- Jun 6, 2007
- 852
- 483
- 910
Good citizens in America should have concerns about what transpired in Washington over the last three weeks! It is absolutely wrong and very worrisome for the country this limiting of the options the President and the Congress have on how to fund the government and these limitations apparently are embraced by both Democrat and Republican leadership in Washington and frankly leaders of all types across the country they all hold this view that the Congress and the President have only two options when it comes to funding the government either fund the whole government or shut it down, partial funding of the government is not an option! This is outstandingly bad judgment for stewards of America's finances to hold for, in part, it deprives Washington of a valuable tool to rein in spending and get rid of wasteful spending especially important now when the country has such alarming deficits! Utilizing partial funding of the government when there is a budget impasse would mitigate the harm throughout the country from such an impasse stopping a public revolt but create significant pressure on members of Congress and the President of both parties to compromise and reach a deal as they hear about the pain the partial shutdown is causing some of their constituents. Republican members of Congress especially their leadership should be publicly repeatedly in a loud and clear fashion now and in the future that partial shutdowns are an option to manage the country's finances we will not accept this Democrat paradigm that piecemeal Continuing Resolutions will not be considered in the future if they don't accept such CRs when they come up in the future the Republican party's position will be the Democrats are fully responsible for all the harm that befalls the country because of this non-acceptance!
The country should adopt a broad definition of the concept of partial opening. Partial opening means opening all portions of the government that provide a necessary service for private businesses in America to operate. So there will be no more crab fisherman that can't fish because they can't get the needed gov't permits, no more meat processing plants that can't operate because the gov't inspectors are on furlough and no more mortgage loan providers that can't make a home loan because the gov't isn't open to provide needed information, etc.. Partial opening means keeping all federal workers working unless their working in programs that their continuation is at issue in the government financing negotiations. This is important because federal workers should not be used as pawns to be sacrificed because the power brokers can't reach a reasonable compromise which occurs when there is a gov't shutdown, these federal workers have mortgages and car payments to make and many have children to provide for so Washington needs to make it against the rules to use causing pain on these federal workers by furloughing them as a pathway to resolving budget impasses. This still leaves a lot of federal government spending not off limits for a shutdown; stopping all federal grant spending, stopping all "new" government procurement and stopping all new hiring of federal employees (Congress can entertain such spending on a case by case basis) - this is all fair game for shutting down because the potential beneficiaries of this spending have no vested interested in that spending until it is made.
A related concern on this Washington conflict was the display of shameful character demonstrated by old guard Republicans in both the House and Senate but especially the Senate. You people acted like superior, pompous, king-size-ego jerks, you acted with an attitude of how dare these neophyte, little-experienced Republican House members take a course on budget negotiations we haven't sanctioned. You were not wrong to criticize the House for blocking the continued funding of the government over their desire to derail Obamacare it was completely illegitimate to link the issues it is an extremely dangerous precedent for the country allowing a party to conduct such linkage it will set-up the country for too many gov't shutdowns in the future. Where you old guard Republicans were terribly wrong was in not pivoting with the House Republican leadership to make the shutdown a showdown to fix the budget crisis the country is in you know quite well it can't live with the defense cuts from this year and next years sequester! Your cutting the legs out from under the House Republicans by lambasting them for not opening the government and clamoring that they should agree with the Democrats to open up the government and go to the conference committee was a real lapse of character. Good judgment would definitely conclude that going to conference won't resolve these differences because the gap between the parties position is too large. The day after this 10/16 CR was signed Democrats and Republicans were in front of cameras with Democrats saying things like if the Republicans want spending cuts they have to put revenue in the deal and the Republicans saying the Democrats already got their revenue with the fiscal cliff deal. Many of the pundits are right when they say If America is really lucky Washington might squeeze out at the 11th hour in January 2014 a deal where very minimal entitlement reform is done in exchange for replacing some of the worst harmful sequestration cuts especially in defense. You old guard Republicans should have rallied behind the House leadership and called for partial opening of the government and conducting these needed negotiations now granted their would have been a huge firestorm over this course by the Democrats and those hurt by the partial shutdown but it would have been in the country's best interest to go through the pain now then in January 2014. You Republican old guard inflicted a heavy cost on America's economy with this postponement of the battle over the budget until January 2014 because consumer and business confidence will be taking a big hit during this time and you caused the postponement of the wind down of the Federal Reserve Board's $85 billion dollars a month bond buying program from commencing in December of this year to March of next year which causes a corresponding postponement of the investment of a lot of money in America's financial markets (such investment would create a significant stimulus in the economy) which is on hold until the current distortion in the U.S. equity and bond markets caused by this Fed program is reversed!
I hope the Republican party permanently learned the lesson that you can't force the Democrats to address the country's alarming deficits over the debt ceiling issue such efforts should be restricted to the budget issue. Throughout America's history the Republicans could pursue this goal on the debt ceiling issue because both political parties appreciated that Washington can never cross the line and fail to raise the debt ceiling because doing so would cause a world-wide financial calamity but the Democrat Party of today is prepared to let the world go through such a calamity, such values clearly make them a less good political party but there is nothing the Republicans can do about it except move that effort to the budget issue! The Republicans should make it part of their Party platform to take the possibility of America defaulting on its Treasury securities debt permanently removed and do this by calling for legislation to be enacted that prioritizes how the money the Federal Government takes in should be spent paying the country's bills and if the Treasury is short money to pay Treasury securities that are due mandate the Federal Reserve loan the Treasury the shortfall which will automatically raise the debt ceiling by the loaned amount; the Congress and the President created the FED there is no reason why they can't mandate the FED loan the Treasury this needed money! The Republicans heretofore call for just legislation prioritizing how the Treasury pays the nation's debts isn't sufficient because revenue comes into the Treasury haphazardly the timing at times won't match went Treasury bond payments are due! As stated the country should now seek cutting the deficit in budget negotiations but the John Boehner rule is still a good and reasonable rule "which is essentially the country should reduce deficit spending for the year roughly in the amount of ten percent of how much the country is adding to the national debt for that year". It has been said that part of the goal of the budget conference committee mandated by the 10/16/13 CR is to set spending targets for upcoming years, this committee should agree to codify the John Boehner rule because prior spending agreements coming out of Washington don't cut deficit spending enough on a yearly basis out into the future producing the effect that the national debt will grow too rapidly into the future!
