Archive: Opinions

One of President Trumps campaign bullet points was that he wanted to drain the swamp of Washington politics.  Presumably he meant that he would start at the top by putting a non-politician (himself) in the Oval Office.  Then it would be a matter of getting Congress and the Senate to stop being political so they could get the work of the country done.  Swell idea.  How come the government shut down for three days last weekend?

The whole United States shut down for three days, directly or indirectly hurting every single US citizen over a spat about what to do with people who aren't even legal citizens.  Our exalted elected officials decided it was worth hurting the country to give them extra time to argue over something that could easily have been argued over after passing a budget.  Just because you put something in the budget doesn't mean you have to spend it.

The snafu was over an argument about what to do with immigrants who were brought to the US when they were children.  The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program allows some of these children to stay here legally if they are in school, have completed high school or earned a GED, or have completed US military service.  Called 'Dreamers', these people have lived here for most of their lives and could be faced with deportation if Trump gets his way.  They are called 'Dreamers' after the failed bipartisan Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) act from the George W. Bush era.

So the government was unfunded for three days because politicians and the head non-politician felt they needed to be political.

Part of the deal that ended last weekend's shutdown was that Senator Mitch McConnell would bring it to a vote shortly.  But the President sent out mixed signals, and McConnell said he was confused about what Trump wants.  Even so, one has to wonder, if they can vote on it shortly, why they couldn't vote on it after the budget was passed before last weekend. 

Meanwhile government workers didn't know, last weekend, whether they would be allowed to work and get paid.  Military service people didn't know if they would get paid, though they were required to work.  Social Security recipients worried they wouldn't get their checks.

All US Government Shutdowns *
Year		Duration		President		Issue
1976		10 days		Gerald Ford		HEW Funding
1977		12 days		Jimmy Carter		Abortion
1977		8 days		Jimmy Carter		Abortion
1977		8 days		Jimmy Carter		Abortion
1977		18 days		Jimmy Carter		Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier Funding
1977		11 days		Jimmy Carter		Higher Pay, Abortion
1981		2 days		Ronald Regan		Budget Cuts
1982		1 day		Ronald Regan		Congress was just late
1982		3 days		Ronald Regan		Job Creation Funding
1983		3 days		Ronald Regan		Education Spending, Foreign Aid
1984		2 days		Ronald Regan		Links to Non-Budget Issues
1984		1 day		Ronald Regan		Extension expired
1986		1 day		Ronald Regan		Welfare Expansion
1987		1 day		Ronald Regan		Nicaraguan Contra Funding
1990		3 days		George H.W. Bush		No Deficit Reduction Plan
1995		5 days		Bill Clinton		Raising Medicare Premiums
1995-96		21 days		Bill Clinton		No 7-Year Budget Plan
2013		16 days		Barack Obama		Continuing Appropriations Act
2018		3 days		Donald Trump		DACA Funding
* Source: Washington Post

In 2013 Trump infamously criticized President Obama over a government shutdown, "Problems start from the top and have to get solved from the top, and the president’s the leader, and he’s got to get everybody in a room, and he’s got to lead. And he doesn’t do that. In 25 years and 50 years and 100 years from now, when the government—they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States. Who was the president at that time? They’re not going to be talking who the head of the House was, the head of the Senate."

He wasn't wrong about leadership, but there is certainly enough (lack of taking) responsibility to go around inside that building with the dome on top.  Theoretically there are leaders there, too.  Are political parties more important than the country?  Evidently so.

Shutting down the federal government is pretty extreme.  It has real consequences, and real impact on real people.  The act of shutting down the government makes one wonder whether our elected officials are actually real people.  If they were, they wouldn't shut it down.  A large part of their job is passing budgets once a year so the government can govern.

It shouldn't be so hard.  They have passed budgets before.  They know how to do it.  Not doing it is a willful act taken in the full knowledge that it tangibly hurts their constituents.  I'm going to take a leap and say that's not what we elected them for.  Someone should tell them.

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