Representative John Dingell (D-MI)
is not hiding his feelings about the government shutdown. On the second day of
the shutdown Dingell was given three minutes on the House floor and he used
that time to scold the entire House like a father scolding his children.
Someone asked him if he had seen it worse. In Dingell’s speech his reply is
“I’ve only been here 57 years and I’ve never have. I’ve never seen such small
minded, miserable behavior in the House of Representatives.”[1]
In his three minute long speech he later says that he his embarrassed and
ashamed of the actions in the House and members on both sides should feel the
same especially the republicans.[2]
This is the second time I have posted about Dingell using floor time to scold
the actions in the House. The first time was about the 41st vote to
shutdown Obamacare, this time because of the government shutdown.
I wonder if any of this scolding is
doing anyone any good. Because Dingell is such a senior figure he can throw his
opinion into matters and I am learning that Dingell is a no nonsense kind of
person. He is blunt with his message and not afraid to let everyone know how he
is feeling on a matter. But this scolding, is it any better than the attitudes
of his Republican colleagues? He says every member of the House should be
ashamed of his or her actions, but he puts special blame on the Republicans. I
don’t thinking this is fixing any problems, but rather just adding to the
animosity between the two parties.
Dingell has also made his position
clear to the media, appearing on the Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC. He said
that one of the biggest reasons this is the worst shutdown he has seen, and
Dingell has witnessed 18 shutdowns, is because Speaker Boehner has lost control
of his party. Dingell also says that to end the shutdown Congress has to pass a
simple continuing resolution than they can get down to negotiating other
aspects of the budget. “The only problem is they don’t want to do it on the
other side of the aisle.”[3]
He is once again putting blame on the Republicans. Congressman Dingell is not
alone in the blame game. Both parties are putting blame on the other. What I
would like to see is a representative own up to his or her own mistakes and
contributions to this shutdown. You cannot put blame on one party or the other,
the shutdown is the fault of all members in Congress. The sooner the House can
move past the blame game and the petty politics, the sooner they can work out a
compromise and get the government up and running again.
[1] Rep. John Dingell Denounces Political Games of
#GOPshutdown. Youtube.com. 2 Oct.
2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HEvpDdWdIY&list=UUlwgUrx-vEfhWoGUU2DnqJQ.
[2] Rep. John Dingell Denounces Political Games of
#GOPshutdown. Youtube.com. 2 Oct.
2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HEvpDdWdIY&list=UUlwgUrx-vEfhWoGUU2DnqJQ.
[3] Rep. John
Dingell Discueees Government Shutdown on Andrea Mitchell Reports. Youtube.com.
3 Oct. 2013.
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