With The Bad Comes Some Good

The U.S. government is in the midst of day four of its shutdown. Or pseudo-shutdown, since it appears that large segments of the government are still at least partially open for business.  For the most part agencies that support national security remain open; active duty military personnel are working and getting paid while most of the entryways into our country and the FAA is making sure our skies are still safe.  The departments of Education, Commerce, Interior, and Justice along with numerous others are mostly closed and operating with minimal staffing.  Even the National Park Service has closed their parks, museums, monuments, and green spaces to the public.  These closures and their impact reach far beyond those employees who are not able to work and receive paychecks.  State and local governments, small businesses, and the entire U.S. economy is being negatively impacted by this ongoing impasse.  And why does the government find itself at such an impasse to begin with?  Everyone seems to have an opinion, one that points the finger at the other side but Marlin Stutzman, a Republican Representative from Indiana probably said it best with "We are not going to be disrespected.  We have to get something out of this.  And I don't know what that even is."  Brilliant!

 

But of course Congress is open and working, although how much work is being done is a topic of great controversy.  Members of Congress, the very people whose inability to reach consensus, got us into this mess, are getting paid since their salaries are funded from a line item that is separate from the Federal budget.  However, some members of Congress are refusing their pay either through holding it in escrow or donating it to charitable causes until the budget is passed. Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) explained it best when he said, "I shouldn't get a congressional salary while other federal employees are denied the ability to go to work."  But not all members of Congress are so giving. Mike Lee, a Tea Party Senator from Utah who initially said he was keeping his paycheck because "I am working.  I will continue to be paid." has now changed his tune and is pay to charity. (Umm.....what about those other Federal employees who are required to work yet not receive their paycheck until this debacle is resolved?).  As of yesterday, 123 lawmakers have publicly announced the donation of their checks until a resolution is reached.  But that certainly leaves a lot who feel as though they deserve their money.  Do they?

But there is a bright spot in all of this doom and gloom.  Outside of the political muck that is suffocating Capitol Hill, individuals and businesses large and small are reaching out to help those people who are hurting because of the shut down.  I've seen support groups spontaneously pop up with the sole purpose of supporting their colleagues, neighbors, or even complete strangers who are furloughed or not receiving their pay checks.  Sam's Club, a membership only mega-conglomerate that is a part of the Walmart empire, and not my favorite business by any means, has reached out the the Department of Defense community by offering free memberships to military families for the duration that stateside commissaries are shuttered.  For those families who live paycheck to paycheck and rely on the reduced food prices found at military commissaries, this offer may mean the difference between feeding one's family or going without.  And USAA, a large military and public sector friendly bank is offering no-interest loans for select federal employees whose paychecks stop.  Inside the Beltway restaurants and bars are advertising "furlough specials" with all day happy hours and reduced meal prices for people with federal identification (Congress excluded).  The Bishop of the National Cathedral has offered their garden for weddings that had been planned for the National Mall and are currently not allowed because the park is closed.  Charity organizations throughout the Metro DC area are putting out calls for furloughed employees to volunteer and a homeless shelter in Alexandria, Virginia has gone as far as organizing a furlough volunteer day.  Fibre Space, a quirky yarn shop in Old Towne Alexandria has been hosting free knitting lessons for furloughed employees all week long.  Other local businesses are offering similar incentives in an effort to support their local communities. 

 

I know this is just a short list of the outpouring of support that is being offered but it demonstrates how communities are amazingly resilient and have a history of rallying together when the going gets tough.  These bright spots remind me that people are genuinely good and do care about their fellow human beings.  We've seen it time and time again and we are seeing it now that when the going gets tough, Americans get going.  Now if only Congress could work together as well.  Short of that I hope they are noticing that a solidarity is forming and it is a solidarity against them.  And that should scare them.

Closed For Business

Today is the first of October.  For some it is just the beginning of another month but for those of us who work for the Federal government, it marks the beginning of a new fiscal year.  A new year should signify a fresh start; a new beginning.  However, this year, due to the inability of our Congress to approve a new Federal budget, the government of the United States of America is officially closed.  Yes, that is right folks, the self-proclaimed leading country of the free world, the one so many others strive to emulate, the one who is supposed to be a role model for functioning democracies around the globe, is shuttered for business because our elected officials could not pass a budget. Or as a headline in the Washington Post read this morning:  "Capitol of Free World:  Closed until further notice."  Happy new year folks!

 

So what does it mean when a first world government shuts down due to a lack of funds?  For some of the most public employees and their customers, it will be business as usual.  Mail will continue to be delivered, borders and airspace will still be patrolled by employees who will get paid at a later date, most portions of overseas Embassies will remain open, and yes Congress will continue to "work" and get paid.  For others, it means work simply stops until a new budget is passed.  Federal employees, many with families to care for, will go without paychecks until this battle of the wills is resolved.  It isn't clear as to whether or not these employees will eventually receive their missed pay or will simply have to re-prioritize their budgets to accommodate the lost funds.  (Actually, this is what the government should be doing, isn't it?).  Because of some fast dealing and the stroke of the president's pen shortly before midnight, members of the armed forces will continue to receive their paychecks in a timely manner.  As a non-military government employee I went to bed last night believing that I too would be furloughed.  It was only after coming into work at the Embassy this morning that I learned that I, along with the rest of my Department of State colleagues at the Embassy, would be exempted from the furloughs (for the time being at least).  That's not a big sigh of relief but rather a small one.

