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Senate Libs Complain About Government Shutdown Then Go On Vacation

By: Brian Darling (Diary)  |  February 21st, 2011 at 03:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Only in Washington can politicians get away with complaining about a government shutdown, while going on vacation for a whole week.

Senate Democrats took to the air on Sunday to warn the American people about a government shutdown on March 4th.  They argued that the Senate may not agree to the House passed Continuing Resolution (CR), because the bill’s $61 billion in cuts to spending for the remainder of the year are too much.  Yet the problem is not serious enough for these same Senators to come back to the Capitol to debate and negotiate the House passed spending measure this week to avoid a shutdown.

You see — the Senate has a vacation scheduled for this week — can’t miss that. 

The House passed measure to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year is reasonable.  The Pledge to America promised $100 billion in cuts this year, yet the House could only pass $61 billion in cuts.  The American people want politicians in Washington to cut, not freeze, spending this year.  The federal government is carrying $14.1 trillion in debt and a record $1.6 trillion deficit for this year alone.  Those numbers are evidence of a big spending problem in Washington.

If the federal government shuts down, it is the fault of Senate liberals in leadership who refuse to call the Senate back into session this week.  It is also the fault of the President who has failed to bring the two parties together to negotiate an agreement on the CR.

The cuts were not as deep as some wanted in the House.  Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, lost an amendment to the Continuing Resolution (CR) in the House to cut $100 billion.  The Jordan Amendment was rejected and the House settled on $61 billion in cuts.  Over 400 amendments to the measure were filed in the House and the House spent many a late night last week working on this bill.  The final vote was at 4am on Saturday, yet the Senate can’t be bothered to cancel the scheduled vacation for the week.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said on Meet the Press on Sunday “if we end up shutting down the government and calling into question whether we are going to meet our obligations for Social Security checks and paying our troops then that is an absolute utter failure.”  Not to be outdone, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on CNN “Speaker Boehner has said, even before negotiations, that he wants it a certain way.  That is reckless and what Newt Gingrich did in 1995.”  The left is fear mongering by trying to blame cost cutting conservatives for a potential government shutdown, when they have yet to cast one vote on the Senate version of a CR.

Conservatives are leading the nation in cutting spending.  We are seeing great examples of leadership on the state level with Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin taking actions to balance state budgets.  In Washington, we are seeing Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee and Senator Jeff Session (R-AL), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, address the tough fiscal issues facing the federal government.  On the other hand, President Obama presented a budget to the American people for next year that adds trillions in new spending, taxes and debt over the next 10 years.  A missing line item in the President’s budget is entitlement reform and cuts to programs.  Liberals have taken a long vacation on spending restraint and entitlement reform.

The bottom line is that many will message all week about a “government shutdown,” yet the Senate is not concerned enough to cancel the scheduled vacation this week to start work on a funding measure for the remainder of the year.

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COMMENTS

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  • pastisprolog

    and they expect it to work now. There are some different media voices today than then, but dems know they have the vast majority of local and national print and broadcast outlets on their side. They also have the vast majority of entertainment media to carry their message. Why shouldn’t they try it again?

    To hear them tell it, we will just be standing in a small circle, shouting at each other. I can’t wait to see how many national, state and local public sector employees show up in D.C. to ask Obama to save their government from us.

    The really important question is, when that time comes, where will we be and what will we do?

    • Spiral

      Even if it’s the Democrats’ fault, as it was in 1995-1996, now as then, the Democrats get the upper hand in terms of public opinion.

      There are some things that are different now. The economy in 2011 is not as strong as it was in 1995-1996. Also, in the 1995-1996 time frame the GOP controlled both the US House and the US Senate, wheras now the GOP only controls the US House. Back in 1995-1996 the GOP speaker was Newt Gingrich, who could not resist talking to the media and saying things that had to be endlessly explained for the next week. Now the GOP seems to have a speaker who is a little bit less fond of hearing himself talk.

      • pastisprolog

        and more of us (tan then) are vocally opposed to endless government spending on entitlements. There are more of them. If they can tell us to work for them, doesn’t that make us their slaves?

        The founders of our country thought so.

      • Scope

        I think this time to the rodeo, just may work out differently than in 95. The economy is very different at this time, and, I think many would actually be happy to see the government shut down until the Dems and Obama see things as the Republicans do. I think if the Republicans fold, and compromise with the Dems, they are in real danger for the 2012 elections. Look at all the screaming going on on our side because the Republicans didn’t cut enough. As to the MSM, their ratings are in the tank both on TV and with the rags, because only the die hard Libs pay them any attention.

        • pastisprolog

          they WILL LOSE in 2012. This will turn the government over to the progressives for a long time. There may not be another chance to get this right because of the scale of damage an unfettered progressive government will cause.

          • Scope
          • Flagstaff

            Republicans need to recognize that this is probably their last chance. If they fail, it’s one thing. But if they fail to go all out in support of anti-Democrat policies, the public will be left wondering just who they can turn to or trust.

            The Republican party has been declared dead on numerous occasions, but if it can’t beat liberals when it has the upper hand, and if it doesn’t even try hard to do it, what good is it? It might as well BE dead.

            Conservative Republican ideas are MAINSTREAM ideas, but the Democrat Approved Press has been pressing the “far-right” meme for a long time, and they’ve even convinced some Republicans. Most Americans have conservative values. If Republicans won’t serve them, they’ll have to go elsewhere for help.

            We don’t want that.

          • pastisprolog

            Pluto will always be the ninth planet!

            It would really be a shame if the GOP snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, again.

        • Brian Darling

          And the MSM does not have a hammer lock on information distribution anymore. Our side did not have the capacity to get the word out to all Americans in 1995, Now we can.
          At least this time we have a fighting chance to message the conservative position to the American people. I think a majority voted for this type of change. Remember what our President has said? “Elections have consequences.”

  • http://redmeatconservative.blogspot.com/ dhorowitz3

    Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) was one of the three Republicans who voted no in protest of the diminutive nature of the cuts. He made the point that Congress needs to be more like Scott Walker.

    • Scope

      to vote for no cuts instead of voting for some. That’s like some Libs voting no on Lib policies because they don’t go far enough. Didn’t Bernie Sanders vote no on some healthcare legislation because he wanted single payer?

      • Brian Darling

        Campbell and Flake voted no, because the cuts were not deep enough. I have no problem with members voting against spending measures if they are still too big. Cutting $61 billion is a good start, but I don’t know if I could have voted for that bill without even bigger cuts. We are $1.6 trillion in deficit this year alone. $61 billion seems like a package of cuts that is not big enough for many conservatives. The Senate is going to squish and dramatically scale back the meager cuts made by the House. Expect even more House Rs to vote no on any final product produced by the Senate or a Conference Committee.

      • quakergrey

        I think it was a courageous thing to do. To vote “No” because the cuts weren’t deep enough was to say to fellow Republicans that they can’t take your support for granted. For years Moderate Republicans have ignored Conservatives because they could assume, in the final vote, the Conservatives would vote for the lesser of two evils. As long as Conservatives accept half instead whole, the Moderate Republicans will be content to give us half.