Budget Bills Go Down in the Senate

The democrats have defeated both version of the budget bill so now we start all over again under the cloud of a government shutdown.

“Today’s votes in the Senate demonstrate that democrats and Republicans must come together to find common ground on a budget that cuts spending and puts us on a path to live within our means, but also ensures we continue to invest in our future,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said after the votes, which democratic leaders said they hoped would prove to House republicans that their deep cuts cannot pass.

Well, duh. As long as the senate is populated by the likes of Harry Reid and his crew, meaningful spending cuts are not going to happen. There is going to be pain, there is no two ways about it. People are going to have to bit the bullet a little in many different areas. We have spent ourselves in this mess and we need to make significant cuts to get us out of the mess.

Both versions would have funded the government for the rest of the fiscal year, ending on 30 Sep 2011. The big difference between the bills is the amount of spending cuts. The Republican version, developed in the House, would have cut spending by nearly $58M, while the version from the White House would have seen a little less than $5M.  Neither spending bill really puts any sort of dent in the deficit, but at least the House version was a start. The White House bill was nothing short of a joke.

Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) took both parties to task and demanded strong leadership from President Obama.

“Why are we doing all this when the powerful person in these negotiations – our President – has failed to lead this debate or offer a serious proposal for spending cuts that he would be willing to fight for?” Mr. Manchin said

Now the Congress has to come up with another continuing resolution to keep the government funded or else face a shutdown. Personally, I think the shutdown should happen. Get these congress-critters moving and making serious headway in what is probably one of more vexing problems facing this generation.

I have heard some democrats trying to take heat off of Obama by saying that this crises was started ‘way back when”.  Both Republican and democrat Presidents and Congress’s are responsible for the building debt and it has finally come home to roost. Bullcrap! Yes, it is true that previous administrations (Rep and dem) have spent us into deficits. But not like our spender in chief. At no time in our history have we ever generated $220B in debt IN ONE MONTH.  Many Presidents didn’t even accumulate that much debt over an entire term.  And in the little over two years this community organizer has been at the helm of our sinking ship he has amassed a debt that is equal to all the previous administrations put together. This includes the like of FDR who tried (and failed) to spend us out of the Great Depression. In this group is Ronald Reagan, whose massive $600B military buildup crushed the Soviet Union into oblivion. And Bush “the second” tried compassionate conservatism, which result in massive spending increases in prescription meds and education.

Budget cuts have to be made, and the sooner the Congress (mostly democrats) and the President realize this the quicker we can solve the issues.