America, The Best Looking Horse In a Glue Factory…Why the
passage of a non-binding budget is still crucial.
"We know you’re trying, but we just don’t care.” That
was the message the GOP sent Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Senate
Budge Committee, this week when they apologized for not wanting to pass his 2013
budget. They
blamed the Democrats for holding up a budget markup in fear of an
unnecessary political battle during an election year.
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While there is no doubt that Democrats deserve a good amount
of blame in this process, the GOP is as unwilling to allow the Democrats to
have a financial success, as the Democrats are to face scrutiny over tough
decisions. The passing of a budget before the election cycle helps no one. And
when neither side benefits from the passing of such a vital piece of
legislation, our country ultimately loses.
Congress has not passed a budget since the House and the
Senate were both under Democratic control in 2009. Although this $3.55 trillion
budget was not exactly the picture of financial responsibility, it did give the
world economy a signal that the government is working. To me, the loss of that
signal is one of the worst consequences of gridlock today.
People often say that the Congressional budget is not
binding and therefore not an important piece of legislation. Remember, the
United States was not downgraded by the rating agencies because it was unable
to pay its bills, it was downgraded because the agencies did not believe that
the United States had the POLITICAL capacity to ensure its debtors that they
would be paid. That is why votes like these are so important, they provide the
signal to our debtors and to our citizens, that we are healthy. This is very similar to a company issuing quarterly
dividends. It’s a market signal, as long as it continues, shareholders can have
some faith that the company is running smoothly, but when a dividend payment is
missed, their stock price drops dramatically and investors rush to get out of a
sinking ship.
This is the message we’re sending to our nation and the
world economy. America is not stable, because its fiscal policy is not stable. If
the creditworthiness of the United States is not a rallying cry for Congress,
then I don’t know what is. It’s a good thing that Europe isn’t doing so hot
either. Now Americans can rightfully claim, in an accurate reflection of the lack of prestige and longevity of our current position, that although we’ve got issues, we’re
still the best looking horse at a glue factory…
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