Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

All of this fuss about the debt ceiling, and the political games that are being played because of it, are just stupid.

Over the years Republicans and Democrats have taken actions that have increased the amount of money the Federal government has borrowed to stay in business. What is alarming is that the debt has tripled over the past 20 years as both parties spend more than we raise in taxes. And then some actually take action to reduce the government income without reducing expenditures.

The current debt mess started with 9/11 under President George W. Bush. Back then we felt we needed to spend to fix New York but then we also got involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with the idea of stopping terrorism by eliminating terrorist training grounds. Bush also added a tax cut plan.

President Barack Obama’s signature plan was the Affordable Care Act that added to the deficit. And wars continued in Afghanistan. And he had a middle-class tax cut if I remember correctly.

President Donald J. Trump had what he called a large tax cut that reduced net government income over a 10-year period. And the war in Afghanistan continued, although it was reduced some. On the other hand, defense spending increased. Also, the pandemic struck the nation in 2020 and billions were spent on vaccine development, personal protective gear for hospitals and money to citizens to avoid a recession.

President Joseph Biden had his own stimulus round of checks in the first year of his presidency and an infrastructure bill that allocated billions for infrastructure.

The point is, both Republicans and Democrats have made major contributions to the national debt. And sometimes there were good reasons for doing so.

During this period of time, I don’t think there has been one year the government has had a budget. What happens is that when October 1 rolls around, that is the start of the government’s fiscal year, Congress has not approved a budget, so it operates on what are called continuing resolutions. They essentially say that they will continue to fund various parts of the government at the same or slightly increased levels.

The debate about what the government should be spending its next fiscal year should be going on now. The president has submitted a budget. As with most presidential budgets, it will be largely ignored by Congress.

And yet this is where the discussions should be taking place about government priorities and policies. Republicans and Democrats should be discussing what we can and cannot afford to continue doing. They need to agree on what the priorities should be. And they need to agree on how to fund those priorities.

Congress is supposed to approve or eliminate programs and find the money to do so. We elect it so do so. It hasn’t for many years.

Article 1, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution reads: “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.”

Later in the same section Congress as a whole is given the authority to borrow money.

The current debate has some conservative Republicans wanting an agreement to cut certain programs before they will sign off on a debt increase. The folly in this is that when Democrats are in charge, they could simply cut Republican programs as payback. That’s a stupid game to play, and that’s what it is, a stupid political game.

The debates about what should be in the Federal budget and how it will be paid for should be resolved before the start of a fiscal year. My feeling is that nobody in Congress should get paid after Oct. 1, 2023, if a budget has not been approved. It’s their job, one of the most fundamental jobs of serving in Congress. If you don’t get the job done, you don’t get paid.

This is an issue that should be a priority in our elections.