The Long Road To Government Shutdown
by Congressman Denny Rehberg (MT), April 8, 2011 [here]
Today, our national government moved closer to a shutdown. It has taken us years to get this far off track and despite doing everything in my power to reduce the deficit and avoid a government shutdown, our system of government simply cannot operate if the Senate and White House refuse to come to the table.
Unfortunately, some politicians will use this shutdown as an excuse to get on TV and point fingers. Not me. I’m going to keep working hard for you exactly like I always have. I’m going to work to get things back on track in Washington so our kids and grandkids are free from the crushing burden of debt and taxes.
But you deserve to know the truth. There’s going to be a lot of spin, and finger pointing. So let’s set the record straight once and for all.
Here’s how we got here:
February 12, 2010 - Democrats Raise the Federal Debt Ceiling (Again)
For the record sixth time since taking power in January 2007, Congressional Democrats voted to increase the federal debt ceiling to support their budget-busting big government agenda. At this point, they had already passed bailouts for Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, AIG, General Motors Corporation and Chrysler, Bank of America, and a massive failed Stimulus. Congress was still working on Obamacare.
Spring 2010 - Congressional Democrats Fail to Pass A Budget
Each year, Congress is supposed to pass a budget. But last spring, with record debts and deficits and a big-government agenda, neither Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives or Harry Reid’s Senate passed a federal budget. It was the first time Congress punted on this most basic of responsibilities since the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Read about it in The Hill [here].
September 30, 2010 - Fiscal Year Ends, No Spending Bills Have Passed. Congress Passes First Continuing Resolution
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees oversee twelve separate spending bills to fund various government activities. There’s one for defense, one for transportation and so on. These bills need to be done by October 1, which is when the new fiscal year starts. Last year, Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives or Harry Reid’s Senate couldn’t pass a single one of the twelve bills. Instead, they passed a temporary “Continuing Resolution” to kick the can down the road until after the election. The first CR funds the government through December 3.
November 2, 2010 - Americans Vote Pelosi Out
The American people elected a new majority in the House. Speaker Pelosi begins the Congressional Lame Duck.
December 4, 2010 - Congress Passes Second Continuing Resolution
Funds the federal government through December 18.
December 18, 2010 - Congress Passes Third Continuing Resolution
Funds the federal government through December 21.
December 22, 2010 - Congress Passes Fourth Continuing Resolution
Funds the federal government through March 4.
January 5, 2011 - The New House Majority is Sworn In; Pelosi Transfers Gavel to Boehner
House Republicans immediately begin working on the unfinished business from the previous Congress to avoid a government shutdown. I spoke about the importance of balancing the budget
February 19, 2011 - House Passes Bill to Fund Government, Prevent Shutdown
After hours and hours of public debate, hundreds of amendments and an open process, the House passes H.R. 1 to fund the federal government for the remainder of the year and prevent a government shutdown. It saves $100 billion compared with the President’s proposal. I spoke in favor of reduced spending on the House floor. The Senate has nearly two weeks to act before the Continuing Resolution expires.
February 21-25, 2011 - The Senate Goes on Vacation
With a government shutdown looming and two weeks left to act, the Senate sends members on vacation for a week. They return with only nine days to craft and pass an alternative spending bill to begin the process of negotiating. They choose not to do so.
March 2, 2011 - Congress Passes Fifth Continuing Resolution
Funds the government through March 18. The House includes $4 billion in spending reductions, which some Senators claim credit for. I spoke on the House floor, comparing the vote to “Groundhog Day” and urging the Senate to act.
March 9, 2011 - The Senate Fails to Pass Two Bills to Prevent a Shutdown
The Senate, concerned that it cuts too much spending, fails to pass H.R. 1. They then fail to pass their own alternative spending bill which reduces spending by only $4.7 billion. It also fails. I encouraged the Senate to pass a bill.
March 18, 2011 Congress Passes Sixth Continuing Resolution
Funds the government through April 8. The House includes $6 billion in spending reductions, which some Senators claim credit for.
April 9, 2011 Time Runs Out - The Senate Still Hasn’t Passed a Bill. Any Bill.
More than six months after the funding bills were originally due, and 49 days after the House passed H.R. 1, the Senate’s inaction finally lead to a full government shutdown.
Clinton pushed the Republican controlled House to the wall and a Govt shutdown, and then ran against the shutdown he precipitated, blaming it on Republicans who controlled the House.
The current budget deal was set up to be the strawman against which Obama would run for the next term. Obama declared, and began raising money, and the Democrats balked on any spending cuts, and were on the way to shutting down Government when polling said the Republicans would gain, not Obama, if that push came to shove. It is all a dance, with the music being candidate campaign money, and for now Obama is running against no one, and that could backfire. He has all the successes and failures on his back, with no other candidate to blame.
I just had my taxes done, because the Congress and special interests have made the whole of the process so obfuscated and Byzantine that common folk cannot reasonably manage the maze and still give full measure to a job. I made some extra money last year, by working harder, and for that I am giving fully half of that away in taxes. Self employment, State of Oregon, and Federal income taxes. Add the property taxes for a low rent area house, and all the taxes I pay second hand on any service or product I buy or use, and most of what I make is going to pay taxes.
And why? Because I have a partner in all I do: Government. And from my taxes they take their pay, their cradle to grave health care, their pensions, and then spend on whatever will make them re-electable. Obama is out to raise ONE BILLION DOLLARS for his incumbent campaign for President. Digest that. Think about it. And tell me how much sense all that makes. His view of government is how to take all the Treasury’s annual income plus another 40+% of that by borrowing and give the money to people who don’t work, many of whom have never worked and never will. The money went to pay off debts because his party in the person of Barney Frank looked the other way about liar loans he had the US Govt guaranteeing. They bailed out irresponsible bankers. Car makers with unwieldy union contracts and health care burdens. And an insurance company that guaranteed banks against failure. He broke the country and is still the slobbering gay congressman who is very bright and very clever at covering his ass, and who gets re-elected to break the country another time.
The US can’t keep on this path. There is real estate in the US, owned by the US Govt, that has signage warning citizens NOT to enter because dope, gun, and people runners might do bodily harm to you. There are streets in US cities that are not safe to walk. Thousand upon thousand of them. There are US National Forests that are used for clandestine dope grows by Mexican nationals in the drug trade. And yet we sit here in Oregon, and look away at Senator Wyden, who has gone through a late mid-life divorce, has not had a private sector job in more than 30 years, is not an heir to a fortune, and is a millionaire simply because he has been a congressman and US Senator. And the good times are coming for Merkley, as well.
The system is rigged, with fault, and corrupt to the core. And yet citizens accept it because they are either on the dole in some way (I am-Social Security) or just don’t care because they have no hope of cutting the bonds of servitude to the powers that be in Washington DC or Salem. Government is the biggest player, now, in Oregon. Largest single employer, the font of the best retirement benefits in the nation, is doing business on so many levels that business cannot cut the ties because government is the biggest customer. Government owns the State, controls the vote and state, and the rest of us are just the dairy herd to be milked for revenue. And if we can’t give enough milk, they intend to cut our rations. Smart farmers, those Democrats.