Congressional Budget Crisis
When considering the looming Federal budget crisis and the potential for a government shutdown tonight—such would not have occurred before the rise of the Freshman class of Republicans, many of whom have Tea Party ties and ran—and won—on the basis of opposing the expansion of government.
While the shutdown sounds like a political doomsday, the truth is that many Americans will not personally feel its effects. Millions, however, will, including Federal employees, including service men and women fighting for our freedom abroad and at home.
The economic balance in areas in which federal employees comprise a significant portion of the citizenry could be tipped as families face the prospect of being unable to pay bills—not to mention having no discretionary income from which to purchase other goods and services.
This still has not prevented Freshman Tea Party members from openly engaging moderates within their own party and Democrats for their seeming unwillingness to cut deeper than the 33 billion dollars in cuts proposed by lead Republican negotiator and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
The numerical distance stands at about 28 billion dollars— as Tea Party caucus members continue to clamor for at least 61 Billion in cuts.
The ideological gulf has been hard to bridge, too, as “riders” or attachments to the appropriations bill would kill funding for Planned Parenthood and defund the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.”
Public rhetoric has increasingly become more heated, including a request from President Obama that Republicans “act like adults” with respect to budget negotiations. Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) countered the president, saying “I don’t know where you grew up, but where I grew up, in my neighborhood, the adults did not spend 42 percent more than they took in every year.”
While there remains the possibility that a last minute accord may be reached, the fact remains that this political poker game is high stakes for both sides. Should a shutdown ensue and the majority of Americans determine that their lives have not been significantly altered, such would provide an ideological victory for Republicans who have insisted for decades that America can survive with less government.
Should the opposite occur, and the majority of the people decide that essential functions and the economic impact of families is too great, then Republicans may regret the line in the sand as it currently is drawn.
