The government partially shut down again over the weekend. Although the Senate worked until they had a bill passed, we can’t say that about the House. They weren’t planning on being in session until Monday. Hopefully, by the time you read this the government will be open for business again, but there are no guarantees.
The Senate sort of did the right thing. Let’s vote on what we agree on and deal with the rest later. That meant they only voted on two weeks of temporary funding for Homeland Security. But most of the rest of the government would be funded through the end of this year. That is a good thing.
The House still had to vote as I am writing this, so I don’t know the outcome of their debates and whether they will choose to do something, even if it isn’t perfect, rather than shut down the entire government for weeks again. Then the president has to sign it, but since he encouraged the Senate to vote in favor of the bill, we can assume he will sign it when it reaches his desk. But our president does have a tendency to change his mind so that isn’t a given either.
If Speaker Johnson can’t reign in the troops and get a vote to keep the government open, maybe it is time to look for a new Speaker of the House. This one hasn’t always done a very good job.
When it comes to funding Homeland Security and ICE, both sides have their demands and it might be tough to find that center ground that everyone can sign off on, so it might be a while before funding for the year is passed. Homeland Security was created in 2002 and began operation in 2003. The solution might be to get rid of that Department and spread those tasks back out to whatever agency they originally belonged to.
Either way, if we can’t get a functioning legislature willing to compromise and pass legislation, then I agree with those who say don’t pay them. If you or I don’t work, we don’t get paid, so why should they. They should probably also lose pensions and health insurance.
Remember that word compromise, defined as “an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.” That means no one gets everything they want, but everyone get something they want.
I would say we can solve this at the ballot box come November, but that would be naïve. Either the Republicans will remain in control or the Democrats will take control. Either way, we probably won’t see much of them working together based on what we have seen the last few years.