Democrats, Spending and Shutting Down the Government: Democrat Responsibility, Despite CNN and Gloria Borger Big Lie

Say there are a thousand separate spending bills in Congress funding various aspects of the Federal Government, as there should be (or at least separate bills numbering in the tens). Say none of those bills includes funding for Planned Parenthood with taxpayer money (as should be the case). Who is shutting down the government by refusing to pass ANY of the spending bills unless funding for Planned Parenthood is included in ONE of them? In other words, if Harry Reid and the Senate, or Barack Obama, refuse to accept ANY spending bill which does not contain funding for Planned Parenthood, THEY are the ones shutting down the government--using any system of logical thought.

Let us take another example. Assume that Barack Obama and Harry Reid had let the Republicans know that some of them had better support a Reid/Obama health care bill or Reid and Obama would make sure that no spending was approved by the Federal Government. (I know that this particular tactic was not used, although tactics just as bad were used to ram that bill through, but this is a hypothetical.) Who is then shutting down the government? Obviously, it would be Harry Reid and Barack Obama, and even CNN and Gloria Borger (liars that they are) would probably see that.

Yet, that is the exact situation now before Congress, and the liars in the mainstream media--such as Gloria Borger and CNN--are setting up a storyline that it is REPUBLICANS who are "threatening" to shut down the government. That is simply a lie. Republicans in the House--where all spending bills are supposed to originate--have passed a spending bill to keep funding the government. Harry Reid, Democrats in the Senate, and Barack Obama object to the House leaving out items of spending that Obama and Reid want the Federal Government to spend. In other words, Reid and Obama are using blackmail and extortion (similar to what was used to get ObamaCare passed, although a different kind of blackmail and extortion)--holding other government spending hostage in order to get spending that they could not get passed on a direct vote on that spending. The only reason CNN and Gloria Borger can even LIE about this situation--creating a storyline where it is Republicans threatening to "shut down" the government--is that Congress is not properly doing its job, and has not for a long time. Yes, that is another part of the Big Lie participated in by CNN and Gloria Borger (and the whole mainstream media, including Fox News): the failure to hold Congress accountable for the DECEPTIONS that have perverted our system.

Why are we in a situation that the fate of one bill can "shut down" the government? Again, it is because Congress--in this case, Democrats, although Republicans have connived in this situation in the past--is passing spending bills in a totally corrupt and illegitimate way. What Democrats want to do now is fund almost the entire government for the entire year by means of ONE BILL: a Continuing Resolution to fund the government at last year's levels. We are only in this situation because Democrats (another reason they are responsible for any government shut down) decided last year (when they controlled Congress) to neither pass a budget NOR pass essentially any spending bills. In other words, Democrats in Congress--as Republicans have done before them--completely abrogated their Constitutional responsibility to vote directly on what money we spend, and how it is spent. Instead, Congress has tried to fund the government for an entire year by simply refusing to make any decisions on spending. That failure to exercise their Constitutional responsibility is--or certainly should be--ILLEGAL. Democrats did this for political reasons. They did not want to pass any budget or spending bills last year, because of the election. They then tried to ram an "omnibus spending bill" (one bill again) through Congress in the infamous "lame duck" session. Because they overreached, and further because they tried to ram so much through in that lame duck session, Democrats failed, and we ended up with a Continuing Resolution (the same as before the election) to continue the DEFAULT (no direct vote) spending at the same level as last year. That resolution expires on March 4, but Democrats now want to "run out the clock" and continue that same resolution for the rest of the year (meaning we would have gone a full year with NO actual Congressional vote on what we should spend). This incredible, unconstitutional abrogation of the responsibility of Congress is a repeat--somewhat in reverse, but the same abrogation of responsibility--of the tactic the Democrats used the previous year (when Bush was still President). Democrats--who controlled Congress--again passed only ONE bill to fund most of the government, but they did that for only six months (expecting to win the Presidency in November of 2008, as they did)--avoiding any minor limitations a wimpy President Bush would have imposed on their spending for the full fiscal year. Then the NEW Democratic Congress (controlling Congress, as the old one did, and Democrats have done since January of 2007), with Barack Obama now President, passed a massive omnibus spending bill for the final six months or so of the previous fiscal year. Democrats added hundreds of billions of dollars in spending in that bill, which has not prevented a truly despicable Nancy Pelosi from claiming that the deficit has always been their priority.

