The AP is out with a lengthy story today about the "impending" government shutdown due to a battle over funding levels. Impending???? The government is funded through September 30 of this year. That's three months from now. There's hardly a crisis, but that does not stop the AP. It is already trying to build funding issues into a big deal.
Let's examine this story a bit to understand what is happening. First of all, there are currently in place spending limits that were agreed to by past Congresses to control the deficit. These spending caps allow annual increases but they are not generous enough to satisfy the big spenders in Congress. Because of the fight against ISIS and some other defense/foreign policy issues around the world, Congress is going to increase defense spending beyond the caps. Because the defense issues are not caused by regular problems that happen each year, the plan is to pass an emergency extra appropriation that provides the funds as a one-time measure. The Democrats in Congress, however, say that they will not accept this. The Democrats say that if military spending is increased, then domestic spending must also be increased beyond the caps. In other words, the Democrats want to throw away all of the limits on spending meant to prevent more huge deficits. At the moment, the Democrats say that they will block passage of any funding bills unless the domestic spending caps are erased.
So is this a crisis? No. Does anyone actually think that the Democrats in Congress would actually stop spending for the military while we are in a battle with terrorists? Surely, the Dems would try to blame the Republicans for any shutdown of spending, but it would be hard for the Dems to spin their opposition to the bills in that way. The media would help, but even so, the truth would get out. The Democrats would be holding America's defense hostage to higher deficit spending. Sooner or later, that position will be abandoned by the Democrats. There is no crisis.
So why is AP writing about a crisis? The hope is that the coverage will panic some of the Republicans into going along with the Democrat position. You know the drill. The country wants bipartisanship, right? By that, the media means that the country wants the Democrat position to win so the Republicans must capitulate. Well, it ought not happen here.
Let's examine this story a bit to understand what is happening. First of all, there are currently in place spending limits that were agreed to by past Congresses to control the deficit. These spending caps allow annual increases but they are not generous enough to satisfy the big spenders in Congress. Because of the fight against ISIS and some other defense/foreign policy issues around the world, Congress is going to increase defense spending beyond the caps. Because the defense issues are not caused by regular problems that happen each year, the plan is to pass an emergency extra appropriation that provides the funds as a one-time measure. The Democrats in Congress, however, say that they will not accept this. The Democrats say that if military spending is increased, then domestic spending must also be increased beyond the caps. In other words, the Democrats want to throw away all of the limits on spending meant to prevent more huge deficits. At the moment, the Democrats say that they will block passage of any funding bills unless the domestic spending caps are erased.
So is this a crisis? No. Does anyone actually think that the Democrats in Congress would actually stop spending for the military while we are in a battle with terrorists? Surely, the Dems would try to blame the Republicans for any shutdown of spending, but it would be hard for the Dems to spin their opposition to the bills in that way. The media would help, but even so, the truth would get out. The Democrats would be holding America's defense hostage to higher deficit spending. Sooner or later, that position will be abandoned by the Democrats. There is no crisis.
So why is AP writing about a crisis? The hope is that the coverage will panic some of the Republicans into going along with the Democrat position. You know the drill. The country wants bipartisanship, right? By that, the media means that the country wants the Democrat position to win so the Republicans must capitulate. Well, it ought not happen here.
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