We have been through a very long couple of weeks. It started off with the news that all decorum was heading out of the U. S. Senate. Not only was Sen. John Fetterman going to be allowed to wear shorts and hoodies on the floor of the Senate, he was going to serve in a leadership positions, sitting at the head of the table if you will in those clothes.
Then we faced the threat of a government shutdown. Look, we are in the budget and debt mess we are in because of the decisions that Democrats and Republicans made over the last 45 or so years that got us here. Bills and budgets have been passed and signed into law, so we are all to blame.
It may seem that dress codes and government shutdowns don’t go together, but they do. Following procedure, having decorum, and understanding consequences go together. It is called being a grown up and showing leadership.
So how do we fix it? In the short-term, you get the appropriations bills for this year passed in the next 44 days and signed by the president. We are going to have a 1.7 to 2 trillion-dollar deficit for the fiscal year we just finished and there is no way around that. There is, however, a way to stop it. Rep. Matt Gaetz is not a friend to this movement. He could have helped his situation and voted on the CR that had an 8% spending cut. We wouldn’t have gotten 8% from the Senate but it would have been a start. Gaetz is out for himself, not the country.
In the long-term, and I mean starting in December, we get on regular budget order by showing leadership daily with the goal of passing a budget on time. Let all the shiny balls drop and then get to the real business of the country. Pass budgets on time and keep the chaos out of the daily news cycle and you will win with the American people.
Dress codes and decorum. Who would have thought it would go together?
