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It sounds harsh and cruel, but U.S. House Speaker John Boehner's threat to shut down all but essential federal government services if the Democrats on Capitol Hill can't actually reign in spending is not only the fiscally responsible approach, it is also one that would be popular with the public.
Enough with the gamesmanship of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the silliness of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. It's time for Republicans to let America know that the GOP means business -- cut the budget deeply, or shut her down!
In January, InsiderAdvantage conducted a national survey of voters who identified themselves as either Republicans or independent voters. Those two demographic segments make up the majority of the nation's current electorate. In the survey, we recited in a very straightforward manner the shutdown of government that House Republicans imposed in November 1995 and then again from Dec. 16, 1995, until Jan. 6, 1996.
Then we asked, "What is your opinion of the actions the Republican-led majority took in temporarily shutting down nonessential services for short periods of time to, in the words of their leader, 'prove to the president we were serious about a balanced budget?'" Seventy-one percent had a favorable opinion of that shutdown, and 59 percent said they had a "very favorable" opinion of it. (We polled more than 1,000 respondents, for a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.)
Boehner has been portrayed as a middle-of-the-road, cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat speaker. It's said that he is trying to hold together a fractious GOP conference of House members. That is a typical Washington, inside-the-Beltway attempt to oversimplify both a man and his party.
Here's the truth: Republicans know darn well that they must put their money -- or the lack thereof -- where their mounts were last November. That means they must back up their campaign promises then with meaty budget cuts now. And no, the White House's proposal of a largely symbolic freeze on new (and higher) spending won't suffice.
A genuine, GOP-backed shutdown would most likely happen if the House refused to pass a continuing resolution for the long-suffering budget that was to be passed last year; or if there was an effort to sustain spending at its current, bloated levels.
That would mean that in early March, the federal government would no longer have funding. What a wonderful, liberating feeling that would be! Imagine a week or two of no federal government -- save the military and other essential services. No mindless work at the Department of Education. No new administrative edicts at the Environmental Protection Agency. The list could go on and on.
Having ridden one of these shutdowns out with a former Republican speaker, I can prepare folks for what they know already will happen. The media establishment in New York and Washington will skewer Boehner and the Republicans. They'll claim that the speaker is caving in to the "tea party" element of his Republican House membership.
Then the stories will pop up about some poor souls who didn't get some services or entitlements that government usually delivers. There will be stories of government workers, stuck in their freezing houses without a job. Hearts will bleed, and those brilliant women on "The View" will probably work themselves up into such frenzy that, save the show's one conservative token host, they will all stomp off the stage in protest, or at least we can only hope so.
President Barack Obama and Sen. Reid simply did not get the message that the American people sent them in November. That Obama's approval ratings have risen, for what I consider to have been an adequate job of dealing with the Egyptian crisis, should not be misread as an endorsement of his fiscal policies or his domestic agenda.
If anything, Americans are horrified to learn that they sent billions of dollars to support an ally, only to learn that the dictatorial leader of Egypt likely skimmed much of the money off for himself. That's hardly "foreign aid you can believe in."
The GOP must stand its ground on the budget deficit, regardless of what the so-called "mainstream media" thinks about their efforts. It only took two short shutdowns before former President Bill Clinton started working toward deficit reductions and a balanced budget. Let's see if President Obama will learn the same lesson, and by the same hard way.
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Matt Towery is author of the new book, "Paranoid Nation: The Real Story of the 2008 Fight for the Presidency." He heads the polling and political information firm InsiderAdvantage.
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February 18, 2011 @ 7:08 am
If shutting down the spendthrift government is what it takes to get the attention of the president and senate majority leader to convince them that last November was not a fluke or a mistake, then LET ER HAPPEN CAPTAIN.
This shut down should occur with any extension or expansion of the Debt Limit, and then only for a very limited time, when the process would be repeated until the Progressives get the idea and get real about the cuts in spending that are needed.
Stay the course Mr Speaker.
February 18, 2011 @ 10:10 am
Yep, stay the course Mr. Speaker.
February 18, 2011 @ 10:38 am
This is happening at all levels of government and the single common thread through these financial messes are the unsustainable salary and benefits of the government employees coupled with all of the government “give away” programs, including at the federal level, the major entitlement programs.
The progressives/liberals aways misdirect the attention, when it comes to the “cost of government”, to defense spending and the tax rates for the “rich” and away from the real root causes of the financial problems.
The liberal agenda has incrementally created this problem and President Obama is continuing to support this agenda. He has “weighed in” on the situation in Wisconsin, for example, which is a smaller version of the same problem we have at the federal level. He continues to support the public service unions because he knows how much influence these unions have politically and how much they helped him get elected.
