Walking and Chewing Gum in D.C.
Not only are the national Democrats trying to prevent the US House Republicans from using the debt ceiling crisis to reshape public policy wholesale, they have to monitor the barn door to stop the GOP extremists from rushing in with anti-environmental measures while the spotlight is on the debt issue. Read Leslie Kaufman’s report in the NYTimes about what’s going on in Congress with appropriation bills being tagged with riders that are nakedly pro-business freedom and con-Nature. Find the article here, and get the NYT if you want more.
The manufactured debt ceiling crisis is all part of this effort to shrink the federal govt so that services provided and the social safety net constructed in the 1930s and 1940s is made to disappear. And, many Dems in Congress are readily going along with this by proposing massive cuts themselves. The debt ceiling has been raised numerous times in the past with Rep presidents as well as Dems. The difference this time is the growing boldness of fiscal conservatives and their Fox News enablers, the lack of a spine on the part of most Dems, and the profound weakness of organized labor and other broad based grass roots coalitions engaged in a substantial fightback against what amounts to a wholesale crushing of the American Dream!
We need a 21st century version of the GI bill signed into law as WW II wound down to stimulate innovation, make college affordable again, invest in our infrastructure, and put the millions of unemployed back to work. Short of this we run the risk of a new recession, already a reality in large parts of the nation.
BTW, where are the voices of the MA congressional delegation?