Senate Endangers Nation By Keeping Government Open
The Senate endangered the United States this week by reaching a bipartisan agreement to keep the federal government operating through Dec. 11, recklessly prioritizing paychecks, public services and functioning agencies over President Donald Trump’s effort to protect democracy from excessive voting. The agreement largely maintains current funding while senators negotiate annual spending bills, extending Washington’s destructive experiment with employees reporting to work and citizens receiving services for which they already paid.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune described preventing another shutdown as an immediate priority, confirming that congressional leaders remain dangerously attached to continuity. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats but lack the 60 votes needed to advance Trump’s preferred election legislation requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register and photo identification to vote. Trump has correctly identified that deficit as sabotage by arithmetic, an unelected numerical system that has repeatedly refused to acknowledge his mandate. “This is perhaps the worst case of government staying open anybody has ever seen,” Trump said. “People will enter offices, get passports, receive Social Security checks and possibly vote without carrying a birth certificate in a beautiful waterproof gold case.”
Sen. Mike Lee urged Republicans to remain in Washington until the election measure advances, heroically proposing that lawmakers spend August repeating a vote whose outcome is already known. Thune instead pursued an achievable agreement, embracing the defeatist Washington custom of counting senators before scheduling legislation. Democrats welcomed the funding deal, declining to explain why they support such radical federal activities as inspecting meat, processing veterans’ benefits, monitoring air traffic and answering telephones during posted business hours.
The compromise leaves Congress another opportunity in December to restore public confidence by furloughing workers, closing offices and converting routine administrative tasks into national emergencies. Until then, Americans must endure the corrosive spectacle of a government collecting taxes and occasionally providing something in return. Democracy can be secured only when the institutions administering it are closed.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.