Hank faces the uncomfortable prospect of being forced to take a week or even a month off work with no pay, unless a Government budget is agreed by Friday. I agree that cuts in the right places and in the right ways are overdue and necessary, particularly given the excessive bureaucracy I have seen on the immigration side. But I'm very angry with the Republican Party (GOP) for aggressively leveraging its new Congress majority to intentionally (in my opinion) delay the budget. Yesterday President Obama said the level of cuts requested by the GOP ($33 billion) had been met. GOP House Speaker John Boehner immediately called a Press Conference to deny that a figure had ever been agreed and that the $33 billion cuts were not enough, holding out for "all of the spending cuts that we can get." That's great but how will the Republicans know when they have got all they can get? To paraphrase Lethal Weapon 2, will they count up from "one" then go for a compromise at "three" - or after "three"?
-"l thought you meant, ''three'' then go! "
-"No! We always go on ''three''!"
-"Sometimes we go, ''one, two, three,'' then go!"
Meantime, Hank will be sitting at home wondering why the heck he can't just get on with his job. Even if he gets classified as an "essential employee" and called to work next week, I have this sneaking feeling that the pay which essential workers should later receive for their efforts will not be honoured, unlike during the 90s government shutdown. Afterall, the GOP is after all the cuts they can get. So what does it matter to them if Hank cannot pay the mortgage?
Don't worry, we will eat our savings to pay the bills, if we have to. Thank goodness we have no children. But with me not permitted to work, and coming hot on the heels of our wedding, and two siblings getting married* this summer in the UK, this couldn't have come at a worse time for us.
*Not to each other
To me it seems that the GOP is not setting its own target for public spending cuts because a) it's at the mercy of the Tea Party which cannot count that high and b) there's a risk that any target may actually be reached without disrupting and undermining the President. If you're sceptical about whether the GOP is intentionally moving the goal posts on the budget, keep an eye out during this Jon Stewart video for GOP Senator for Alabama, Senate Budget Committee ranking minority member Jefferson "Jeff" Beauregard Sessions III.
*Not to each other
To me it seems that the GOP is not setting its own target for public spending cuts because a) it's at the mercy of the Tea Party which cannot count that high and b) there's a risk that any target may actually be reached without disrupting and undermining the President. If you're sceptical about whether the GOP is intentionally moving the goal posts on the budget, keep an eye out during this Jon Stewart video for GOP Senator for Alabama, Senate Budget Committee ranking minority member Jefferson "Jeff" Beauregard Sessions III.
From Hank: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/opinion/08fri1.html?emc=eta1
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