Christian Debt Recovery

Debt Ceiling Debate Cnn

July 23rd, 2009 |

Author: Gavin

What a mess!

As I watched television the night the government almost shut down, there was one recurring theme being pounded all over the airwaves—that the stalemate over the budget was the fault of the Democrats because they had failed to pass the budget prior to the mid-term elections when they owned the majority in both Houses of Congress AND the White House. Given the frequency with which it was raised, an examination of what actually happened is required.

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford once said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” (no it was not Shakespeare) and I think she was absolutely right. Another similar truism is that history is in the mind of the beholder. Much of how we feel about a certain issue today is governed by our particular sense of the history behind that issue. So, let’s take a little stroll down memory lane together and see if our collective minds are in sync.

As most people hopefully recognize, the recent budget fight has to do with the current fiscal year. Historically, the funding that keeps the federal government operating would have been worked out months ago and the Congress would now be preparing itself for a debate focused on next year’s funding (it seems the only person in Congress focused on next year right now is Paul Ryan). But the 111th Congress failed to do its job and so it fell to the 112th Congress, which already is showing similar symptoms of legislative fatigue and is not doing a great job of accomplishing anything either.

So, most Republicans and no small amount of Independents are making the argument that Democrats are somehow to blame for the almost-shutdown of the federal government because when they were in charge prior to the 2010 mid-term elections, they failed to complete and pass a budget. Even a Democratic politician or two voiced this sentiment such as when Representative Norm Dicks (D-Wash) said that Democrats bear “some responsibility” for the budget mess because his party failed to get the job done.

ABC’s Jake Tapper and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer have been making this same point—over and over and over. Mr. Tapper said (paraphrasing here) that it was remarkable to hear Democrats slam the GOP for not passing last year’s budget when Democrats ruled the roost…

Conservatives have voiced this same sentiment, so much so that it is easy to slip into a fog and think that it is an accurate portrayal of what happened. While I believe that the Democrats failed miserably during the first two years of the Obama administration, I think people who truly believe it is all the fault of the Democrats are actually getting confused about the difference between a budget resolution and appropriations bills. The reality, as it is in most cases like this, is that there truly is enough blame for everyone.

To begin with, because the Democratic Party was suffering from an anticipated sense of doom due to the mid-term elections and their own intra-party fights, Congressional Democrats chose to avoid a fight over spending by not governing. Also, somewhere in those little brains must have been the sense that delaying any debate regarding spending would keep them from ultimately being beaten in the mid-terms. Funny how that turned out isn’t it. Obviously that strategy failed miserably.

Then, there were the events of February of this year. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan called for $32 billion in budget cuts for the rest of this fiscal year. The Democrats took this proposal seriously and also thought that because Ryan was so respected in the GOP that the number was a real one.

So, the Democrats gave in without so much as a whimper and gave the Republicans $33 billion in cuts. One would have thought at that point the GOP would raise the flag and declare victory. However that did not happen. Instead, because of strong pressure from the right wing of the Republican Party which is now bolstered by first year Tea Party legislators, both Ryan and House Speaker John Boehner went back on their word and instead demanded more cuts. The Democrats, bloodied by this whole turn of events fought back and said “No.”

The real kicker is that the Republicans didn’t just ask for more cuts, they also wanted to de-fund the National Organization of Women who receives federal monies to provide healthcare to large groups of women around the country and to basically take all authority from the Environmental Protection Agency in the name of good business legislation.

Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson put it this way: “The less-than-serious faction of the Republican Party is intent on squeezing more savings out of the 2011 budget or pursuing a government shutdown as an end in itself. Some of this bloc is composed of House freshmen, who share the unrealistic expectations of the Tea Party base — the undoing of modern government by one-half of one branch of that government. Others are more senior members of the Republican caucus — representatives such as Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann — who seek to raise their profiles by establishing themselves as rebel leaders.”

In the end, the Democrats made all kinds of concessions and the Republicans, despite their grandstanding and huffing and puffing got a pretty sweet deal. Even the White House has jumped on the concession bandwagon endorsing spending cuts in excess of what House GOP members even requested back in February.

For those of you who like watching car wrecks on the side of the road, good news—the 2012 budget battle and the war over raising the United States debt ceiling are right around the corner.

About the Author

I am a 62 year old married father and grandfather who lives in Wilmington, Delaware. As I approach the home stretch of life, I feel that myriad experiences I have had provides me with the perspective of one who has been there. This does not mean that I think I know it all. I eagerly look forward to learning something new each day, but more than six decades of life has taught me to share what I know, think and feel with others.