Yep, National Debt Ceiling time again and we’ve seen this movie already. Kelly Ayotte has a new bill (2/15) and Kim had a post on it here; US Senate sponsors are: “Mr. Portman (for himself, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Toomey)”. By setting up “automatic” appropriations to take effect if Congress can’t get its second act and responsibility together and actually passing legislation, it kicks in to save their collective butts for a job poorly done (i.e., setting the nation’s priorities via a budget) – it lapses their responsibilities (yes, again) and puts the government onto autopilot.
Tell me again – WHY then do we need Congress? You have TWO jobs – protect Citizens from attack (and yes, I would say that includes a slow rolling invasion via open borders that you continue to allow) and figure out what to spend on and how to pay for it.
Yet, Kelly Ayotte is all cheerful like in absolutely miserable radio ad being run by CommittmentsKeptNH (an org on which I wrote about here) and its funding PAC, ESAFund (formerly Ending Spending Action Fund, info here, here, here, here, here, and here). I first saw this on TV – can’t track down the video but the radio ad transcript after the jump.
Emphasis mine for opining after it:
Washington gridlock and partisan bickering are holding America back. It’s time to demand our leaders make America work again. Here’s how Senator Kelly Ayotte put it:
I’m tired of the political games. I’m tired of the people on my side of the aisle who are pushing this strategy even though they know they don’t have the votes.
Americana of both parties agree: stopping abuses from Planned Parenthood and blocking wasteful spending is critical. Shutting down the Government is the wrong way to do it. That’s why Kelly Ayotte co-sponsored the End Government Shutdowns Act to end Washington brinkmanship. Here’s Ayotte:
We saw the movie in 2013 and I don’t think we should relive that movie. Let’s remember what happened. Let’s not waste money shutting the government down with no results.
Call the Senator at 202-224-3121 and tell them to pass Kelly Ayotte’s “End Government Shutdowns Act”. Paid for by Ending Spending.
Right – a few important observations of things left UNSAID (thanks, Dave Carney of CommittmentsKeptNH!):
- Gridlock is built into the system – the Founders made it HARD to pass legislation. Doing nothing, according to this system, is built into the cake – that it how it is supposed to work! If you can’t get an idea passed, then there is a large problem with that idea. Anyone who has studied the Constitution KNOWS that – so why is Kelly making it seem it is a bug rather than one of its most important features?
- And as far as the partisan bickering is concerned, we now have two totally incompatible ideologies at work – that being one based on American philosophy based on the Constitution and the other based on Socialism born on the European continent (they call themselves “Progressives” here). One stands for a system where the State serves the people, with Progressives, people serve the State. The flavor of the ad is such that it seems that Kelly Ayotte is whining about the latter rather than the former (i.e., there’s a reason for her low rankings from Right of Center advocacy organizations. Again, if she is Constitutionally minded, why is this not touted as a feature (a most valuable one) to keep from the foreign non-American philosophy to overrun said Constitution values and Principles? Why do we not hear THAT argument coming from Kelly??
- Kelly Ayotte doesn’t seem to be enamored of fighting for a very important Principle, does she? That would be “Life“; instead, she values “consensus” more and no arguments. Sorry, but again, our system is meant to have those arguments! So that begs more questions:
Is she can’t be bothered to fight the social issue that generates so much political cash for her enemies (re: NH GOP Committeemand Steve Duprey giving money to Planned Parenthood’s Action Fun?), what WILL she go to the mats for?
Especially true – why won’t she defend herself from any action that helps fund her enemies but attacks her Republican brethren who are doing it (re: Ted Cruz and others in the Freedom Caucus) on her behalf against Planned Parenthood?
- As far as shutting down the Government is concerned, this points out three extremely important points:
- We have 50 more governments right behind the Feds (in fact, the Feds are supposed to be subsidiary to “the various States” in most areas of our lives – see the 10th Amendment). They will do just fine on their lonesome…
- …except the Feds have taken on WAY more than their enumerated powers – the Feds are a single point of failure instead of using the States as a diffuse, decentralized “backup” (re: the Deadliest Catch crews were unable to go catch crab because of the 2013 shutdown; if Alaska was looped into the permitting processes (I would have it be the lead partner), it wouldn’t have mattered; take that into lots of other areas)
- Fed spending usually makes up between 20 – 40% of a State’s budget – no wonder the Feds’ “strings attached” is breaking the model of Federalism that the Founders thought would keep spacing between the States and the Feds – he who has the Gold makes the Rules and there is no doubt the Feds tax us, take the money to DC, and then “give” it back if and only if the State Legislators / bureaucracies agree to their demands (see here, for example)).
- Yes, let’s remember what happened, shall we? Sure, the Rs took heat from the Dems AND their sycophant media. Hellfire, brimstone, and DOOM! – over an actual shutdown of relatively few Fed employees. And yes there was heat:
According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 81% of Americans disapproved of the shutdown, 86% felt it had damaged the United States’ image in the world, and 53% held Republicans accountable for the shutdown.[17]
That’s what politicians HATE – bad press. We call that “bringing the pain” and they will do anything to avoid it. This is why, I bet, Ayotte is climbing over glass splinters to not have it happen again. But….
I dryly remind her and her other sidekicks, however, of the only actual result that counts via way of a question:
Where do you think those Republican majorities in the House and Senate came from, Kelly?
Yes, we in your electorate actually saw some fight in the dog and rewarded that fight. Finally, somebody stood up for US instead of rolling onto their bellies and showing the Dems who was the Big Dog. THAT should be the lessoned learned – instead of rolling over and playing subordinate1
So, by all means go and call the Senator at 202-224-3121 and tell them that you the above – a much better representation of what actually happened.
Balls in your court, Dave.
