Let’s be completely candid here. The extreme dysfunction of the Republican House has brought us to this point. Because there are so many bomb throwers in their caucus, who don’t have any interest in governing and exist solely to get clicks which lead to donations, the caucus can’t reach agreement on priorities. The bomb throwers use the threat of shutting down the government like a Sword of Damocles if they don’t get everything they want. Thus, the continuing resolution is the only vehicle that can squeak through
This is more than a Republican problem. Congress very rarely ever passes appropriation bills on time. We have been living in CR land for a long time, waiting for the wizard to send us back home.
Republican voters with a severe lack of cognitive abilities continue to elect Republican House Reps who’s stated goal is to ensure the government does not function. That’s the other reason.
Perhaps this is the real answer as to why only a third of voting Americans elected a convicted felon with sanity issues to be President, a third did not and a third did not care. lol
“Bad for America” does not figure into the calculation. When you’re busy appeasing a pathetic old man who just got elected President, and you’ve got trans people to trash and SUV -sized drones attacking eastern cities.who has time to run a government? Mike Johnson is a weak and pusillanimous “leader” who couldn’t lead Congress down the street(and who wouldn’t unless he received some marching orders from Trump)much less lead them to governing.
Democrats should not rescue the Republicans anymore when it comes to funding the government. Let Republicans shut the government down as all their clown factions squabble. Then make them own it. For the next four years, this has to be an overriding theme: let the people get what they voted for.
I agree this is a bipartisan problem. The scary thing is neither party wants to admit there is a fiscal crisis ahead and we need to deal with it. It's not hard to find politicians, especially some Republicans, Chip Roy for one, who will talk about fiscal restraint, but when it comes to, actually dealing with it, nobody is willing to pick up the ball. This is because mitigating the challenge will be painful to ordinary Americans. Is this an inherent drawback of democracy? Politicians cannot tell people things they don't wanna hear?
I really like this post by Chris and this response sort of nails it Dan.
It's a bipartisan issue bc it's easy to talk tough on the campaign trail but when it comes down to making difficult decisions that could be painful to your constituents and possibly cause you to lose your seat and thus your proximity to power/wealth/fame - turns out nobody has the courage to make that fatefule vote.
Term limits. Only until these cats can't make a career out of governing will the difficult decisions be made. Until then.....This is US.
Only real way is through a Constitutional Amendment. Though, the esteemed Clarence Thomas(HA), dissented in one major case by saying the Constitution is silent on the issue of whether or not the states can set their own qualifications for Reps and Senators. And where there is silence, there is room for interpretation.
But basically, it would take a whole lot of political will and capital spent to get this done. 2/3 majority in both houses. 3/4 of state legislatures or state conventions approval. Basically a non-starter in every sense.
That does seem highly unlikely, but you do hear this idea coming from the L and the R. Could there be a populist, centrist Presidential candidate in 2028? Think of an articulate, charismatic Michael Bloomberg.
This is a good reminder that before the difficult-to-process garish awfulness of the Trump era, our government was awful in a much more boring hide-in-plain-sight kind of way.
Welcome to GOP controlled House of Reps. This past Congress has been one of the least productive in history. We got at least 2 more years of it coming.
I think the major issue is…what ARE we buying? Continuing resolutions to continue funding a government that fails to find resolutions to the problems of the country only continues to buy us further inefficiency and waste. Is there any way out of this mess? I guess our incoming president will simplify things by declaring 100 percent of what we mere citizens have belongs to the government (him), and we can have what’s left over.
This has been a long running problem. No politician wants to budget because then pet projects and items that get them re-elected have to be justified. Who the Hell wants that? Certainly not today's politicians. Today's politicians want the easy life.
It's not by accident. It's quite deliberate. This approach facilitates the avoidance of public debate in a timely manner, and it averts proper oversight of the public fisc. Like so many other things, it is a creature of planned artificial urgency.
Congress likes to cheat on its fiscal diets, on its claims of fiscal prudence.
No Chris....saying that "This is a bipartisan problem." misstates the facts and reality.
It's more like 80% Republican and 20% Democratic "fault".
Newt (with media support from Rush Limbaugh and a plethora of radical right wing talk radio blowhards) decided in the '90's to start holding the budget hostage...and then the debt limit to their hard right demands.
Using the debt limit as a HOSTAGE was and still is a nihilist debacle of the nth degree that embodies today's GOP's complete DISDAIN for acting in good faith of governing in a responsible manner.
