COMMENTARY | Senate Democrats seem to have forgotten there is a Thanksgiving deadline to cut the federal budget, not expand it with billions in new spending.
On Monday, Senate Republicans successfully derailed a bill endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to add $7 billion in new disaster relief spending to this year's deficit -- nearly $2 billion more than President Barack Obama requested. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is running out of money because of widespread disasters this year.
Emergencies cannot be predicted and the government has a role in helping communities and families get back on their feet after disaster strikes. But government cannot be the alpha and omega when it comes to providing assistance. People have to help themselves, just as communities need to rebuild together. Business and financial institutions play a role in moving from disaster to reconstruction.
Reid used the Republican blocking maneuver as an opportunity to accuse opponents of "playing around the edges of what really needs to be done" to fund FEMA and other disaster relief measures.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he will advance supplement disaster relief along with next year's FEMA appropriation in a must-pass bill later this month -- far in advance of FEMA exhausting current funding.
Fundamentally, Democrats in Congress cannot help themselves: they just have to spend money. After a bruising summer-long battle over raising the debt ceiling, we would think that Congress had learned that Americans -- and House Republicans controlling one chamber -- do not want any more borrowing just to spend it. Within weeks of that battle ending, a new one begins.
The answer to every challenge in America is no to throw more money at it -- especially when every single supplemental appropriate is money that must be borrowed. And, in the tight world financial markets, borrowed money comes at premium prices. The U.S. is selling its sovereignty to the Chinese every time they borrow. It's time to get our national financial house in order.
The U.S. government should provide emergency assistance to communities in need after a natural disaster. But, they cannot be the sole answer to every crisis situation. State governors need to devise their own disaster-funding policies and stop coming to Washington with their hand outstretched looking for a federal give-away. The giveaway is gone.
dr. phil philippines hgtv design star definition of love creature creature us open mens final
No comments:
Post a Comment