You should be able to see the problem here. The problem is that Congress is deliberately not doing its job--with the situation getting worse under Democrats. Congress--every year--is supposed to pass a budget, and then vote on specific spending according to that budget. Instead, for political reasons and reasons of deception, Congress is hiding all of its sins--unreported by Gloria Borger and CNN--in massive "omnibus" spending bills and massive "continuing resolutions".

How should it work? Oh, you know that. So does Congress. First, Congress should pass a budget. But even that is only the first step. Congress should pass defined spending bills, without junk being added to every bill in order to get the junk passed by maneuver and deception--specific spending bills passed in a TIMELY manner before the fiscal year begins. If Congress does not do this, you should vote against anyone in Congress participating in the deception as a matter of course. In recent years, that means you should vote against all Democrats for that reason alone. And if the government is "shut down" because of this failure of Congress to adequately do its job, that merely confirms that you should vote against those who put us in this situation. We should not be in a position where we have a deadline to pass one, massive bill or the entire government shuts down. And--contrary to CNN, The Liar Network, and Gloria Borger--the blame for the present situation belongs with the Democrats (who controlled Congress when this situation was created, and deliberately created it).

Putting all spending in a massive basket actually makes it impossible to control spending. Yes, I am saying that no money should be spent for Planned Parenthood--no taxpayer money--unless Congress VOTES to spend that money. And members of Congress should not be blackmailed into voting to spend money based on a threat to shut down the entire government. As stated, this would be obvious if the spending for Planned Parenthood were in a "stand alone" bill. It is only by putting all of this spending in one bill that it becomes possible to try to sell an Orwellian Big Lie that it is members of the House who are properly deciding what spending they will approve who are "shutting down" the government. The opposite is the case. Those people are being blackmailed to shirk their Constitutional responsibility to authorize only spending which the House chooses to authorize. It is President Obama who said he would go "line by line" (even though we know he was not telling the truth) through every spending bill, and refuse to accept bills with ANY wasteful/inappropriate spending. Members of the House should do that, and have a responsibility to do that. And yes, that is another game Congress plays that makes it impossible to control spending: putting a massive spending bill before the President who, with no line item veto, must either approve the entire bill or veto the entire bill.

"Okay, you say, "I can see that you are right that these massive spending bills are a disgrace, and that it is Democrats who are threatening to use blackmail to shut down the government, but surely you can't expect President Obama to accept a defunding of his health care bill.? That does not seem reasonable."

I am glad you mentioned that. Would it be reasonable, as in the example I gave at the beginning, for President Obama to shut down the government if Congress had refused to pass his health care bill in the first place--vetoing all spending bills until Congress did pass the health care bill? Obviously not. So I don't think it is automatically the responsibility of the Republicans if Obama and/or the Democrats in the Senate refuse to accept the House decision that money should not be spent on ObamaCare (especially when there is a court decision that directs that, as long as it stands). However, it is true that this is a somewhat different thing than the decision on discretionary spending each year (Planned Parenthood, NPR, etc.). The health care law has been passed. A federal court says it is not the "law of the land". But say it is the law. Should Congress be able to repeal a valid (the question with the health care law) law by using its "power of the purse"? Well, Congress may have the power to do so, but it should pay a political price for it. It seems somewhat of a perversion of our system. In other words, I have much more sympathy for Harry Reid and Barack Obama "playing chicken" with regard to this indirect way of repealing a law that they got passed. The verdict on these kinds of political games probably belongs with the people--unlike the verdict on who is responsible for shutting down the government in order to blackmail part of Congress into approving an item of discretionary spending. There is no "right" for Planned Parenthood to receive taxpayer money, and members of the House have the right not to appropriate such money. Now there are parts of the "funding" for ObamaCare that are discretionary, and I have no problem with the House going through the spending items and leaving out funding for those discretionary items. But I assume that the House is NOT going to successfully get Obama to sign a bill saying that no money shall be spent to fund ObamaCare. And I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with saying that the House must spend discretionary funds in a certain way, or face BLACKMAIL and threats of shutting down the government. That is simply wrong--a lie (adopted by CNN and Gloria Borger) that Democrats should be able to force items of spending by shutting down the government (items that are not mandated by specific laws).