 

What I wonder through all of this, however, is how did we as a country end up where we are today?  The Federal government shut down two times in recent history, in late 1995 and again in early 1996.  As was the case both then and now, each party blamed the other for Congress's inaction and inability to pass compromise legislation.  Politics, in a democratic society, is after all, a lesson in compromise where, despite protests otherwise, the United States has and continues to fail miserably.  And the budget debate is by no means a new one.  In other years the legislative stalemate has resulted in numerous continuing resolutions essentially meaning that the same budget will carry over from one year into the next with no changes being made.  Perhaps these continuing resolutions are a form of non-committal compromise but however you define them, they have become an all too common way of doing business.  In fact, as of just yesterday, the U.S. government was in the final hours of yet another continuing resolution.  Will this coming year result in more of the same or will one party hold out until the other changes their minds, or will both parties agree to mutually acceptable compromises? However it plays out, to quote a friend, it is time that our elected government stop acting like three-year-olds on the playground and find a middle ground.  Your country and your constituents are counting on you.

I have no idea how long this stalemate will continue.  It could be hours, days or perhaps even weeks.  I wonder what it will take for Congress to agree on a budget when the only thing they can agree on is that it is the other party's fault. The bigger question I have, however, is why aren't Americans more angry about all of this and why aren't we calling our representatives to voice our frustrations.  Yes, some people are angry but it appears to mostly be those people whose paychecks are directly effected by the shutdown.  And as history has shown, the American public doesn't have a lot of sympathy for government workers since to many, a government shutdown is viewed as a "Washington" problem.  

There are lots of suggestions floating around in cyberspace about what might motivate Congress to actually perform their jobs.  The most prominent one, the current chorus of voting them out, sounds good but repeatedly, as elections approach frustrations and dissatisfaction with previous job performance are all but forgotten.  (It becomes especially easy to forget when the incumbents bills themselves as the good guys and gals with the other party always being blamed).   And besides, this isn't an election year and the budget issue must be resolved sooner rather than later so at this point, elections are the farthest thing from many of our minds.  I firmly believe that Congress will only act in a meaningful way when they hear the message that the people who elect them want compromise, change, a resolution.  They want Congress to act like adults rather than toddlers. This is what I want too so I'm going to do my part and let my representatives know exactly how I feel.  I encourage all of you to do the same.  Email, Tweet, call, or post a Facebook message .  Just do it.

Politics As Usual?

Yesterday, in a rare moment of solitude I did something I've only done a handful of times since we've been in Albania:  I turned on the television in the middle of the afternoon.  Thanks to AFN, we have a limited ten channels of American television to choose from, which once you weed out the multiple soap operas (I didn't even realize that they still existed), the family channel broadcasting shows whose "family" status I question, and the program guide channel, left me with a choice between news and news.  I opted for watching the news.  Having narrowly "dodged" the fiscal cliff for the moment, both news channels were broadcasting live coverage of the new 113th Congress being sworn it.  As I watched old white man after even older white man (despite a record number of women and minorities being recently elected) parade to the staging area for their swearing in photo op, I found myself zoning out the prattling of the commentators and thinking about the structure of the American political system in general.

America's democratic form of government is one that is envied and often replicated (or attempted to be replicated) by countries across the globe.  Our democratic system allows us as voters to elect our representatives who in turn are supposed to advocate for and represent our interests in Congress.  When working well, it is a truly dynamic and incredible way of running a government.  When it isn't working efficiently, however, we are left with a stagnant mess where no one's interests are being met.  And unfortunately, the later has been more the case lately.  I think it has taken my living overseas, in a country with an "emerging democracy" for me to truly see how dysfunctional our own government is at the moment.

The last Congress, the 112th, was reportedly the least productive in recent history (since 1947 anyway) in terms of enacting new legislation.  Partisanship has become so rampant that, whether by principle or pure stubbornness, neither party has been willing to reach across the aisle in order to move things forward.  In fact, some elected officials boasted about their unwillingness to work with members of the other party.  (I bet these same people never played nice on the playground as kids).  Last month's down to the wire fiscal cliff is a prime example of the behavior and lack of actions that have driven most of the past political year.  As the country dangled over the edge of the fiscal cliff, Congressmen and women from both parties publicly bemoaned that they weren't happy with the emerging outcomes since they had been forced to give up issues of importance to them.  That is what compromise is all about.  Everyone gives a little to achieve the best possible outcome.  (I am NOT commenting on the merits of the final bill; that is a conversation for a future blog post).  

So my question is this:  Is Congress truly reflective of the United States?  Yes, with both men and women, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and Asians; and Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists, like American itself, this congressional body has become more diverse.  There are liberals intermingled with conservatives, people in the middle of the road and Tea Partiers (what exactly do all of these labels really mean anyway?).  What disturbs me the most, however, is how proudly partisan everyone seems to have become.   I worry that this indeed is also reflective of America as a whole.  Are we really that unwilling or unable to compromise.  Can we really not see the other side of the issue and be willing to accept others whose values and beliefs differ from ours?  If we can't do this and work together on all fronts, is our democracy really that more developed than those of "emerging democracies" around the world?  Or do we just produce better sound bites?  

I want to remain optimistic that the 113th Congress will be more productive than the 112th.  I hope that they can hear each other and work together to achieve results that really put the interests of the United States first.  Or maybe at this point I just want to see any results....  I am proud of America's democratic history and I can only hope that in the coming year(s) we will be a good example of what functioning democracies should look like.