The stupid party strikes again!
By Dr. Harold A. Black
blackh@knoxfocus.com
haroldblackphd.com
The Democrats govern by raising taxes and increasing handouts. How do the Republicans govern? The answer is very badly. The Republicans are in the majority in the House of Representatives and all spending bills originate in the House. So why has spending increased to where this year’s deficit is an astounding $2 trillion? It’s simply because Republicans are incapable of getting their act (and it is an act) together. Speaker Mike Johnson has a better chance of herding cats than getting the dysfunctional Republicans to act in concert. Consider the annual kabuki dance known as the budget. Since the Republicans have neglected to pass the 12 spending bills before the September 30 deadline, Johnson introduced legislation for a continuing resolution (CR) to continue funding the government. Mind you, the Republicans have had all year to pass those spending bills. Johnson’s continuing resolution would have kept government spending at its current levels for six months and included Chip Roy’s SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections which is already illegal, because it was clear that many Republicans were not going to vote for the continuing resolution without the SAVE Act attachment so Johnson included it.
Understand that with the addition of the SAVE Act, the Democrats were going to vote against the continuing resolution. It might have passed the House but Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate would have defeated the bill. Anyway our president in absentia said that he would veto it in the unlikely instance that it reached his desk. I guess he would have come back to D.C. from the beach. Without passage of the continuing resolution, the government would go through another semi-shutdown. Only this time, the Democrats would be blamed if the CR had passed the House. So did the House Republicans pass the CR? No. Johnson was forced to withdraw the bill because over a dozen Republicans including our own Tim Burchett said that they would vote against it. Burchett is against CRs, period, saying that it is “terrible legislating.” Indeed it is but in today’s House, what is a better alternative? Perhaps our congressman can tell us how his better legislating can pass a budget. Some Republicans were against the CR because it continues funding at the current level of spending, prompting one dissident to say, “We have been in the majority for this term and have not cut a cent.” Again, indeed but how do you cut a cent with the Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House? Others were against the bill because of its six-month timetable. The hawks moaned that the six-month CR would limit increases in military when additional spending is necessary to combat all the threats in today’s world. The Pentagon agreed as did many prominent Senate Republicans. Thus you have Republicans who won’t vote for the CR because it does not contain additional spending, albeit for the military, versus Republicans who want to cut the budget. Did I mention herding cats?
Also Johnson favors a six-month CR that would have put the budget decisions in the hands of a new Congress with perhaps majorities in both the House and the Senate and a Republican president. A three-month CR would have left spending with this Congress that would not have approved any budget anyway.
Mind you there is an election in November. If the Republicans cannot pass either a budget (which is impossible) or a CR (which seems equally impossible), the blame for a government shutdown will be squarely on their shoulders. Tim Burchett is in a safe district but Republicans who are in competitive races may face angry voters. If the Republicans can’t get their stuff together when they are in the majority then why send them back to Washington? The only reason to vote for a Republican is the specter of Democrat majorities in the House and the Senate along with a President Harris.