The point here is that Congress should start off every new fiscal year at zero. Unless mandated by law, no agency or person has a "right" to a certain level (or any) government funds. As the Constitution says, the House should then decide what funds should be spent. And any other branch of government which demands that the House appropriate discretionary funds in a certain way should properly be regarded as responsible for any government "shut down". The burden is properly on people wanting to spend money to show that their cause is so important as to shut down the government. As stated, if this were not true, then Obama and Reid could have forced a health care bill by merely refusing to fund any other program until a health care bill was passed (as distinguished from the disgraceful methods they actually used to force the bill through with no Republican votes).

What should Republicans do? Well, if the Senate refuses to accept the non-mandated spending that the House is willing to approve, what the House should do is separate the Bills. Separate out the spending on the FBI, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the military, Homeland Security, and other "essential " services. Pass the bills separately. Of course, leave Planned Parenthood out of ALL of the bills, and similarly leave the other discretionary spending you refuse to fund out of the specific bill relating to that funding. Then it will become obvious who is shutting down the government, and why.

You say there is not time? Hogwash. If necessary, do a two week continuing resolution--not to "negotiate" (although you can do that too), but to pass separate bills. No, the House should not let Democrats get away with "running out the clock", and forcing continuing resolution after continuing resolution, until the year is gone. Democrats can simply not be allowed to FORCE this disgraceful situation=, and then successfully get their way for "shutting down the government". If Republicans cannot separate the bills, then they should force Democrats to shut down the government. I will never forgive any Republican who caves on this. As stated, I except from this the attempt to repeal ObamaCare by the "power of the purse". Republicans are never gong to convince the public that they have the right to do that. But they should be able to convince the public that Democrats have no right to force discretionary spending by blackmail. Republicans in the House should only vote for discretionary spending that they are willing to fund. Otherwise, they are affirmatively betraying their trust.

Yes, it is obvious what Republicans have to do for the next fiscal year. And they have halfway promised to do it. They should timely pass separate spending bills so as to avoid this problem of omnibus spending bills. Then it will become obvious if DEMOCRATS are holding some bills hostage for the sake of other bills Democrats want. As stated, that is actually the situation now, but it is obscured because everything is in one bill. That should not be the case. Republicans are to blame if they fail to do this for NEXT fiscal year, as they share the blame for the way these games have been played in the past--even if Democrats have taken the games to new levels.

P.S. The reference to "Big Lie" is, of course, a reference to George Orwell's "1984". CNN, Gloria Borger, CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media are veterans of the Orwellian Big Lie. Their attempt to hold Republicans responsible for any shut down of the government is an example of a Big Lie that they expect to get accepted by constantly repeating it. Even if you--wrongly--don't accept all of my analysis above, it is absurd to suggest that Democrats are not at least as responsible for any "threatened" government shut down as Republicans. In this particular situation, as shown above, they bear primary responsibility. They both created the "emergency" AND are trying to use blackmail to get their own way. It is simply absurd to blame this situation on Republicans, even if Republicans have participated in the same type of deceptions in the past.