The Republican House approved slightly more than $3 billion dollars for FEMA. But the Democratic Senate says that is not enough money for the disaster agency to adequately do its job, and they approved nearly $7 billion for FEMA. And since the House combined the FEMA money with a continuing resolution to fund the federal government until November 18th, failure to agree on FEMA funds could easily shut the federal government down at the end of this week (since without the continuing resolution the government will have no authorized funds after September 30th).
When compared to the money the U.S. government will spend this year (over $600 billion on the military alone), the the $3 billion in FEMA funds that Congress is arguing about is really pretty small. It would be no wonder if the American people just got disgusted at the whole government -- and that is what has happened.
In the latest Gallup Poll (taken between September 8th and 11th of a nationwide random sample of 1,017 adults -- with a margin of error of 4 points), a record number of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the way this nation is governed. And this was before the argument over FEMA happened. Imagine what the American public thinks now! Here is what that poll shows:
PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE DISSATISFIED WITH THE WAY THIS NATION IS GOVERNED.
General public...............81%
Democrats...............65%
Republicans...............92%
PERCENTAGE WHO HAVE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Legislative branch...............31%
Executive branch...............47%
Judicial branch...............63%
While people may not be exactly thrilled by the executive branch (with only 47% trust and confidence), they are truly getting disgusted with the partisan ideological bickering of Congress which keeps them from making progress on any of the country's problems -- even the easy ones. While 31% say they have some trust and confidence in the legislative branch, only 15% approve the way Congress is handling its job.
Regardless of what happens in the presidential race, if Congress' job performance doesn't improve there could be a lot of those members of Congress looking for a new job next year -- which could be a form of poetic justice since they don't seem to care about the employment problems of ordinary Americans enough to do something about it (especially the Republicans).
...they don't seem to care about the employment problems of ordinary Americans enough to do something about it (especially the Republicans). [Emphasis added]
ReplyDeleteFrom today's Washington Times:
"President Obama still is pressing Congress to pass his jobs stimulus bill immediately, but his own party leaders in the Senate, where Democrats have a majority, have pushed that vote off yet again."
"Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said Monday night that when the Senate returns from a weeklong vacation, the chamber will work instead on a bill that would push to label China a currency manipulator, which would make retaliatory steps in order."
“'I don’t think there’s anything more important for a jobs measure than China trade,' Mr. Reid said."
(Here's a link to the article.)
As I said a few days ago, the Jobs Bill is all about pre-election posturing - forget about urgency.
I am going to write a post on this too. Conservatives know they have a better chance of winning elections if they can keep voter turnout low. Conservations purposely foster governing gridlock so that voters become so disillusioned with government that they give up and don't vote.
ReplyDeleteI want to know where the bungee jumping is at and ticket price so I can watch the patterns the BS makes when it goes splat!
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be hard to sell tickets for that, would it LL?
ReplyDelete