Another Government Shutdown

                In case you have not been paying attention to the news lately, there is another federal government shutdown on the horizon.  The U.S. Senate has still not made a budget; therefore, the government will need more funds next month to run the government. This shutdown will be about the power of purse just as most of them are. 

                The Washington Post reported that there have been “seventeen separate government shutdowns (or `spending gaps’ in Hill jargon)” since 1976 when the “modern congressional budgeting process” went into effect.  I lived through every single one of those government shutdowns and survived!  I can tell you that nothing bad happened other than the closure of a federal offices for a few days or weeks while the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch of the government got their acts together.  Republican (including Mitch McConnell) and Democrat naysayers are telling all kinds of lies about what will happen if the government shuts down again, such as claiming that the United States will not be able to pay its debts, etc.  Do not believe their lies!

                Support is growing among Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to attach a rider to the upcoming Continuing Resolution to fund the government until the end of the fiscal year.  The rider would defund all agencies involved with implementing the executive orders on immigration that Mr. Obama has promised.  The Democrats will not like the amendment, leading Mr. Obama and the Democrats being forced to choose either passing the amendment or shutting down the government on December 13, 2014.

                An article at the Washington Post took a look at the last seventeen shutdowns, “the political circumstances around them and what happened as a consequence.”  They went to their print archives for the specifics for most of them.

                A large number of the shutdowns occurred during the Reagan Administration when Tip O’Neil (Democrat) was Speaker of the House.  Another large number occurred during the Jimmy Carter Administration when Democrats held the White House, the Senate, and the House; some happened during the Clinton Administration.  There was one during the President George H. W. Bush, and none during the administration of President George W. Bush.  Neither Bush administrations did much about controlling spending.

                Mark Levin reads and discusses the Washington Post article here.  I found his remarks very interesting and encourage you to listen to him even though he does raise his voice a number of times. 

                Our Founding Fathers gave the “power of the purse” to the U.S. House of Representatives.  The House has the right and the responsibility to withhold tax payer funds for any government program if there is a belief the money is spent for the wrong reasons.  There is a real battle in our government between conservatives and progresses (both Democrat and Republican); conservatives are attempting to keep our nation from going off the “cliff” while progressives keep trying to speed up the destruction.  I encourage you to read the Washington Post article and then listen to Mark Levin.  I believe that you will come away from the experience with a better understanding about government shutdowns.

Ending the Shutdown

                We are now in the third week of the partial government shutdown.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) believe they are nearing an agreement to reopen the federal government and defuse the upcoming debt crisis. 

                “The latest proposal would reopen the government at current spending levels until January 15 and extend the federal borrowing limit until early February, according to aides familiar with the talks.  Lawmakers also would begin longer-term negotiations on the budget, with the task of reaching an agreement by December 13.”

                It sounds to me as though they are “kicking the can down the road” – again - rather than settling the problem.  It appears that they are simply setting some future deadlines that will look a lot like the one they are supposedly dealing with at the present time.  Many lawmakers apparently feel the same way.  Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), a member of the Senate GOP leadership, voiced the frustration:  “Everybody realizes that whatever happens, we’re going to be litigating this [on] another day.”

                While members of Congress are debating the debt limit, spending cuts, Obamacare, and government funding, we must remember that the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives passed several bills that would fund the government and others that would reopen portions of the government, but all the House bills were rejected by the Democrat-controlled Senate.  I wonder if the Senate will ever pass a real budget as long as Harry Reid is in control!

                The Heritage Foundation reminds us that there are two things that Congress cannot ignore:  Obamacare and spending cuts.  Obamacare has not yet been fully implemented but “is negatively impacting people.”  It also creates additional entitlement programs that would join the ones that are already “driving our spending and debt crisis.”

                “What Romina Boccia, Heritage’s Grover M. Hermann Fellow, wrote in August remains every bit as true today:  `It is irresponsible for lawmakers to spend valuable negotiating time on how they can spend more of taxpayers’ money on discretionary programs when they should be pushing for an agreement to resolve the spending and debt crisis brought about by entitlement programs.  Defunding Obamacare should be their first priority.  Congress should cut spending and fix the real debt crisis – out-of-control entitlement spending – before or as part of any increase in the debt ceiling.’

                “Obamacare and out-of-control government spending are holding back our economy and keeping people from jobs.  These are two monsters Congress and the President cannot wish away.”

                It appears more and more certain to me that we will have to replace some of the “Old Guard” Republicans and many Democrats before we will be able to really take back our country.  Are you up to the task!