The country should adopt a broad definition of the concept of partial opening. Partial opening means opening all portions of the government that provide a necessary service for private businesses in America to operate. So there will be no more crab fisherman that can't fish because they can't get the needed gov't permits, no more meat processing plants that can't operate because the gov't inspectors are on furlough and no more mortgage loan providers that can't make a home loan because the gov't isn't open to provide needed information, etc.. Partial opening means keeping all federal workers working unless their working in programs that their continuation is at issue in the government financing negotiations. This is important because federal workers should not be used as pawns to be sacrificed because the power brokers can't reach a reasonable compromise which occurs when there is a gov't shutdown, these federal workers have mortgages and car payments to make and many have children to provide for so Washington needs to make it against the rules to use causing pain on these federal workers by furloughing them as a pathway to resolving budget impasses. This still leaves a lot of federal government spending not off limits for a shutdown; stopping all federal grant spending, stopping all "new" government procurement and stopping all new hiring of federal employees (Congress can entertain such spending on a case by case basis) - this is all fair game for shutting down because the potential beneficiaries of this spending have no vested interested in that spending until it is made.
A related concern on this Washington conflict was the display of shameful character demonstrated by old guard Republicans in both the House and Senate but especially the Senate. You people acted like superior, pompous, king-size-ego jerks, you acted with an attitude of how dare these neophyte, little-experienced Republican House members take a course on budget negotiations we haven't sanctioned. You were not wrong to criticize the House for blocking the continued funding of the government over their desire to derail Obamacare it was completely illegitimate to link the issues it is an extremely dangerous precedent for the country allowing a party to conduct such linkage it will set-up the country for too many gov't shutdowns in the future. Where you old guard Republicans were terribly wrong was in not pivoting with the House Republican leadership to make the shutdown a showdown to fix the budget crisis the country is in you know quite well it can't live with the defense cuts from this year and next years sequester! Your cutting the legs out from under the House Republicans by lambasting them for not opening the government and clamoring that they should agree with the Democrats to open up the government and go to the conference committee was a real lapse of character. Good judgment would definitely conclude that going to conference won't resolve these differences because the gap between the parties position is too large. The day after this 10/16 CR was signed Democrats and Republicans were in front of cameras with Democrats saying things like if the Republicans want spending cuts they have to put revenue in the deal and the Republicans saying the Democrats already got their revenue with the fiscal cliff deal. Many of the pundits are right when they say If America is really lucky Washington might squeeze out at the 11th hour in January 2014 a deal where very minimal entitlement reform is done in exchange for replacing some of the worst harmful sequestration cuts especially in defense. You old guard Republicans should have rallied behind the House leadership and called for partial opening of the government and conducting these needed negotiations now granted their would have been a huge firestorm over this course by the Democrats and those hurt by the partial shutdown but it would have been in the country's best interest to go through the pain now then in January 2014. You Republican old guard inflicted a heavy cost on America's economy with this postponement of the battle over the budget until January 2014 because consumer and business confidence will be taking a big hit during this time and you caused the postponement of the wind down of the Federal Reserve Board's $85 billion dollars a month bond buying program from commencing in December of this year to March of next year which causes a corresponding postponement of the investment of a lot of money in America's financial markets (such investment would create a significant stimulus in the economy) which is on hold until the current distortion in the U.S. equity and bond markets caused by this Fed program is reversed!
I hope the Republican party permanently learned the lesson that you can't force the Democrats to address the country's alarming deficits over the debt ceiling issue such efforts should be restricted to the budget issue. Throughout America's history the Republicans could pursue this goal on the debt ceiling issue because both political parties appreciated that Washington can never cross the line and fail to raise the debt ceiling because doing so would cause a world-wide financial calamity but the Democrat Party of today is prepared to let the world go through such a calamity, such values clearly make them a less good political party but there is nothing the Republicans can do about it except move that effort to the budget issue! The Republicans should make it part of their Party platform to take the possibility of America defaulting on its Treasury securities debt permanently removed and do this by calling for legislation to be enacted that prioritizes how the money the Federal Government takes in should be spent paying the country's bills and if the Treasury is short money to pay Treasury securities that are due mandate the Federal Reserve loan the Treasury the shortfall which will automatically raise the debt ceiling by the loaned amount; the Congress and the President created the FED there is no reason why they can't mandate the FED loan the Treasury this needed money! The Republicans heretofore call for just legislation prioritizing how the Treasury pays the nation's debts isn't sufficient because revenue comes into the Treasury haphazardly the timing at times won't match went Treasury bond payments are due! As stated the country should now seek cutting the deficit in budget negotiations but the John Boehner rule is still a good and reasonable rule "which is essentially the country should reduce deficit spending for the year roughly in the amount of ten percent of how much the country is adding to the national debt for that year". It has been said that part of the goal of the budget conference committee mandated by the 10/16/13 CR is to set spending targets for upcoming years, this committee should agree to codify the John Boehner rule because prior spending agreements coming out of Washington don't cut deficit spending enough on a yearly basis out into the future producing the effect that the national debt will grow too rapidly into the future!
