Congress Restores Only Sequester Cuts that Effect Congress
Approval ratings of Congress have been hovering around 10-15% for years now.
The sequester debacle serves as a perfect representation as to why.
Why? Congress' handling of this self-inflicted crisis. While the sequester means that 4 million meals will be missed, 70,000 will be turned away from preschool, thousands will lose their housing, lose chemotherapy funding, lose emergency unemployment insurance...
Unfortunately, none of these groups of people are fortunate enough to have the means to send an army of lobbyists armed with legal bribes to Washington.
In a crude act pettiness - media outlets and certain congressfolks have chose to lament a lack of White House tours - tours that only serve those fortunate enough to have a relationship with a congressperson.
Galling as that entire meme would seem; they weren't finished. As soon as the sequester began to affect those snooty, sniveling media snobs and politicians - they threw a collective fit!
People are going hungry and being kicked to the curb? So what?
Media personalities and politicians have to get to the airport and hour earlier? Oh, the humanity!
At long last, Congress is beginning to realize that the cuts they chose to pass...GASP... actually have real-life consequences!?!
Predictably, congress has sprung into action - they passed a carve-out to provide relief for the most vulnerable (ahem)... the Reducing Flight Delays Act.
These chintzy pukes make me sick. Especially the liberals - they lose on messaging and now they cave. The FAA accounts for only half of one percent of the sequester cuts, and really only affects how long the upper-middle class have to wait in line before traversing the planet at super-sonic speeds. Poor babies.
Those least able to withstand the sequester are being literally and figuratively left out in the cold - and I'm supposed to shed a tear for piddling yuppy bellyachers? No sir, I am not the one. This whole thing is disgusting.
So how did we get here?
The democratic led Senate failed to pass a budget for four full years, so Congress instead passed continuing resolutions in order to keep the lights on. Suddenly, conservatives decided that the long-held default position of simply paying the bills for things we passed bills to pay for, was no longer an acceptable outcome.
The debt-ceiling debacle led to the United States' credit rating being downgraded, specifically because of the political malpractice observed in Washington.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 raised the debt-ceiling - and formed the super committee, which was to identify $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, or else a two percent sequester (cut) of across the board would take effect and do it for them come 2013. These sequester cuts were specifically intended to be stupid, blunt, and painful - so that neither side would fold on negotiations.
Thinking went that conservatives would not be willing to accept defense cuts, and liberals would not be willing to accept cuts to programs for the poor.
This turned out not to be the case.
House Speaker John Boehner was utterly giddy in August of 2011 - "I got 98% of what I wanted."
Indeed.
Negotiations broke off shortly thereafter. Both sides insisted that the 2012 election would determine the outcome - which ever side won would simply go forward with their own budget solutions.
As election season rolled around, nearly everyone was in sudden agreement - of course sequester would be a bad idea.
Once the election had passed however, Obama continued to publicly lament the stupid and painful sequester - while conservatives instead downplayed the effects of the stupid and painful cuts, and blamed Obama for their existence.
4/26/13
