E-Newsletter No. 118 October 2023
This month, we were planning to wrap up our observations about the differences in the values that are most important to Leftists and Conservatives. However, due to the “news” this past month, we decided to address what is happening (or not) in Washington DC. It seems like nearly everyone in the country (except hard-core Leftists and anarchists) is unhappy with our federal government. A recent Pew Research Center poll shows near record lows for every branch of the federal government. Next month, we will discuss the Executive Branch, along with several federal agencies (i.e., the Administrative State aka the Swamp).
Congress (both the Senate and the House of Representatives) is a mess. The last time Congress fulfilled its fiscal obligations and passed all twelve appropriations bills prior to September 30th was in 1997. For 26 years, this dysfunction has led to government shutdowns, massive Omnibus Spending bills, and Continuing Resolutions. These bills simply perpetuate the problems that have led to $33.66 trillion of “on book” debt.
Keep in mind the fact that the twelve appropriations bills do not address the trillions of spending for the Socialist programs called Social Security and Medicare. The outflow for these programs, plus Medicaid, in the year ended September 30th totaled over $2.4 trillion. It is estimated that the unfunded obligations for the promises made under these programs is over $75 trillion, which is over twice the amount of the “on book” debt. Until these Socialist programs get fundamentally transformed (or eliminated) we will continue to weep for future generations. But we digress.
In the year just ended, the deficit rose to $1.7 trillion, compared to $1.4 trillion the year before. Nearly 10% of the cumulative debt has arisen in just the past two years. Spending was $6.1 trillion and revenues were $4.4 trillion. The government spent over 35% more than it took in. The Socialist programs, plus interest on the debt are nearly half of the government’s spending. These programs and the interest on the debt are on “automatic pilot” and are not separately budgeted. Which leaves us with the budget process for the other half of the government’s spending to be approved via the twelve appropriations bills.
So… What are those twelve bills? We will use “shortened” names, but they describe the nature of the spending. Our Editorial Board generally supports six of these bills (not necessarily their bloated spending) because they are enumerated in the Constitution – Defense, Homeland Security, Military Spending, the Legislative Branch, Department of State & Foreign Operations, Financial Services & General Government (Treasury, Courts and Executive Branch). The other six bills are questionable under the Constitution – Agriculture, Labor (which includes Health & Human Services and Education), Energy & Water, Interior, Transportation, and “Commerce” (as currently expansively defined and conducted).
Kevin McCarthy was subjected to 15 rounds of voting in January before he was elected Speaker of the House. He was elected only after he promised that things would change and twelve appropriations bills would be passed prior to September 30th. That didn’t happen, and to a large degree that was due to the Democrats’ resistance to control spending and their demands for more spending on “their” priorities. Unfortunately, we will “continue to get what we deserve” (and our children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences) until fundamental, lasting change happens in Congress.
US Debt Clock – – September 1st – $97,850 per citizen / October 1st – $98,800