How did we get to this?
It is the responsibility of the House, Senate, and President to pass and sign a budget resolution before the government fiscal year begins. The Congressional Budget Act set the deadline to complete action on the FY11 budget as April 15, 2010 ; however, the House and Senate, led by Democratic majorities, failed to offer a proposal.
If the House passed a budget, what’s the problem?
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, invoked a procedural motion called cloture, which requires 60% approval to bring a measure up for a vote. The Democrat Majority will not allow the House budget to come for a full vote. Instead, they’ve continued issuing and passing the short term funding resolutions while going before the media talking about a government shutdown. For more than six weeks the Senate has not voted on a budget bill that includes all government funding for all federal programs, agencies, and employees, including our military. More than halfway into the current fiscal year, we still do not have a formal, official, budget.
All Talk, No Action
With the last short term funding measure about to expire Friday evening, we’re exposed to government grandstanding and posturing at its best. After Tuesday’s meeting at the White House, President Obama called out the Republicans to compromise. For all of the Democratic posturing in the media about how Republicans can’t have it all, they are brushing aside the fact that H.R. 1 represents compromise. In fact, at Tuesday’s meeting, Boehner actually offered another concession to reach middle ground with Sen. Reid, only to be rejected.
Ideology trumps Fiscal Responsibility
Meanwhile, President Obama is on record saying he won’t sign any budget agreement that cuts funding for Planned Parenthood or National Public Radio, two organizations whose missions have outgrown their need for federal support. By saying this, the President places his own ideology ahead of the good of the country, ahead of government employees, and even ahead of our military – who are currently fighting in not two, but three countries. Instead of working on the budget, yesterday the President left Washington to begin is 2012 reelection campaign.