Friday, October 11, 2013

Government Shutdown: the long view

I see the situation this way: both chambers of congress passed a bill which the president signed, and now the majority in one chamber wants to get rid of it. They have tried and failed at the normal constitutional ways of eliminating an existing bill. In order to get rid of it, they have chosen to take the entire annual appropriations budget hostage and shut down the government. Now, they want to present piecemeal the parts that are particularly popular for approval so that they can point the finger at their opponents. Maybe they think they can get every other piece approved and thereby eliminate the thing they didn't like without ever having to pass a full appropriations bill.

I don’t care which party is in which position, I do not want this government shutdown tactic to work because if it does, we’ll see it every year from whichever party is most ornery about having lost a political battle. The shutdown does major damage to the economy, not to mention halting CDC research, FDA inspections, and all of the other things that are important to our country but not part of the “essential” government functions. We do not want it to happen frequently!