When you step back and look at every city, county, state, and now the federal government financial situation, the common thread through all of this is the unsustainable salary and benefits of government employees coupled with the “going bankrupt’ government “hand out” programs and the national entitlement programs.
It would be very interesting to see all governments shutdown everything but essential services for a month or so. The local governments only need police, fire, and garbage pick-up to be maintained and the schools to be kept open. Everything else can be put on the back burner. Send congress home for six months. Enough “lawmaking” for awhile. Keep our national defense agencies in place and the social security payments coming to the seniors and put everything else on hold for a few months and see what happens.
And do not pay anyone not working. It would be an interesting test and it might actually help point out where we have grown too much fat in the government.
February 18, 2011 @ 10:43 am
Are you insane? Shut down the government? Where are you getting those poll numbers, from your drug induced fantasy? Newt Gingrich’s shutdown in the mid 90′s handed Bill Clinton the presidency in ’96. Hopefully speaker Boehner has the sense to ignore morons like you who are so out of touch with reality that you convinced that the entire nation believes the nonsense you spout.
February 18, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
I worked for the government in 1995 when it was shut down. No great lose! Most gov. workers could disappear for weeks and it would have no appreciable effect on the efficiency of the laviathan. We are facing a choice. Either we learn to get the budget under control or we become a third world nation. I, for one (and 59% of the country agrees with me) believe it is time to draw a line in the sand and not cross it. If that means taking a chance on shutting down the government, so be it. I cannot take my credit cards and run up incredible debt without consequence. Obama should not either.
February 18, 2011 @ 12:26 pm
Yeah, uh huh. No great “lose” (whatever the hell that means…who taught you English?). That’s why Bill Clinton swept to victory in ’96, because the country was completely behind Newt’s plan for a smaller, more conservative government. Do you seriously believe what you’re saying??? Or are you so invested in your philosophy at this point you can’t stand the thought that you might be wrong? If the wacko fringe actually hijacks the Republican Party, and manages to shut down the government, I can guarantee you one thing: 8 years of an Obama presidency.
February 18, 2011 @ 4:54 pm
ronweebald, from under which rock do people like you pop up? Obviously, you don’t know that Mr. Towery is in the polling business. He told you who was polled and what the results were, so you called him “insane” and then really screwed the pooch by referring to “your drug induced fantasy.” In these posts, we usually keep it civil, but for you I will make an exception. You, sir, are a moron.
February 18, 2011 @ 5:52 pm
You’re right. I’m a moron. I’m going to break from my moron ways now by not trying to argue with people too stupid or deluded to see facts and change their opinions based on those facts. Good luck out there Chester…
February 18, 2011 @ 10:53 am
Shut it down and lets get this ball rolling to show them whose actually in Charge.
We the people!
February 18, 2011 @ 11:42 am
The People need to keep sending the message that we must cut spending and if that means shutting down Government, so be it. We need to keep sending stuff to Congress telling them to cut spending and NOT raise the Debt ceiling. But we also should be sending volumes of messages directly to the White House. If enough people tell Obama that we would rather see the government shut down, then he may realize that there is no political advantage in trying to repeat the Clinton move. He would have to cave. He certainly is not going to lead.
February 18, 2011 @ 11:50 am
If a shutdown does occur, the GOP should hold a press conference each day, telling the american public how much money each family has saved (not spent) cumulatively. That should ameliorate any criticism! At the same time it will remind them of just how much government costs us!
February 18, 2011 @ 12:07 pm
I do not think the Gov’t saves money by shutting down. Is there proof that is it would ?
February 18, 2011 @ 11:59 am
I was out of the country in Mexico getting married in December of 1995, when I tried to get back in, I was told the Gov’t was shut down and my wife (of Mexican Nationality) would not be allowed in b/c the gov’t was not allowing new visas…it was a Long New Year’s Eve. I also know that the Gov’t did not take a pay cut for those days lost….ie they got paid anyway for the time lost. Shutting down the gov’t will not save any money. What needs to be done is a PAY CUT for officials working for the Gov’t. I will not ask anyone to give back what is rightfully theirs due to hard work and risk, but why are some (many) of the congressmen/women earing 2 to 3 times more than the average salary of those they are working for….again that is not as bad as the (people they need to hire, the offices they “have to have”, the hotels, junkets, expenses etc. I admit, that I do not know all what entails a congressmens’/senators’ salary..but if we are in debt..it is too much.. I’ll sit back and read / listen
February 18, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
Not to pick on you but your wife is probably the only person of Mexican nationality who has had any problem getting into the United States in the last 20 years.
