Renee Parsons
While every annual Congressional budget for the Federal government is a complex negotiation of intricate numbers tied to complicated policy decisions, there is no way in God’s Green Earth for an easy fix of today’s totally unsustainable fiscal accounting emergency; yet rarely have those budget negotiations, despite evidence of a gross disparity within the Federal government’s ledgers, ever become a full fledged public fight over the future of the country.
Add to that crisis the illegal immigration emergency at the southern border for which the Federal government is accepting zero responsibility as well as US military misadventures in the Red Sea encouraged by the Israeli Zionists, it is the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) and its friends that understand the complexity of the devastating geopolitical implications.
Hence, focusing on HFC opposition to the Continuing Resolution (CR) last spring brought the current debt ceiling crisis to public attention, rejecting the Pelosi policies and Biden spending level. Today, they have strategically linked the border debacle to the equally essential need for serious budget reduction. In other words, the CR should be held in abeyance to force the Biden Administration to act on restricting the dramatic increase of dubious trespassers illegally crossing into the US mainland.
Without agreement on an acceptable border solution, as if the Biden do-nothings will respond, there is the threat of a government shutdown by January 19th which, in and of itself, will not be the end of the world. Dems remain in ridiculous denial that there is no immigration crisis even as the country’s Big Cities are exploding with massive social, political and financial turmoil.
In addition to the above uncertainties, today’s Congressional leadership is also unsustainable. Too many incumbents are no longer qualified to lead the country out of its self created morass as they ignore truth and forsake their own responsibility, intent on digging a deeper hole.
A brief summary of fiscal turbulence includes the current outstanding public debt at $34 Trillion which arrived sooner than pre pandemic projections although Tesla CEO Elon Musk pointed out the painful reality that with “unfunded obligations like SS and Medicare, the debt could quickly rise to $100 Trillion.” As Rep Chip Roy (Texas) suggests, the proposed CR insists on “spending more money that we don’t have .”
In addition, the annual debt service payment is estimated at $800 billion annually which is equal to the Pentagon’s annual budget. And then if the debt-to-GDP ratio (debt compared to what the country produces) is factored in at 119% in 2023 or 95% while excluding unfunded obligations, it is apparent that the country is cruising on a massive collision course as some in Congress prefer to stumble in the dark.
Now here’s a ‘fun fact’ for a future town hall meeting with Congress: what is the difference between the US debt and the US budget deficit? Answer: the debt is money owed while the deficit is the difference between spending and revenue. Dave Stockman’s cited examples of US deficit blowouts as Trump increased deficit to $983 Billion in 2019 and by 2020/2021, the US deficit reached $5.9 Trillion. In other words, if there is a decline in revenue, there will be a sharp increase in the deficit. Who can’t figure that out?
There is one procedural glitch about a short term CR in the House which Speaker Johnson appears to have rejected as a viable option. One argument against a Continuing Resolution is the withholding of Federal dollar and policy details misplaced within reams of a haphazard multitude of pages. Conceivably a CR would deny each Elected an opportunity to individually review the details before signing-off on an assortment of covert documents never before seen or more importantly, deny Congress the opportunity to publicly debate the budget for the Dept of Homeland Security or any other Federal agency.
In other words, a Continuing Resolution process work its magic by shifting mystifying numbers without any real oversight with no guarantee of public accountability as its Big Money Donors favorite federal procurements will slip through during the hustle-bustle of legislative adoption with little/no opposition or awareness.
More importantly, specific to this short term CR would deprive Congress of the ability to take advantage of a ‘side deal’ that McCarthy made with Biden last spring. That “deal” which is a statutory part of the process for a full year CR would allow a 9% across-the-board cut valued at about $73 billion of non-defense spending which would otherwise not be activated. In other words, with a shorter term CR, those 9% cuts remain within the budget number.
While the current proposed CR is set to be short-term which allows the status quo of no real Congressional oversight or inability to ferret out nefarious policy or monetary details will continue unabated, the possibility exists of a massive omnibus bill, which is a bazillion times more objectionable, may surface to grease the skids for more out-of-control spending.
It might be helpful to sort out the self praise from bitter reality as former President Donald Trump continues to tout the economy during his term in office as “In case you forgot. Two years ago today, we were experiencing the greatest economy in the history of the world.” The statement is less than accurate since he never addressed the debt ceiling inequities and increased the Pentagon to over $800 billion which incidentally the DOD continues to fail every audit ever attempted.
The bottom line here is that ‘reform’ of the Republican party is long past overdue; whether ‘reform’ is even adequate for the level of corruption and gross inefficiency that exists. Those systemic changes, necessary and urgent though they are, cannot be expected to occur within one electoral cycle but instead are the result of a lengthy, dedicated effort. If there was a functioning RNC, (another problematic Trump appointee), the number one job would be to eliminate those Uniparty Republican elitists who, with every vote, undermine a once valid fiscal conservative philosophy.
Rep. Roy and cohorts are on their own with little support from Speaker Johnson who is still finding his direction or President Trump who can take a share of the current fiscal catastrophe. The cost of maintaining 800 military bases in countries where there is no “national security’ risk or maintaining 57,000 US military personnel in mid East countries where they are unwelcome and remain subject to legislative immunity.
The Fiscal Monster began in 1913 when perhaps the most incompetent US President Woodrow Wilson committed one disastrous decision after another beginning with establishment of a ‘Fed’ Bank which was always a privately owned bank and never a government operated financial institution; that decision was followed by supporting adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment which transformed American citizens into ‘taxpayers’ both of which encouraged the Feds and its Banker friends to go bananas with an eternal spigot of cash which had only been a fantastical dream followed by US entry into WW I in order to save the Brit/French asses.
All of the above led to expansion of the Federal bureaucracy with an embedded administrative staff which assumed managerial control while diminishing Congress’s role (article 1, section 8) from providing for the common defense and General Welfare of the United States.”
Given that politicians of the day could not find ways to spend its new stash of cash fast enough, that new found wealth translated into WW I, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Terrorist Wars in Middle East and beyond into 2024.
Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC.