Government Shutdown 2013
The government has come to a halt
Letters to the Editor
Have them pass the continuing resolution, ending the government shutdown. Then raise the debt ceiling, so America can pay its bills. Then they should not take any break until they pass a budget.
Congress currently prefers the shutdown to a continuing resolution, since continuous operation without an approved budget is unacceptable. However, the shutdown is unlikely to produce an approved budget. Congress had all year to approve a budget.
On a Tuesday, Oct. 8, interview, Senator Risch implied that threat of a government shutdown or default produces budget cuts. However, these dramas have not produced an approved budget in years. Congress must work together until the job is done.
Risch said that his office only receives about 100 communications per day regarding the shutdown. In contrast, they can get over 1,000 communications per day over gun rights. It appears the shutdown is not important to us!
Risch said communications were two to one in favor of the shutdown. Thus, Congress may believe they are acting in accordance with our wishes.
Make your wishes known! It is easier than voting.
The government shutdown was an earful. Congress finally got around to employing the system of checks and balances that our Constitution provides by throwing the brakes on runaway government spending and, surprise, surprise, the stock market held firm and the Dow improved.
The article went on to threaten that soon a heavy increase in our already horrendous debt would take care of matters. The 800,000 basically superfluous government employees will be restored to their useless jobs with back pay returned.
This much-needed shutdown couldn’t have taken place without the support of responsible Democrats joining in the effort.
It’s time to avoid euphemisms like “debt ceiling” and “shutdown.” We should start calling a spade a spade by talking about out-of-control spending and the size of government. Bigger and bigger government we positively don’t need and shouldn’t have to pay for.
For the first time in 17 years, the federal government has been shut down. However, it didn’t have to come to this. The House of Representatives passed not one, not two, but three responsible, bipartisan bills that would have continued to fund the government, delay the Obamacare individual mandate for one year, and repeal the medical device tax.
This should have been a solution that could have found common ground between both sides and the government could have remained open for business.
Harry Reid just could not let that happen. Instead of coming to the negotiating table to talk out the differences, he refused to negotiate and in effect shut down the government. Where was President Obama during all of this? He was on the sideline encouraging Harry Reid and stating that he would not negotiate with Congress. He won’t negotiate with Congress, but yet he is more than eager to have a sit down, face-to-face meeting, with the new President of Iran. The liberals can talk about compromise all they want, but their actions speak louder than their words.
The only “good” news out of this is that many essential services will stay open. Social Security and unemployment checks will still go out. Medicaid and Medicare will remain operational; and thanks to House Republicans, the military personnel will still receive their paychecks. Dr. Bucshon has been fighting for fairness for all Hoosiers in the House and he has requested that his pay be withheld until the shutdown is over. The House did its job and worked through the weekend to try and avoid a government shutdown. It is time for the Senate to act.
Unsigned Articles
But a few minutes into his afternoon briefing and it was painfully clear that the president hadn’t budged from his position and, unfortunately, neither had Republican leaders.
So like a contentious divorce, American citizens find themselves much like the children caught in the middle emotionally and financially as both sides continue to bicker and blame one another with no productive talks on the horizon.
This is Day 9 of the shutdown. This stalemate is beyond embarassing on the world stage and should be infuriating at home.
The world is watching us as the clock ticks and the United States approaches the dangerous threshhold of potentially faltering on its financial obligations in just eight days if the debt ceiling is not raised. Moreover, the world is watching as our nation, the sole superpower, struggles to find the power to compromise on the fundamental issue of governance.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the partial government shutdown, now in its third workweek, is how stupendously counterproductive the whole exercise has been.
The temporary defunding of numerous federal agencies, which Senate negotiators were working to bring to an end, is not even saving money. This shutdown is costing the nation at least $160 million a day, according to the IHS Inc. market-research firm.
Most perversely, the House has already voted to provide back pay to roughly 800,000 “nonessential” federal workers who, through no fault of their own, were told to stay home starting Oct. 1. The Senate and President Barack Obama are expected to agree, which means the government would be paying people not to work.
Guest Colomnist
As we speak, the federal government is shut down for the first time since 1995. It doesn’t have to be this way and Congress could end it tomorrow. Furloughed workers could go back to work, parks would reopen, and new veterans’ benefits claims would be processed. If the House were allowed to vote on the Senate approved clean continuing resolution it would pass with bipartisan support and this irresponsible shutdown would be a thing of the past.
In San Diego County, more than 30,000 federal workers are being kept from their jobs, many in positions that support our military and help protect the country. The Miramar Air Show, a beloved annual event that can be heard and seen across area skies, was cancelled as a result of the shutdown. Cabrillo National Monument, and national parks across the state and country, has been shuttered. The American people have had enough.
When the current shutdown is combined with the harmful, across-the-board sequester cuts our region is hit doubly hard. Scientific research budgets have been slashed and Impact Aid to school districts near military bases has been severely reduced, resulting in larger class sizes for the children of our service members. These are exactly the places where we should be making long-term investments, not cuts.
The government has come to a halt. This has left nearly 800,000 government workers unemployed.
NASA has put 97 percent of their workforce on unpaid leave. Any “expendable” workers have been furloughed. It isn’t a lack of funding, it isn’t because they haven’t done their job well. This has happened because of a lack of compromise and a lack of respect for the democratic process.
When the National Health Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, it was hailed as the largest healthcare reform since Medicare and Medicaid, aiming to extend healthcare to every American.
The house passed the controversial bill by a vote of 220-215 and Obama signed it into law in March of 2010. The bill faced much opposition but was planned to go into effect. Knowing that they couldn’t stop the bill itself, House Speaker John Boehner organized the largest hostage situation known to the U.S government.
Republicans did this by refusing to pass the national budget until the funding for the health care reform was removed. A compromise was not reached, and now here we are with a shutdown government and everyone pointing fingers.
The government is not doing all it can to negotiate with itself. This kind of political move is just fundamentally wrong. The Republican party is using a cheap trick to advance their own political agenda. The National Health Care Act was a democratically passed and constitutional sound bill. And it hasn’t even paid off, 70 percent of a NBC-WSJ poll participants said that the Republicans are “putting their own political agenda ahead of what is best for the country.”