You’re correct in questioning the salaries of our congressmen but I have another question. Why does a congressman need 20 or more staffers to help him decide what is right or what is wrong? Most of us can make a pretty good decision on our own. All their big staffs are good for is allowing lobbyists to have someone to promote their agenda.
Now the real problem is the bloated payroll of the Federal Government. The Government should have to do what business has to do, If there payroll is too high they should start laying off.
February 18, 2011 @ 12:06 pm
Oh yes, a press conference! What a wonderful idea! ”Today we saved you $1.13! And in return when you went all the way down to the social security office, it was closed. And those of you who showed up at the national monuments and museums with your kids over spring break? Sorry about ruining your vacation. But hey, we saved you and your family $1.13 today!” Clueless, clueless, clueless. Do you honestly believe what you’re saying??? You’re as out of touch as the damn hippies who think if we all just lived on a commune everything would be great!
February 18, 2011 @ 12:19 pm
It is clueless to believe that the federal government can continue to borrow money with no limit. Of course, shutting down the government is a political act without any real savings. That is not the point. The point is that we have a 14 trillion dollar debt that is about to destroy our country. The budget that Obama submitted to congress does nothing but increase that debt. Congress will counter with a budget that makes serious cuts in federal spending. If my household runs out of money in any given month, we eat beans instead of filet. The federal government is going to have to stop spending money like it grows on trees. Obama’s budget request was laughable under the circumstances.
February 18, 2011 @ 1:06 pm
Because you want something to be true, or think it should be true because you read it in some freshman text book or ****** Ayn Rand novel, doesn’t make it true. I can keep saying sunlight is going to destroy the earth, but given that it hasn’t happened in all of human history, I shouldn’t expect anyone to believe me. But if I keep saying it loud enough, some nimrods will believe me. And hey, in 10 billion years I might even be right!
Open your eyes to the evidence around you, stop cherry picking things solely to reinforce you’re own foolish beliefs, and consider the possibility that you’re just plain wrong!
February 18, 2011 @ 2:42 pm
I am pleased to see that at least you have not bought into the global warming scam. As far as evidence that debt can take down a country. Look no further than Greece. Their advantage is that they had the EU to bail them out. Who will bail us out when we can no longer pay our debts?
February 18, 2011 @ 5:49 pm
I give up. I’m done arguing with children.
February 18, 2011 @ 12:27 pm
I was on a college field trip when the government shut down. We had scheduled a trip to White Sands National Monument as part of our trip. The park was closed because of the shutdown. It wasn’t a great loss. We actually got home a little earlier. Maybe it would be like the “day without an immigrant” and people will realize how much government we can actually live without.
I don’t think we should pay the employees that are stuck at home. Let them use their vacation time. Government employees get a ton more vacation time than I do. If my work closes for bad weather, they expect me to use my vacation time. As far as savings, I would guess that they would save energy costs required to light and heat all those government buildings. With the cost of electricity and fuel these days, that is bound to save some money.
February 18, 2011 @ 12:34 pm
I like the energy conservation statement….I also like the vacation time idea…but in that..they still get paid for no work..but it saves later (if there is a later).
February 18, 2011 @ 5:09 pm
Here’s the way I see the situation. If the government has to be shut down for a short time in order to get finances in order, so be it. The alternative is continue business as usual until the government defaults on its debts, at which time the government will have to shut down for several years, or more. The two choices are: A short inconvenience now or a financial apocalypse later.
February 18, 2011 @ 5:52 pm
Even if the government did shut down, what would really happen? Life would go on. The sun would rise and set at it’s exact appointed time. And of course the “Main Stream Media” would throw a conniption fit and say all sorts of bad things about the heartless Republican led House of Representatives. In other words; a day just as any other day.
February 19, 2011 @ 6:52 am
I think we can beat Belgium. They’ve gone the longest without a functioning government as of (?) yesterday. You need some, but you don’t need all the government the government’s been selling you.
February 19, 2011 @ 9:16 am
Symbolic grandstanding. Brinksmanship. BS. The savings from shutting down non-essentials is a trifle compared what is wasted on entitlements and the military. The Federal Reserve can write a trillion dollar check and never explain where the money went. This is political performance at its best, getting us to think that a “shut-down” makes a difference and will save money, just to keep us from asking serious questions. Like, what is the reason Republicans would want to cut funding to the SEC after expanding their control over the very financial institutions that create so much economic chaos. That cost is pennies compared to all spending.
