Thursday, March 10, 2011
One step closer to a government shutdown...
Yesterday, the Senate voted down both Republican and Democratic bills that would fund the government for the next six months (see here). This vote brings our country one step closer to a government shutdown, as the government's authority to spend money expires on March 18. According to the article, some Senators question why both parties put forth bills that were unlikely to pass; West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin said, "Why are we engaging in this political theater? Why are we voting on partisan proposals that we know will fail? That we know don’t balance our nation’s priorities with the need to get our fiscal house in order?" He raises some good questions; what do you think are some answers for this? An interesting article titled, "Would anyone 'win' in federal government shutdown?" addresses some of these issues. In the article, Republicans were quoted as saying things such as "we are seeking spending reductions, not a government shutdown" and that Senate Democrats facing re-election would be the ones to have to explain why they can't trim federal spending, and that they also "stand to lose politically - significantly." Could the House Republicans, knowing that most Americans favor federal spending cuts, be creating bills with an unrealistic amount of spending cuts just to make the Democrats (who vote down said bills) look bad so that the Republicans will have an upper hand in the next election?
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We touched on similar issues in class today. Politicians who are appealing to a base, will act in a partisan, self preserving manner to get re-elected. Budget cuts will be made, it is inevitable, but this is getting to be ridiculous and making me wish for a benevolent dictator. Since no one is making cuts from the big three (Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) I have doubts about the effectiveness and equity of both parties proposed budgets.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that could be part of their strategy. As we discussed in class today, politics can be more of a popularity contest than anything at times.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty mind-boggling to think of parts of the government shutting down. The article mentioned that Americans would be shut out of National Parks and people wouldn't be able to get passport applications processed. I also found it interesting that Barry Bennett, a Republican consult in Washington, said, ""For 90 percent of Americans, they won't even know it's closed."
Once again, the government is focusing on only a small portion of spending (national defense, housing, criminal justice and transportation) instead of tackling the bigger issues like health care and social security.
I do love popularity contests. As previously noted, this is what we discussed in class. Cutting federal spending helps the increasing national debt, but Mr. Speaker of the House, what types of federal spending does your party want to cut?
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of Americans wont even know it has shut down cause their lives will not be affected but those whose lives will be affected will suffer.
ReplyDeletePolitics is usually a popularity contest. Everyone just always wants to get re elected - was say in Pakistan that, "everything is always about the 'chair'." And coming from a political family where there are even election contests between relatives that can result in the family losing a seat in Parliament that we have held for decades tells me that once you get the taste of it you always want more. It's all kind of like Pringles really.
Wouldn't it be nice to become elected just because of popularity? Now that the government has issued tax cuts and huge health care reforms, it is harder to take away those benefits without people getting angered. They really do need to do something about the 50% of our spending that deals with social security and other health care benefits. It can and will be protested and hated, but eventually someone will have to do it.
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