Government Shutdown: Again?
Einstein gets credit for many things, including his definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
Next to that quote should be the official photos of the 112th Congress.
For the third time in 7 months, some form of federal government shutdown threatens. We had the silliness of the Continuing Resolution for FY11, the stupidity of the debt ceiling increase showdown, and now the insanity of Congress’ inability to pass a CR for FY12.
The CR for FY11 took a toll on Congress’ popularity. The FY12 CR fiasco involves sums of money that are less than rounding errors in total government spending. Worse, these monies are emergency funds to help the FEMA aid victims of the worst fires in Texas history, the worst floods in the upper Northeast, one of the worst droughts since the 1920s in the Southwest, and devastating tornadoes in the Southeast.
Is this really the terrain that the “spending hawks” want to occupy in this fight?
Effective 30-second commercials leap immediately to mind: homeless Texans, drenched Vermonters, re-building Alabamans, bankrupt farmers. All denied funds because emergency money for FEMA “busts the budget.”
Watching Sen. Lamar Alexander on television Sunday trying to walk the fine line between being a loyal GOP soldier and the pragmatic man he really is was painful. Listening to Democrats trying to justify the alternative energy loan guarantee that Republicans want to cut in order to pay for some of the FEMA money as a “jobs creation program” was laughable.
One of the few members of Congress making any sense was Sen. John McCain, who noted that Congress’ approval rating had sunk to about 12%: “All this thrashing back and forth, it may contribute to putting our approval rating from 12 down into the single digits. It could be 8 or 9. Then you are at paid staffers and blood relatives.”
Most ironic fact about the FY12 CR? It only lasts until Nov. 18, not even a full fiscal year.
So, let’s take a look at the next 90 days of possible Congressional challenges:
1. On Nov. 18, the CR for FY 12 (which will pass this week in some form or another) expires and must be re-negotiated;
2. On Nov. 23 the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction must recommend in legislative language its changes to law in order to save between $1.2-1.5 trillion during the next decade;
3. By January 1, Congress must either pass or reject the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee;
4. Before January 1, Congress must address the Unemployment Insurance extension, another Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) “patch,” the Medicare doc’s fix, and deal with the so-called “tax extenders.”
5. Someday President Obama will send the three pending trade treaties to Congress, which will again have a chance to fight over union demands that the deals have stronger employment provisions and more money for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Note that minor matters such as highway and airport funding, immigration reform, energy policy, job “creation” initiatives, defense authorizations, and many other basic functions of government get lost in the shuffle of threats between and among Congress and the President.
And, by the way, the federal gasoline tax expires soon unless renewed by Congress.
Do you have a lot of faith in Washington’s ability to handle any of these adroitly?
Meanwhile European leaders founder, despite the helpful advice of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; the Arab Spring seems to be morphing into the Islamic Autumn; and one of the most focused men in world politics, Vladimir Putin, bit by bit begins to restore “the Motherland.”
What would a prudent person do? Exactly what most businesses and banks in America are doing: hoarding cash, preserving capital, expanding rainy day funds as the clouds darken, making no new hiring or expansion commitments.
What we need is for that darned satellite to hit somewhere safe so that at least some light breaks through the gloom.
Anything to divert us from the spectacle of Washington, D.C., politicians behaving like 11 monkeys trying to screw the same football.
By the way: some folks believe that Einstein stole his insanity line from Thucydides when he was describing the lunacy of Athens more than 2,000 years ago.
