The Democratic senator seeking the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee has refused to promise to write a budget next year.
What Americans apparently wanted: The Democratic senator seeking the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee has refused to promise to write a budget next year.
This will be the fourth year in a row that the Democrats in the Senate have failed to write a budget. And note, they don’t need a single Republican vote to do it, since budget bills cannot be fillibusted.
As I like to say, the day of reckoning looms.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
What Americans apparently wanted: The Democratic senator seeking the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee has refused to promise to write a budget next year.
This will be the fourth year in a row that the Democrats in the Senate have failed to write a budget. And note, they don’t need a single Republican vote to do it, since budget bills cannot be fillibusted.
As I like to say, the day of reckoning looms.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Uhhhh… according to the US Constitution, budget bills have to begin in the House of Representatives, not the Senate.
A senator who had plans for drafting bill would be really stepping beyond his authority. Why, exactly, do you want this?
Uhhhh… according to the US Constitution, budget bills have to begin in the House of Representatives, not the Senate.
A senator who had plans for drafting a budget bill would be really stepping beyond his authority. Why, exactly, do you want this?
Uhhhh… no, Mike, you have it wrong. According to the Constitution (Article 1, Section 7) “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.” It is taxes that must begin in the House. Budgets are written by both houses, which then have to come to an agreement.
The problem here is that the Senate has refused to write any budget now for three years, and is now threatening to do the same next year as well. This is a dereliction of duty and actually illegal according to laws the Congress itself passed.
But what do I know? The Democrats wish to do nothing so that the debt continues to pile up. Worse, the American people have decided to reward them for this. As that song from the 1920s trumpeted, “Happy days are here again!”
But then, we all know what happened at the end of that decade.
You are correct, Bob – the House passed budgets in all these years, but the Senate failed to do so. As you said, the difference between the two must then be ironed out & agreed to in a House-Senate conference.
Here’s a thought: Maybe Reid doesn’t really WANT an actual budget so that we continually run up against these artificial “deadlines” where if something isn’t done immediately, there’s no money to fund even basic services. Without a budget, they’ve been running things off temporary reconciliation bills that expire after so many months. The Dems have found that they can benefit with this strategy by blaming Repubs for “standing in the way” of another temporary agreement (i.e., refusing to continually increase spending), so it’s a game Reid & the Dems keep playing. We approach another moment of truth & if the GOPers don’t give in to demands for even higher spending, there’ll be no agreement & guess who gets blamed for “shutting down the Gov’t.”?? The Repubs, of course!
This cynical ploy only works because we no longer have a free, independent & unbiased press – the MSM takes the Dems’ talking points & promulgates them, with no questioning of the motives, etc. A truly honest, independent media would point out the hypocrisy & disingenuousness of this “strategy” & the Dems would be the ones looking bad. But the MSM continue to spout the Democrat Party line – and we’re all the worse for it…
i agree with Bob and Chris makes a very Good point. there is an existing condition here. and i am Very curious of the motives of our officials. there is a defined direction taking place that not only embodies us, but carries the European countries with it. they are All charging Ahead in never before seen conditions.
Mr. Zimmerman: MY BAD. You are correct on the budgets vs appropriations thing, and I was in error. Sorry ’bout that!
That said… why the Democrats and Republicans have given up on passing regular budgets is one of the musteries of the ages, and I suspect future historians are going to be rather nasty about it in their accounts. There seems enough blame to go around to cover both poiitical parties.
Mike,
Unfortunately, you make another mistake in your reply to me. The Republicans have not “given up on passing regular budgets.” They have done so every year as required by law. Only the Democrats have refused to do so.
This is not to say that there isn’t plenty of blame to go around. However, I don’t like it when blame is spread to innocent parties. In the case of Congress, the Democrats are wholly to blame for the lack of budgets. The Republicans have tried their best to follow the law, but have been stymied by a party that apparently wants the federal government to go into unsustainable debt.