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It’s that time of year again. Time when the questions persist about whether the government will keep running, or part of it will shut down because our elected representatives cannot do their job.
And let’s be clear, the government hasn’t done its job for a while. I mean, getting a budget, working out how to spend the money that it receives, and doing so in a way that puts us in a strong position should be the most important thing our government does. Instead, our representatives play games with the money they have, using pressure tactics like government shutdowns to force people to vote for things that they would not otherwise support. It’s a pure negotiating tactic, and we do it over and over again– manufacturing angst to put pressure on politicians instead of working for areas of agreement.
This year, the focus is on Speaker McCarthy, who secured his spot at the top of the House by promising things to conservatives in the House because of his razor-thin margin of votes– and the fact that we don’t try to find things that would be supported by all of America’s representatives, but just the ones that are on our team.
Now, as a member of a team, I firmly believe that my team’s plans would be better. But let’s be honest, in a deliberative body, wouldn’t it be better if we got more than the slim majority on things? This is why I support doing appropriations bills one at a time. Let’s let our representatives go at it to decide whether we send money to Ukraine, whether we fund the different pork items, and how much we send to the states– individually.
The House seems like it’s trying to go back to normal order, but I doubt it succeeds:
On the House side, McCarthy was able to get passage on the rules for four of the 12 appropriations bills that would need to be passed in order to fund the government fully. So far, that’s all they’ve been able to do. … but there is little chance he will get the government funded with just one-third of the appropriations bills and the Democrats in control of the Senate (with a lot of Republican support). Likewise, it seems like there is very little chance McCarthy can get away with bringing the Senate’s CR to the floor, where it would likely pass with every Democrat on board and a handful of moderates joining them.
The Cheese Stands Alone
McCarthy has told the Senate that no bill or CR that supports Ukraine and not the border is dead in the House, and he seems to be keeping support going because of regular order. This will force the Senate to have to work with the House if McCarthy can get all 12 appropriation bills through. Time’s ticking– they only have until the end of the week.
