Senate Reaches Deal to Open Government

Senators Reid and McConnell have brought their parties, at least at the senate level, into agreement range in a bid to reopen the federal government. Speaker Boehner will call the House to vote on a resolution for the end of the shutdown as well.

The House is scheduled to consider the deal at 3 p.m.; the Senate, "after dinner," according to CNN.

The Senate deal would:

• Keep the government open until Jan. 15;
• Increase the debt ceiling through Feb. 7;
• Appoint negotiators to hammer out a long-term budget deal;
• Require income verification for those signing up for Obamacare subsidies.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced the agreement on the Senate floor, where it was expected to win swift approval after a main Republican critic of the deal, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, said he would not use procedural moves to delay a vote.

Senator Cruz of Texas has come out against the deal stating that it does not address Obamacare: ""The deal that has been cut provides no relief to millions of Americans who are hurting because of Obamacare. The deal that has been cut provides no relief to the young people coming out of school who cannot find a job because of Obamacare."

Regardless of who is to blame for having kept the government shut down for the past two weeks, the people of the United States are the real losers in all the political wrangling during this beltway showdown. The politicians that have been sent to Washington are not there representing the interests of the people of this country. The bullying, the haranguing, the posturing and posing, have all been for the benefits of the cameras covering the events of the shutdown. Washington keeps itself separated and segregated from the rest of the country by passing laws that they, themselves, do not follow or adhere to.

According to some legends of King Arthur, Camelot fell into sharp decline when there was one set of laws for the kingdom and a different set of laws for the King. Are we, as Camelot, falling into decline as a nation because of the same circumstance? Can a nation exist if there is one set of laws for the governors and another set for the governed? If history is any judge, looking at Rome and the Soviet system, such a system is doomed to failure...

Just a thought

Sic vis pacem parabellum

MT

Placing a price tag on freedom

At what cost freedom? Can the cost be measured in dollars and cents? Or is the measure of the worth of freedom something intangible, something unseen, untouched, unable to bartered or traded?

One of our commenters stated the other day that too much money had been wasted on the war, the troops worked for him, and he demands they be brought home.

Obviously this individual has never read the Constitution of the United States of America, for he doesn't understand that as a private citizen, he IS NOT A MEMBER of the CHAIN OF COMMAND structure for the military.

By that token, neither is any member of either the House or the Senate.

That being said, the New York Sun has an article today that those who are so terribly disturbed about the state of the government under the control of the Bush administration will likely blanch at reading.

Incredible Shrinking Deficit, II
New York Sun Editorial
August 24, 2007

2004: $413 billion
2005: $318 billion
2006: $248 billion
2007: $158 billion

Close readers of this column may recall the top three numbers in the list above from our editorial of July 12, "Incredible Shrinking Deficit." It commented on the mid-session review released by President Bush's Office of Management and Budget, which projected the fourth number, the 2007 federal budget deficit, at $205 billion. Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its own updated estimate for 2007, $158 billion, a deficit even smaller than the White House's July figure. The CBO yesterday also released its latest estimate of the 2007 deficit as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, allowing us to update another list of deficit numbers:

2004: 3.6%
2005: 2.6%
2006: 1.9%
2007: 1.2%

The CBO's estimate of the 2007 deficit at 1.2% of GDP is significantly lower than the White House's July estimate of 1.5% of GDP, which we used back in the July 12 editorial, and well below the 40-year average of 2.4%. In other words, the case is stronger than ever that President Bush's tax cuts, rather than creating a budget deficit, are fueling economic growth that is swelling federal revenues and shrinking the deficit.

Democrats, naturally, are already coming up with ways to discredit this, but the numbers are there, in black and white. Watch the next few days as they begin spluttering and foaming at the mouth finding other things to vilify the administration for. Mayhap some of the things that they'll bring up will be valid. Lord knows I'd love to see our borders secured. But on this one? They may as well be coyotes yapping and whining at the full moon.

Just remember this. These numbers come from a time when there have been tax CUTS. What do the Democrats want to do to your taxes? They want to raise them.

Something to think about.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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