On September 30th, 2016, the federal government will have exhausted it’s discretionary spending. Paul Ryan’s inability as Speaker of the House to send twelve individual appropriation bills to the President’s desk all but ensures yet another brutal battle over a Continuing Resolution. Heading into the home stretch of the presidential campaign, Republicans in Congress will have placed the Federal Government on the brink of yet another Government Shutdown.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign will not only use a crisis in Congress to defeat Donald Trump, but to achieve nationwide victories for Democrats which will certainly cost Republicans the United States Senate. Even the House of Representatives could be up for grabs.
How did we get here? Speaker Ryan and the Republican leadership attempted to break away from the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011, only to be blocked by conservatives in the House dedicated to upholding the law and keeping their promises to constituents at home. Not a single appropriations bill has made its way out of Congress. This was neither unavoidable nor was it accidental.
By attempting to dismantle the BCA with the Bi-Partisan Budget Act, Leadership wasted months of activity that could have been used to develop a workable budget in accordance with the federal laws they passed just five short years ago.
While Donald Trump has been able to avoid being tarnished by the sins of the GOP at large, he will be unable to escape running on the ticket of a party incapable of governing.
The bad news is that a combination of Republican “defense hawks” have partnered with Democrats who want more social programs to eviscerate the very spending restraints many of them voted for in the first place. They have successfully leveraged the threat of a government shutdown to increase the caps three times in the last four years, limiting the law’s success and increasing spending by $145 billion. Investors Business Daily
This is supposed to be the moment where I tell constituents what they can do to pressure their Congressmen to avoid this catastrophe, shutting down the government, and derailing any chance Donald Trump had at the presidency – but what’s the point? We’ve seen this movie before and we know exactly how it is going to end.
I will say, however, that I will not lend my voice in support of any Republican in Congress that votes for a continuing resolution that lands this budget battle in the lap of a lame duck Congress.
With so much military spending at issue here, I know this vote will be particularly troubling for Congressman Wittman, my Congressman here in Virginia’s historic 1st District. If I were him, I would be furious with Speaker Ryan. I would also be calling on Speaker Ryan, publically, to act quickly to ensure that the inevitable CR (which is bad enough as it is!) extends to March of 2017.
I really do sympathize with many of our conservative Congressmen and women who are forced to make decisions between doing what is right for their country and what is best for their districts. Yet, this is precisely the conundrum they find themselves in when their leadership fails so completely to adequately govern the business of the people.
If Republicans in Congress continue to demonstrate an inability to govern, the American people will give the Democrats a shot – and we’ve all seen how effective Democrats in Congress can be with an ally in the White House.
29 comments
Blaming Ryan is nutz. Blame Trump himself and blame those who vote for him
Hard to blame Trump for a budget crisis in Congress.
Hopefully Paul Ryan will be primaries out of a job on August 9th. I have supported his competitor Paul Nehlen with several donations. Nehlen has run a brilliant campaign, most recently visiting Ryans gated home with mothers of murdered victims of illegal aliens. Ryan was filmed speeding away in a black suburban and refused to take a letter from the mothers. Ryan needs to go, he has lost all credibility. I do not think it will impact Trump in any way.
Unlikely, but that would certainly remind Party Leadership that we’re the boss.
It would be earth shattering for the establishment. I think Nehlen has a very good chance, he has run a brilliant campaign and donations over a million dollars. That is pretty impressive for an unknown in a state election. Plus this is expected to be a low turn out election. You may be surprised!
Another well written article that has raised my blood pressure..
However,,,
MSM has been so busy singing the praises of the Hildebeest and the other corrupt democrats you may have missed all of the attacks in Europe by the peace loving Muslims.
London and Washington DC are the next targets..
I absolutely loved every Marion la Pen. She is Joan of Arc – and many are using that phrase to describe her. Her most significant recent comment is either we kill Islam or Islam will kill us again and again.
Can you “kill Islam”? Truly, I’ve never seen anyone kill a religion. The pagan religions died out through a war of attrition. The Roman Catholic Church literally became the law of the land, governing many nations. I have trouble imagining Christianity taking over the world and essentially making so much of our societies about Christianity that other religions just, I don’t know, die off. Certainly you cannot kill all Muslims. So…how is that all supposed to work?
First, we have to recognize that Islam is an ideology that is anathema to our Constitution and western rule of law. Its government is a caliphate not a democratic republic. Its law is sharia not constitutional in any sense. Its culture is psychopathic paternalism. Its religious precepts are an excuse for its behavior.
Whether you like it or not, we are at war and the recognition of such a thing is coming from religious and government leaders around the world. I remind you that we went to war against tens of millions of Germans, Italians and Japanese, most of whom were simply wishing to live their lives.
One additional point, appeasement and excuses have proven to encourage evil, and Islamism is evil. I suggest you look at Churchill’s River War comments regarding Islam. Written over 100 years ago it eloquently and succinctly states the problem.