Effects of Government Shutdown

                The federal government shutdown is now a week old.  Since only 83 percent of the government remained open, the Obama Administration played some games about which part of the government was shut down in an effort to show some toughness with the American people.  The National Park Service is using more manpower and government funds to close streets, parking lots, monuments, etc. than the same would cost if they were not closed.  An angry ranger with the Park Service in Washington said, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can.  It’s disgusting.”

                While Barack Obama continues to enjoy his White House chefs, Camp David, and a military golf course while at the same time closing commissaries on military bases and causing as much “pain” as possible with the American people.  John Nolte at Breitbart News made the following list of the government closures. 1) Treatments for children suffering from cancer; 2) The World War II Memorial; 3) Furloughed military chaplains and threatened them if they worked for free; 4) Closed business stops in the Florida Keys; 5) Blacked out sports and entertainment programming to overseas troops;

6) Closed D-Day Memorial; 7) Tried to close privately-funded Mount Vernon; 8) Closed more than 100 privately-managed parks that cost no money to run; 9) Closed self-sustaining Colonial Farm that has not received federal support since 1980; 10) Tried to close state-run parks in Wisconsin; 11) Closed Vietnam Memorial; 12) Closed privately-owned hotel and police blocked customers from entering its parking lot;

13) Park Service ranger said he had been told to make it as painful as possible; 14) Forced residents out of private homes located on federal property at Lake Mead; 15) Shut down Acadia Park in Maine; 16) Closed historic restaurant that stayed open during the last shutdown;

17) Shut down road that goes through a park in Colorado; 18) Closed the beaches at Cape Hatteras and residents of the Outer Banks plan to protest; 19) Blocked people from looking at Mt. Rushmore; 20) Took down crucial USDA websites; 21) Closed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; 22) Bounced rowers from the Potomac River; 23) Closed Thompson Boat Center in Washington, D.C.; 24) Closed military commissary; 25) Closed all national parks including the Grand Canyon; 26) Took the Amber Alert website offline; 27) Canceled the Miramar Air Show with one-day notice; 28) Closed Peaks of Otter Lodge at start of peak season; 29) Stopped pay for federal prison guards but pay inmates for their work inside the prison; 30) Refused to allow family to use their $2,000 permit to raft the river with “Sorry for the inconvenience;” 31) Closed privately-funded, historic Ford’s Theater; 32) Threatened to close the King Crab season in Alaska because government must sign off on permits and quotas; 33) Threatened to stop school lunches for children.

                Even though the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, the GOP national party, states, counties, cities, and individuals have offered to pay the costs to keep parks, etc. open, the Obama Administration refuses the offers.  Obama and his minions are looking more petty and mean as the shutdown continues.

                Judi McLeod described Obama:  “What kind of a president would act the way Obama’s been acting since painting himself in a corner on the Government Shutdown? 

                “A bully boy president, who will be remembered long after he’s gone as the despicable `Poster Boy of Petty and Mean’.

                “Like the poorly raised kid who steals all the marbles and balls in childhood street games, Obama acts as though he owns even all the private property in the same country he is fundamentally transforming.

                “In his latest moves, he’s bitten off his nose to spite his face, and this time there is no Vladimir Putin riding over the horizon to rescue him.

                “When all of this first started, groups of vets in their 80s and 90s were DC bound to visit their war memorial.  Now the awakened grassroots is rising up against him.

                “The tide is turning and the only way back for Obama is to admit defeat.

                “This is one tide no one can stop, not the mainstream media, not Oprah, not even Michelle and Valerie Jarrett can get their favorite bully boy out of this one.

                “Coming down a road near BHO very soon:  an unforgettable bit lesson from the other side called `Drawing the Red Line 101’.”

                McLeod believes that Barack Obama is a narcissist and desires to be the “unquestioned world leaders” much like the way Hitler and Napoleon did and radical Islam still does.  As such, he believes he is all powerful and deserves the adulation of everyone while resenting our honoring anyone else.

                I believe he is dangerous.  He obviously does not like to be proven wrong or back down, and he will go to any length to get his way.  He is only willing to negotiate if he gets his own way!  The media continues to tell us that polls are against the GOP for forcing the shutdown, but I do not see it that way.  I agree with the military wife who stated that she would rather be pinched than suffocated.  I am more than willing to be inconvenienced if we can break the hold Obama has over our nation.  This could get real ugly before it gets better.