Congress has effectively stopped working on any meaningful legislation until after the November elections. There are looming deadlines ahead of Congress, decade old tax cuts that are about to expire, massive entitlement program crisis, budget and deficit issues including the fact that Congress has not passed a budget since the Obama administration took office.
Part of the job of government is to set budgets on a yearly basis. So why can't Congress do its job? The House has sent budget after budget to the Senate for approval and the Senate has not acted on any of them. The GOP and Democratic leadership blame each other for what they call gridlock.
Is it really gridlock that is stopping Congress from acting on important issues? Congress has passed legislation in the last few months including reauthorizing the
Export-Import Bank program, extended sharply reduced rates for
government-subsidized student loans, re-upped the Essential Air
Service program that subsidizes airline service to rural
communities; and voted against ending the 1705 loan-guarantee
program that gave rise to green-tech boondoggles such as Solyndra
and Abound. None of these were party-line votes—all enjoyed hearty
support from both Democrats and Republicans.
We aren't seeing gridlock in Congress, we are seeing the abdication of responsibility, both sides blame the other instead of stepping up and leading. Washington knows we cannot continue to spend the way we are without serious repercussions in the near future and yet they continue to not address our runaway spending.
It's past time to start voting the incumbents out of Washington and give some new faces a chance to address the serious issues facing this country. In November, I won't be voting for any incumbents and our vote is the only thing that matters to those in Washington.
The more and more you look into the way the government is ran, and why it is run the way it is these days, the less you eat up the baloney that the parties try to feed you. We don't need the extremes of either party we need people who know how to act like grown adults and comprise as well as fulfill their responsibilities as a public servant.
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