We had better defeat this evil or we will leave a very uncomfortable and horrific world for our children and grandchildren.
Interesting, while I agree with every point you made, and even this conclusion, I still don’t wrote understand the end game here. Are you advocating a congressional declaration of war on the Religion of Islam?
A declaration of war against Islamic terrorism makes sense as does the formation of citizen militias. This is not you grandfathers WW2, it is war in the streets and every American citizen or Western European cannot escape its wrath. Appeasement only emboldens. Mass migration from the Islamic world only increases risks. And, finally, time to correctly identify Islam as an ideology inimical to the West.
That sounds like an awful big escalation. I hope that’s never necessary.
Look around the world, look around the country, look around your neighborhood.
Hope is not a strategy.
Everything is fine where I live. Relatively low crime, no terrorism, no tension between Muslims and anyone really. Everybody just works and spends time with their families.
For now.
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/?s=Harrisonburg&submit=Search
How many Syrian refugees have killed an American? I honestly haven’t followed. I know we had Russian refugees kill Americans.
I’m not keeping score, but someone should be and probably is. The point is not to blame immigrants but to know Hijrah.
Yes, please be sure and check out http://Www.refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com run by Ann Corcoran, there is a very strong and growing activist group growing to try and stop this refugee mess. We are talking billions in taxpayer dollars funding formally religious charities that are now federal contractors, happily doing the bidding of the UN and leftists in our government. Hillary will destroy us with this, Obama has exploited it beyond belief. Please share with all
Why don’t you take a look at http://Www.refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com. this is a great site run by Ann Corcoran which details what is happening with refugee resettlement in the U.S.
There have been plenty of issues regarding refugees and you should expect much more if Hillary is elected. Plus it is now a business that has warped religious charities into federal contractors raking in billions of dollars. I would like to see taxpayer money spent on our citizens and veterans in need, thank you. I personally give to international charities. I don’t like my tax money funding this corruption.
Things happen very quickly. I suggest you analyze what is happening in Europe. A year ago (and even today) the EU was inviting in large numbers of unvetted refugees/invaders. Now the Pope is calling this war.
Wars have trigger points and it appears that the average French citizen has been triggered by Paris and Nice. The militia France is forming apparently is a throwback to a similar military force that happened many years ago.
It’s not a religion, learn why and what it is — your life will depend upon it.
It’s a political party, essentially. It’s an ideology. I studied political Islam at George Mason while I was working in Reston, Va after graduating from Tech.
It is Deen
Is Islam ultimately the problem, or is it the globalists/leftists using massive immigration (invasion) of muslims to overwhelm western countries? Seems to me that the real enemy we must defeat are the globalists who wish to destroy our cultures, borders, security, freedoms so thry can then institute totalitarianism. They see Islam as a perfect sledgehammer to destroy us.
That is why Donald Trump is immensely popular and will win, people see the writing g on the wall and they literally see our communities being transformed at lightening g speed.
No other candidate had the guts and boldness to proclaim that muslim immigration is a serious threat to our country. He is providing incredible leadership.
The Donald will throw Ryan and his ilk under the train — this is the GOPeRINO attempt to scuttle Trump (duh, worked before to ice Cuccinelli, should work again)
Heck, even Congressman Babs will applaud Trump criticising the shutdowners.
I’m not sure it is a strategy to crush conservatives – I honestly believe we continue to elect poor leaders.
One of the factors that hurt Cucinnelli for Gov was this perennial shutdown chicken that we always lose — now just the rattling of the saber cause Republicans to have seizures.
Why is it that we elect poor leaders? Because any that we consider good are absolute crap with the voters! Look no farther than this cycle — out of 16 or 17 of our best and brightest, the voters picked Trump. Yet we STILL don’t listen to the voters. At some point you have to say, ‘it ain’t them, it’s us.’
Can the entire party, from the RNC, to the yahoos waving flags on overpasses, get any more of a public smackdown than Donald Trump?
‘Hey Republicans, the best you could do, is this guy! We would rather pick him and all that he brings and stands for than ANY of your dream team. Do you hear us NOW?’
We are whiny bitchy babies who don’t deserve leadership of a political party.
Until we excommunicate the losing/dooming “never” philosophy.
Realistically, I believe the blame will go directly where it belongs, on the head of Paul Ryan. The Donald has been running against the do-nothing GOP establishment as much as he has against Mrs. Cankles. Need proof, look no further than Ryan’s primary woes against Paul Nehlen. If Ryan gets Cantored, he can thank the GOP leadership in his state for endorsing an “open primary” system.
I hope folks see it that way – but they need to know this is coming. If I was The Donald, I would be talking about this now, making sure that the public (who do not follow Congress) are prepared for what’s to come. I also hope that Speaker Ryan gets his ducks in a row and avoids this obvious and awful pitfall.