Neither Party Cares About Debt

The federal government operates under a fiscal year which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Budgeting is supposed to be an orderly process, which runs through 12 appropriations subcommittees in the House in public hearings. Under the leadership of both parties, the process has been thrown into chaos during the past decade.
Rather than passing spending bills in the appropriations subcommittees and then having them passed in the House and Senate and submitted to the President before Sept. 30, Congress has passed temporary “continuing resolutions” to follow the previous year’s budget. Then weeks after the end of the fiscal year, members are asked to vote on an “omnibus” spending bill covering everything except national defense and entitlement programs.
House members were given the details of the spending bill on a Tues. morning and asked to vote on the 2009-page plan on Fri. without debate or the opportunity to propose amendments. That is not how Congress is supposed to operate. A handful of Congressional leaders get to determine what is in the budget, while most members have no input.
The $1.15 Trillion spending plan included $3 Billion in “green energy” grants to 3rd World countries and $1.6 Billion to relocate illegal aliens. It also fully funded unpopular programs such as refugee resettlements, Planned Parenthood, and Executive Amnesty for certain categories of illegal aliens. It authorized the issuance of 250,000 visas for low-skilled foreign workers at a time when 94 million Americans from ages 16-64 are out of the workforce.
Charleston area resident and former Democrat pollster Pat Caddell described the budget as “one of the greatest giveaways to special interests ever devised.” Congressman Mark Sanford was among the 95 Republicans who voted against the budget, noting that it would increase the fiscal year 2016 budget deficit by $50 Billion. Rep. Sanford issued the following statement: “I think the American taxpayer is losing, and accordingly, I will vote against the bill.”
The Republican leadership apparently facilitated the spending increases because it feared a veto by President Obama and subsequent government “shutdown”. This last occurred at after a budget impasse in Oct. 2013. During the “shutdown”, Social Security checks continued to go out, military operations carried on as usual, and all federal workers needed for health and safety maintained their normal work schedules.
During the 2013 “shutdown”, federal employees classified as non-essential were placed on furlough. The federal Dept. of Education, the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency all had more than 90% of their employees classified as non-essential. Somehow, we managed to function for weeks without them.
Republican leaders fear being blamed by the media for a future “shutdown” as they were in 2013, so they won’t challenge any of President Obama’s spending priorities. What people remember the most about the 2013 “shutdown” was Veterans being barricaded out of the World War II memorial. What happened to the Republicans in the 2014 elections? They picked up 10 Senate seats, attained the largest number of House seats since 1928 and took over several state legislatures.
Republican leadership should care more about being held in low esteem by the party’s rank-and-file members. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh notes that Republican voters don’t understand why the Obama agenda is not being challenged. He said, “It seems as though Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is still running the House and Harry Reid (D-NV) is still running the Senate.”
Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is taking aim at the GOP Congressional leadership. He said, “There was no negotiation whatsoever. The budget process is a total disaster!”
Members of both parties need to be very concerned about continuing to take on more debt. The national debt currently stands at close to $19 Trillion and is projected to increase by $5 Trillion in the next 10 years. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation projects that America will pay more than $5 Trillion in interest on our debt during the next 10 years.
More people are coming to the conclusion that a Balanced Budget Amendment to our Constitution is needed to constrain Congressional spending. A constitutional amendment may be proposed by 34 state legislatures, and the Balanced Budget Amendment has been called for by 27 states so far (but not in South Carolina). I encourage you to learn more about the process at BBA4USA.org.
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.