Additionally, the size of the debt is mostly because of the GOP's insane, constant, counterproductive TAX CUTTING Shibboleth, mainly for the filthy rich and big corporations.
That zeal has only starved the government of revenue (despite the GOP's lying that they would pay for themselves ROFL !!!), moving toward the notorious anti-tax shithead Grover Norquist's 2001 lunatic quote "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size we can drown it in the bathtub".
Of course, the GOP has NEVER even TRIED to "shrink down the government" BUT, they did dishonestly use the "let's starve the government" of taxes and the "shrinking" (cutting spending that NEVER comes) will come later (which is impossible without severe cuts to Social Security and Medicare that are STILL the "third rail" of politics) which DIRECTLY led to today's massive debt.
Don't EVER forget that we had a BALANCED BUDGET at the end of Bill Clinton's term, and G.W. Bush and the GOP quickly squandered those surpluses into DEFICITS with HUGE tax cuts, mostly for the rich, and massive spending for the boneheaded wars in Afghanistan and then LYING his way into an even stupider war in Iraq.
Agree with this 100%! This is no way to run a government. CR’s have become so normalized that it rarely draws any attention, and that’s not good. Deficit spending is out of control. Both parties are guilty of putting their own ambitions ahead of the American people. One or more future generations are going to pay the price for all of the reckless spending.
Is there actually anyone who truly cares about the national debt?
It seems that the only people who "care" are those in the party out of power. Then it's a really big deal. After they regain the majority, they're happy to run the debt up again.
We are never going to pay off the national debt. Serious people should stop talking about how to do it.
Totally agree! This is one more example of Congress’ abdication of its core responsibilities like not only reviewing and passing a budget on a timely basis so people can read it and have input into it. But there are many other examples of Congress abdication, not the least of which is declarations of war. No more of these presidential fiat wars! Look where that practice has gotten us since the 1960s (for the most part)- no where but deceit, defeat, anger, and discouragement as a nation. This Congressional responsibility abdication has led us, imo, to where we are today- “ripe for the picking” by a populist oligarch who tells us “I alone can fix it”. And a majority of Americans believe him.
Let’s be completely candid here. The extreme dysfunction of the Republican House has brought us to this point. Because there are so many bomb throwers in their caucus, who don’t have any interest in governing and exist solely to get clicks which lead to donations, the caucus can’t reach agreement on priorities. The bomb throwers use the threat of shutting down the government like a Sword of Damocles if they don’t get everything they want. Thus, the continuing resolution is the only vehicle that can squeak through
This is more than a Republican problem. Congress very rarely ever passes appropriation bills on time. We have been living in CR land for a long time, waiting for the wizard to send us back home.
Republican voters with a severe lack of cognitive abilities continue to elect Republican House Reps who’s stated goal is to ensure the government does not function. That’s the other reason.
Perhaps this is the real answer as to why only a third of voting Americans elected a convicted felon with sanity issues to be President, a third did not and a third did not care. lol
Perfectly said!
“Bad for America” does not figure into the calculation. When you’re busy appeasing a pathetic old man who just got elected President, and you’ve got trans people to trash and SUV -sized drones attacking eastern cities.who has time to run a government? Mike Johnson is a weak and pusillanimous “leader” who couldn’t lead Congress down the street(and who wouldn’t unless he received some marching orders from Trump)much less lead them to governing.
Democrats should not rescue the Republicans anymore when it comes to funding the government. Let Republicans shut the government down as all their clown factions squabble. Then make them own it. For the next four years, this has to be an overriding theme: let the people get what they voted for.
I agree this is a bipartisan problem. The scary thing is neither party wants to admit there is a fiscal crisis ahead and we need to deal with it. It's not hard to find politicians, especially some Republicans, Chip Roy for one, who will talk about fiscal restraint, but when it comes to, actually dealing with it, nobody is willing to pick up the ball. This is because mitigating the challenge will be painful to ordinary Americans. Is this an inherent drawback of democracy? Politicians cannot tell people things they don't wanna hear?
I really like this post by Chris and this response sort of nails it Dan.
It's a bipartisan issue bc it's easy to talk tough on the campaign trail but when it comes down to making difficult decisions that could be painful to your constituents and possibly cause you to lose your seat and thus your proximity to power/wealth/fame - turns out nobody has the courage to make that fatefule vote.
Term limits. Only until these cats can't make a career out of governing will the difficult decisions be made. Until then.....This is US.
I'm starting to warm up to the idea of term limits.
What would it take to impose term limits on members of the US House?
