Government Shutdown Continues – Suffering the Consequences

After nine votes, the Senate has not been able to pass a clean spending bill, even though three Senators crossed party lines to support the bill. Six more are needed to meet the 60-vote threshold.

Many are reporting that this shutdown could exceed the 35-day shutdown of 2019! This political brinkmanship must stop; too many suffer the consequences of this stalemate. A “clean” spending bill extends existing appropriations without adding new policy changes or controversial measures. Both parties have agreed to this many times before.

Budgeting Process Sidestepped

Congress has rarely passed the 12 annual appropriations bills in time for the start of the fiscal year. Instead, funding has been acquired through temporary “clean” continuing resolutions (CRs) or bundled “omnibus” and “minibus” packages that often include policy riders.

Stop the Insanity

The House and Senate should be held accountable and not allowed to adjourn until they do their job and pass all twelve major funding bills. We all suffer from their negligence and inaction. All bills should be clean and include essential funding, not riders that benefit one party or the other.

Separate bills should be presented to cover policy riders and other funding. Both parties use the 12 appropriation bills to push through pork for their supporters to garner votes for the next election cycle or to sponsor programs that otherwise wouldn’t make it through Congress’s scrutiny.

Basically, anything other than a clean bill is loaded with pork and unnecessary special interest spending that is bankrupting our country. We are borrowing 40% or more of what we spend each year, which is unsustainable.

2026 FEHB / PSHB Spiraling Health Care Premiums Announced!

Call Your Representatives

Let your Congressman and Senators know how you feel about this issue. Here are links to the phone numbers and email addresses for both houses.

House of Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives
Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

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Dennis Damp

Dennis V. Damp is an author, retired federal manager, business owner, career counselor and veteran. Damp is the author of 28 books, a recognized benefits expert, and a retired federal manager with 35 years’ service. Dennis has been a guest on hundreds of radio talk shows, CNN’s YOUR MONEY and the Lou Dobbs Cable TV shows, lectured at universities and colleges, produced Internet web sites and training videos, and has written hundreds of articles for national magazines and newspapers. His books have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times and U.S. News & World Report.

Dennis joined the Air Force in 1968 and spent over three years on active duty and an additional seven years with the Air National Guard. He was hired by the Department of Defense (DOD) after leaving active duty and transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1975. He spent the remainder of his career in various positions with the FAA. His last position was technical operations manager at the Pittsburgh International Airport’s air traffic control tower.