cash-for-a-dozen-biolabs-to-researchengineer-new-viruses-n4935298
I've always been a fan of Glenn Reynolds idea about taxing the "revolving door" of government officials. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/01/28/revolving-door-government-ethics/1868597/
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/12/19/washington-whingers-why-did-elon-musk-do-this-to-us-n3798039
Congress has gotten used to operating as a very private, and incestuous, club exempt from anything resembling Adult Supervision.
They are not.
They are the employees of The Citizens,hired by The Citizen to perform tasks best consolidated rather than distributed across 300+ million users. Wise employers - and there is no shortage of unwise employers - do not instruct an employee how to perform a task, but only to complete the task in an acceptable manner; to accomplish that the employer has the responsibility to ensure the employee is cognizant of laws, ethics, and the standard practices involved; with variance from such being grounds for dismissal. In the case of elected officials, the dismissal process is necessarily complex and cumbersome to prevent "churn" that might result from a single instance of dumb statement or actions, but that does not mean the dismissal
process is nonexistent.
The end result of this must be the high transparency of single-issue bills: one bill, one issue, publicly recorded votes. Would that slow down the already elephantine legislative process? Certainly, and that's a feature, not a bug - too much of what Congress (and by extension, state legislatures and county commissions) consider is unworthy of its time, so recognizing, and enforcing, temporal restrictions should improve representatives' focus on those issues most relevant, and important, to both the country and its citizens.
It falls upon those citizens, however, to maintain vigilance on those whom we have hired to ensure they do not stray from the assigned mission and exercise prudence during the hiring process.
It has been consistent with Congress that they wait until the last moment to pass the CR, yet they have all year to work on it. They do this to force the members to agree to what the leaders decided, which generally is not good and that is why we are in massive debt.
I would like to expand on your point about income, to suggest that every congresscritter should disclose what legislation they have sponsored for the interest of lobbying groups and what they will benefit from it. Yes, I know this is public information, my point is that the critters will deflect more often than not to avoid scrutiny.
Perhaps President Trump could accomplish your proposal through executive order??? Another suggestion is "term limits" for ALL political positions.
There has to be around 90 problems here all-wrapped into one. As JG says, they have all year to work on the Continuing Resolution but leave it for the last minute. I'm in the group that says they do that so they can look like heroes for keeping the government from shutting down at the last minute. As if shutting down is a bad thing, or even a real thing. The government doesn't shut down, only non-essential workers get what amounts to paid vacation. Two things: why are any Fed.gov workers non-essential? And why do we have this fake debt ceiling law when it has never worked to keep spending down?
I'm a federal employee and will be out of work if we have a shutdown... And I still support it. We HAVE to rein in spending and stop political games, there is no way to fix things without some pain; the sooner we address the problem, the less painful it will be.
Jonathan
Tie Congressional pay raises and benefits to a balanced budget. Close all military bases in foreign countries, bring the troops home and end the military as a jobs program. End foreign aid to ALL nations, including UN membership. Force both executive and legislative branches back into their Constitutional framework.
You still don't understand how evil they are.
Scratch that, I believe you can grok how evil they are, you just don't accept that they are. You're duped by them. They are at least twice as horrible as you imagine.
Flexible is a nice sounding word. The problem has been that all the bending over the years has always been in one direction. At what point do you bend over far enough that you fall flat on your face? When is it time to stop bending?
You won't be fired, your position won't be terminated.
You won't be required to come into the office, or to perform your job at all.
You will receive back pay for that interim period in which you were not required to work.
We are not the same. Please do not insult us by pretending we are.
If its not in the Constitution it shouldn't be in the budget. Shut It Down.
And a 3rd thing - why are folks who are furloughed being paid? Are they getting the funds from the Social Security "Trust Fund"? From cashing in the aluminum cans collected to keep our streams clean? From charitable donations by the richer members of Congress?
A number of Fed employees will work without getting a paycheck, until the "troubles" are over, then they will be paid. So the shutdown does not save much, if any, at all.
CR is basically an Extortion racket. "Nice government you've got there, be shame if anything happened to it. be too bad if grandma didn't get her social security check." (even though SS checks will go out, the military will still function, etc.) Congress, and various administrations have figured out that rather than doing their jobs of developing a budget, and JUSTIFYING the expenditure, it's easier to just hold off until the a week before the deadline and pass a CR with previous years funding plus a percentage, plus pork for the folks back home. The tame press fosters this scam by blaming (usually) Republicans for the "government shutdown" and threatening to send non-conforming Pols packing at the next election. Here's an idea, if congress fails to do their job and pass a real budget, the only CR allowed will embody a 10% across the board CUT from the previous year's level, and congressional salaries will be CUT by 50% until a real budget is passed. Any additional funding has to be passed as a separate bill.
Re FEMA appropriation, $100 Billion seems a bit excessive for an agency that mismanaged and is still mismanaging the hurricane Helene disaster as bad as they did. The money needs to be justified, and not just "we need to protect our phony baloney jobs" level of justification. Expenditure for anything other than specific disaster relief needs to be explicitly forbidden.
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