There is a major AP article out today that discusses in great detail the "rift" between Tea Party conservatives and moderates in the House GOP over spending. The reports has a bunch of quotes from members of Congress discussing spending levels and disagreements within the Republican caucus. The strange thing, though, is that the AP points out that the Republicans have only passed four of the twelve appropriations bills for the government and that these bills are due by September 30th. I say strange, because the passage of one third of the bills supposedly shows a major rift in the House GOP caucus. In the Democrat controlled Senate, which also has to pass twelve appropriations bills, the number passed is zero. That's right, the Democrats in the Senate have not passed a single spending bill, not one, zero, zilch, nada. Where are the articles describing the split among Senate Democrats?
The reason that the AP focuses on House Republicans is that it lets the reporter promote his narrative that Republicans want to slash all spending and shut down the government. The truth, however, is quite different from the narrative. What Republicans are trying to do is to get spending under control and they are making headway in that battle. Since the GOP took over in the House in 2011, federal spending has been held steady in most categories and even reduced in many. These reductions have not forced the end to federal programs; they have not left folks starving on the streets; in fact, the cuts have really hardly been noticed at all. Indeed, what the GOP efforts have shown is that the bloated federal budget has so much excess in it, that cuts can be absorbed with essentially no effect on the people at all.
This all brings me back to the AP. Here we are just six weeks from the time when the spending bills are supposed to be finished. Where is the effort by president Obama to come to some resolution about spending levels? He ignores the entire subject despite the major impact that these numbers have on our economy. Where is the effort by the Senate Democrats to even come up with a coherent proposal as the basis for negotiation with the House? Why is the Democrats' total abdication of their obligations with regard to spending left unmentioned in the media?
I doubt that the AP will start to cover the real story here. The reporters there just can't focus on the faults of their own political party.
The reason that the AP focuses on House Republicans is that it lets the reporter promote his narrative that Republicans want to slash all spending and shut down the government. The truth, however, is quite different from the narrative. What Republicans are trying to do is to get spending under control and they are making headway in that battle. Since the GOP took over in the House in 2011, federal spending has been held steady in most categories and even reduced in many. These reductions have not forced the end to federal programs; they have not left folks starving on the streets; in fact, the cuts have really hardly been noticed at all. Indeed, what the GOP efforts have shown is that the bloated federal budget has so much excess in it, that cuts can be absorbed with essentially no effect on the people at all.
This all brings me back to the AP. Here we are just six weeks from the time when the spending bills are supposed to be finished. Where is the effort by president Obama to come to some resolution about spending levels? He ignores the entire subject despite the major impact that these numbers have on our economy. Where is the effort by the Senate Democrats to even come up with a coherent proposal as the basis for negotiation with the House? Why is the Democrats' total abdication of their obligations with regard to spending left unmentioned in the media?
I doubt that the AP will start to cover the real story here. The reporters there just can't focus on the faults of their own political party.
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