The last thing the public needed this year was more political brinkmanship. In 2020, governments asked the public to stop working, traveling, gathering, and “just stay home.” The goal was to “stop the spread” or “flatten the curve.” The result is millions of lost jobs, thousands of delayed medical procedures, and diminished educational attainment for America’s students. Now, on top of all this, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is steering Congress toward a disruptive government shutdown.
To be clear, Congress had all year to hammer out an agreement on appropriating money for congressionally funded government operations. In a perfect world, Congress would vote on the various department appropriations one by one before Sept. 30, and then, work would begin on the next year’s spending. This would avoid the now-annual tradition of releasing thousand-page “omnibus” packages just days before the government runs out of money. Methodically negotiating and voting on each appropriation would allow members of Congress to address narrower issues in certain areas where Congress spends our hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