Only real way is through a Constitutional Amendment. Though, the esteemed Clarence Thomas(HA), dissented in one major case by saying the Constitution is silent on the issue of whether or not the states can set their own qualifications for Reps and Senators. And where there is silence, there is room for interpretation.
But basically, it would take a whole lot of political will and capital spent to get this done. 2/3 majority in both houses. 3/4 of state legislatures or state conventions approval. Basically a non-starter in every sense.
That does seem highly unlikely, but you do hear this idea coming from the L and the R. Could there be a populist, centrist Presidential candidate in 2028? Think of an articulate, charismatic Michael Bloomberg.
This is a good reminder that before the difficult-to-process garish awfulness of the Trump era, our government was awful in a much more boring hide-in-plain-sight kind of way.
Congress doesn't do its job - this is more entertaining as Schoolhouse Rock
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/congress-has-long-struggled-to-pass-spending-bills-on-time/
Welcome to GOP controlled House of Reps. This past Congress has been one of the least productive in history. We got at least 2 more years of it coming.
I think the major issue is…what ARE we buying? Continuing resolutions to continue funding a government that fails to find resolutions to the problems of the country only continues to buy us further inefficiency and waste. Is there any way out of this mess? I guess our incoming president will simplify things by declaring 100 percent of what we mere citizens have belongs to the government (him), and we can have what’s left over.
Budget? Who needs a budget? 🤦♂️😞
This has been a long running problem. No politician wants to budget because then pet projects and items that get them re-elected have to be justified. Who the Hell wants that? Certainly not today's politicians. Today's politicians want the easy life.
Hear, Hear!!!
It's not by accident. It's quite deliberate. This approach facilitates the avoidance of public debate in a timely manner, and it averts proper oversight of the public fisc. Like so many other things, it is a creature of planned artificial urgency.
Congress likes to cheat on its fiscal diets, on its claims of fiscal prudence.
No Chris....saying that "This is a bipartisan problem." misstates the facts and reality.
It's more like 80% Republican and 20% Democratic "fault".
Newt (with media support from Rush Limbaugh and a plethora of radical right wing talk radio blowhards) decided in the '90's to start holding the budget hostage...and then the debt limit to their hard right demands.
Using the debt limit as a HOSTAGE was and still is a nihilist debacle of the nth degree that embodies today's GOP's complete DISDAIN for acting in good faith of governing in a responsible manner.
Additionally, the size of the debt is mostly because of the GOP's insane, constant, counterproductive TAX CUTTING Shibboleth, mainly for the filthy rich and big corporations.
That zeal has only starved the government of revenue (despite the GOP's lying that they would pay for themselves ROFL !!!), moving toward the notorious anti-tax shithead Grover Norquist's 2001 lunatic quote "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size we can drown it in the bathtub".
Of course, the GOP has NEVER even TRIED to "shrink down the government" BUT, they did dishonestly use the "let's starve the government" of taxes and the "shrinking" (cutting spending that NEVER comes) will come later (which is impossible without severe cuts to Social Security and Medicare that are STILL the "third rail" of politics) which DIRECTLY led to today's massive debt.
Don't EVER forget that we had a BALANCED BUDGET at the end of Bill Clinton's term, and G.W. Bush and the GOP quickly squandered those surpluses into DEFICITS with HUGE tax cuts, mostly for the rich, and massive spending for the boneheaded wars in Afghanistan and then LYING his way into an even stupider war in Iraq.
Agree with this 100%! This is no way to run a government. CR’s have become so normalized that it rarely draws any attention, and that’s not good. Deficit spending is out of control. Both parties are guilty of putting their own ambitions ahead of the American people. One or more future generations are going to pay the price for all of the reckless spending.
Is there actually anyone who truly cares about the national debt?
It seems that the only people who "care" are those in the party out of power. Then it's a really big deal. After they regain the majority, they're happy to run the debt up again.
We are never going to pay off the national debt. Serious people should stop talking about how to do it.
Totally agree! This is one more example of Congress’ abdication of its core responsibilities like not only reviewing and passing a budget on a timely basis so people can read it and have input into it. But there are many other examples of Congress abdication, not the least of which is declarations of war. No more of these presidential fiat wars! Look where that practice has gotten us since the 1960s (for the most part)- no where but deceit, defeat, anger, and discouragement as a nation. This Congressional responsibility abdication has led us, imo, to where we are today- “ripe for the picking” by a populist oligarch who tells us “I alone can fix it”. And a majority of Americans believe him.
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