Speaking of the 1995 shutdown which I do remember. The Republicans could have won that one but the cut of funding to National Parks turned the nation against them. If they would put as much effort into Line Item Veto or Balanced Budget Amendment, they would be leading the country in the right direction, instead of wasting our time with all this distractive nonsense.
February 19, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
Here’s something else that sounds harsh and cruel: One of the reason’s why the GOP continually gets caught with their foot in their mouth is because you esteem yourselves to be more than everyone else and before you know it you are apologizing and crying on camera for some immoral discretion or the like. You pride yourselves on derision and your proverbial diet of generations of divisive propaganda that is anemic to integrity and whose intolerance continues to wreak havoc and disunity within your body politic. Your logicians have not come out of their colonialist sheets and therefore are relegated to stir as many miscreants into a frenzy to matriculate your sophomoric agenda. You continually repeat the same mistakes of your forefathers — whose gross lack of empathy and moral immaturity remains forever sketched in the Declaration of Independence in that “all men are created equal ” clause which was proven to be hypocritical with regard to color and heritage. You are not happy unless you are set apart or seen as different than everyone else but your dilusions of grandure are outdated and more morally reprehensible than ever. Like a father chastises his child, so the federal gov’t continually rescues the masses from the ignoramuses because they are unfit to rule equally nay administer economic justice to all without prejudice. How long we’ve tolerated your intolerance. Please grow up! The reason you are pissed as hell at Obama is because, unlike yourselves, he doesn’t mind “sharing the wealth” or in laymens term ”giving everyone a chance at making something of themselves.” But that is just not good enough for you because you would rather die and go to hell than allow someone esle to gain any part of what you consider to be “rightfully yours!” Grow Up why don’t you? If you were even half as interested in the minusia of Bushonomics I am totally certain that we would not even be in this mess but, I digress when speaking of such GOP Deities in whom no wrong could ever be done even though they were not transparent or fit to govern the masses. Perhaps a marginalized group of separatists but not a nation, and certainly not on a global scale for, as history has recorded, their imperfections were too great in number. And as history has proven once again, just as Sarah Palin quit her job as governess of Alaska — while leaving the state in millions of dollars in debt (much like her predecessor George Bush who had 5.6 trillion surplus) — but they gets a free pass, right? Anyway, she is publically following in the footsteps of what she so condescendingly described as a “community organizer” who was not to be perceived on her executive level but, in reality, he has allowed her to grow and mature as a result of his unprecedented achievements in Amercan History which further proves that we are dealing with a bunch of followers in the GOP and noone has the ability to lead. To be clear, it looks like the governess don’t mind being a community organizer after all. Harsh and cruel boys, but it’s the Truth!
February 21, 2011 @ 10:12 am
It is obvious your anger over this country’s imperfect founding has clouded your judgement regarding how lucky you are to live in this imperfect country rather than one of all the other imperfect countries.
If you think our present economic path is going to lead to a better life for the poor, please name the country that has destroyed the producing class by taking from them to spread the wealth to those who won’t produce. That is the problem with socialism’s “spreading the wealth.” It gives other people’s hard earnings to those who didn’t earn it & asks nothing in return except to vote for the socialist. This may empower the ruling class but it weakens the producer class, the receiver class & the nation as a whole.
You believe in an economic theory of “spreading the wealth” through government taking the property that people have worked hard to earn, so it can be a benefit for others. If that theory really worked, then gettos where stealing from the few remaining producers is part of the culture, would be communities of unlimited economic opportunities & wealth for both the producers & the thieves.
Regardless, like all socialist societies, other people’s money is running out. There aren’t enough families that can afford to pay their fair share of the debt which is now ~ $40k per citizen. I know you wouldn’t think it was fair for the poor to have to pay for anything they need or get. That is why we depend on Dems to make sure only the rich pay. Better make only those 7.5 million families earning > $100k/yr pay for all this spending & debt. But can these rich families really afford to pay off a $1.7 million each ($13 trillion debt/7.5 million)? BHO is right, only those rich families earning > $250k/yr should see their taxes go up. But can the 1.7 million families that earn >$250k/yr really afford to pay off a $8.3 million each ($13 trillion debt/1.7 million)?
This is why spending more through borrowing & taking more from other people (producers) won’t solve the problem. OPM is running out. Better to cut government spending. Knowing politics, it will not hit the voters at the economic bottom as much as it will “crony capitalists” who want to stay at the top in the ruling class by partnering with BHO & Dems who through phony economic stimuluses legally steal from this generation & future generations of producers who pay more than 95% of all taxes, those earning between $75,000 & $300,000.