The fallout is now hitting over the failure of the Super Committee and the consequences of sequestration. One of the major consequences of the automatic budget cuts is going to be draconian cuts to the Defense Department. Some Republicans are already talking about trying to restore that Defense spending and Obama has already threatened a veto.
Who is to blame for this disaster?
The blame is totally on the so-called leadership of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. I used the term, “so-called” because the problems we are seeing result from a catastrophic failure of leadership.
John Boehner and the leadership punted their roles when the created the Super Committee.
Why? Because the current leadership of the House of Representatives believes that compromise is the goal and when compromise is the goal, surrender is always the first option.
The ugly truth here is that the Super-Committee was a bad idea. Newt Gingrich called it “a really dumb idea.” This comes from a man who when he was House Speaker went head to head with Bill Clinton and managed to balance the budget.
The Super Committee was an abdication of leadership. It was the proverbial Washington solution. It would accomplish almost nothing and the politicians could blame someone else for their failure.
The actions of the Republican leadership in creating this mess was nothing more than an exercise in Bovine Scatology!
Article One, Section Seven of the Constitution provides that “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” While some think that means the House has origination jurisdiction for tax bills only, Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 66 said, "The exclusive privilege of originating money bills will belong to the House of Representatives."
The House of Representatives has traditionally held that all spending bills must originate there as well, and Hamilton’s language would seem to support that idea.
So why didn’t they do it here?
Instead of a “Super Committee,” all the House had to do was refuse to spend money. The Senate and even Obama could have refused to go along with it, but they cannot force the House of Representatives to spend money.
Would there have been a confrontation? Yes.
What would have been the outcome?
Given Barack Obama’s lack of stomach for a fight, the House and the Republicans would have won that fight. Unfortunately, the House leadership was unwilling to stand up for America.
Shortly after Boehner took over as Speaker, I was talking to a source of mine in DC told me that Boehner had been working hard to “co-opt” the freshman class and had about three quarters of them on board with him. Boehner is no fool. The only votes that count for the Speaker’s chair are those of the Republican members of Congress. 2012 will almost certainly bring an increase in the number of Republicans in the House, thanks to redistricting and hopefully a good Republican nominee for President. Boehner has enough votes to remain as Speaker.
The only good news out of that scenario is that Boehner will be unlikely to buck a Republican President. So as long as that President is not Mitt Romney, we should be in good shape.
But as we look at the fallout from the failure of the Super-Committee, let’s not forget what got us here. What got us here is the establishment Republicans who still control the Party.
At the risk of being very repetitive, we need to have conservatives in control of the Republican Party. If you are not a part of your local GOP, join and get involved at the Precinct level. This is how we can change the party. This is how we control the party.
This is how we make sure that we never again see a fiasco like we are now enduring.
Tags: boehner, committee, failure, john, leadership, republican, super
Permalink Reply by John Liposky on The question still remains- How to change the system that allows this. Do you think a new Contract with America would have at least a small effect or are we stuck with "Catch 22" government?
Permalink Reply by Barry Gabrielson on We need a moral President and Congress who will put an end to government corruption. Today, they promote and protect inefficiency, waste, fraud and incompetence. Government needs to clean house and replace with people who put country above self interest. Today, we have a government who cares about relections, self interest, self- serving, not We the People.
DOD-IGs need to be accountable. They must not allow companies that create and promote waste, fraud and abuse for higher profit to retaliate against any employee who comes forward. Today, if you report WFA to the DOD-IG, your company can terminate you at will employment, based on retaliation. The DOD-IG wont come forward and protect anyone who reports WFA. This is the reason many employees dont come forward, do what they are ordered, look the other way. its about being protected from known retaliation, accepted and tolerated by Government. The DOD-IGs need to be replace also, replace them with people who will follow the law, protect employees against retaliation. Also, we need real auditors for all government contracts. The DCAA auditors are a joke, low paid, dont care about doing a good job. Their Management does not protect them if they want to come hard down against a contractor that does business with the government. They are told to walk away, look the other way. The heads at the DCAA need to be removed, replaced by competent and moral people. Today, they all protect each other from accountability.
I send Greta Van S E-Mails asking her to ask each Congressperson what they will do with the trillions of dollars of Waste,Fraud, duplications, inefficiencies, lack of accountability and consequences that goes on in government. Every person who responds has no answer, just changes the subject, both D and R. They dont want to stop WFA because it will cost jobs which cost votes, which causes lost election. Remember, its all about what is better for them, not us. We the People must change Government to work for us.
Permalink Reply by JOHN DELASAUX on They way you state it, the GOP is even worse than the Dems.
Do you really mean all that?
Now that you have told us all about "Ain't It Awful", do you have a solution for the problems?
Permalink Reply by Dominic Norton on just to say, since i serve our country as a Seabee in the U.S. Navy I have no desire to be forced out because some IDIOTs can't balance a budget not even close to as well as a 20 year old just learning how to manage his own bills for the first time in his life, and usually most americans who support themselves have way less money to work with that these idiots that are in office. I think everyone of these "people" need to have a basic course in household budget management before they are ever allowed to run for any public office. And held accountable to every penny that they spend.
Permalink Reply by George Albert Cornelson on Yeah. Keep dreaming. Political Office, both Federal and State.
The last refuge for the truly incompetent and irresponsible.
Our Federal Government has become nothing more than one gigantic Feeding Trough for the PIGS that hold "high office" in both the Federal and State Government Environments.
We the :People are the "suckers" that feed Them.
They in turn laugh at US and at best regard "We the People" with a "grinning" condescending contempt.
We ARE the fools for letting Them do so.
Permalink Reply by Jeff Waller on It's just as well...anything they would have come up with would be unconstitutional since no representatives other than those 12 committee members would have ever gotten to vote on it. Everyone else was disenfranchised!
Permalink Reply by JOHN DELASAUX on Boehner sucked into a crazy deal.
He gave up the GOP majority count in the House and allowed the Committee to be equally populated with GOP and Dems.
Then, he really screwed up and allowed the Senate to put members on the Committee. The House is responsible for writing appropriations, not the Senate !
Stupid!!!
Permalink Reply by Barry Gabrielson on This spineless immoral wimp needs to be replaced in 2012, plain and simple.
Permalink Reply by John Liposky on Why doesn't the House stop all tthe funding for all the NEW SPENDING????? Why let the funding continue. No balls or no brains?? Someone has to approve the spending.
Permalink Reply by JOHN DELASAUX on But the House writes the spending bills.
Permalink Reply by Barry Gabrielson on They have plenty of time for campaign for President or reelection for Congress. While they are performing this self serving function, who is performing their full time job in DC and in their districts? As you can see, this job is a part time function with more than full time salary and benefits.
The clown in the oval office must not be that busy, since he spends 90% of his time campaigning. He obviously does not have a full time job either. Time to reduce salaries and make each position part time, paid for part time work.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
