This past week has been extremely busy and strenuous for all
Congressmen and women. With the
controversial federal government shutdown, most of the blame has been placed on
members of the GOP. Representative
Lance has been voting with the majority of his colleagues within the party;
however, he does feel that there isn’t a specific political party that is to be
blamed for all the conflict that is going on in the House and Senate currently. This is somewhat hypocritical because
last month he was quoted saying that it was the Democrats who should be blamed
for this shutdown because they chose not to defund Obamacare. But is the debate surrounding Obamacare
legitimate at this point? I say this because it seems to be very counter-productive
that there is even any discussion regarding Obamacare, since it has already
been implemented as a law and is receiving funds. If the Republicans, including Lance do necessarily feel this
strongly against it, then there should possibly be a separate debate or
discussion regarding the Affordable Care Act. This
government shutdown does seem to be greatly affecting many of Lance’s
constituents. In just one of the
sections of the district Lance represents, around 4800 workers locally were
sent home and are currently not going to be receiving any of their paychecks
until the House and Senate agree on a budget. It will be interesting to follow this current issue, and
watch to see if Lance is receiving any immediate backlash from his
constituents. Most recently, there
has not been too much backlash from his constituents, but if the government
continues to be closed I’m sure constituents will become very agitated and
restless. I also wonder if this
will have a negative effect on Lance’s campaign for the next election.
Since
Representative Lance has been elected there has never been a government
shutdown. He was very strongly against
the shutdown and agreed with the Democrats in Congress by recognizing the
detrimental effect it would have on the Federal government, and also the
American people, yet he still voted with his party. This conflict in Congress has most definitely shown the
extreme party polarization and continuing intense feelings towards the
Congressmen and women’s own political party.
Representative
Lance feels that there has been much conflict and issues with making a new
federal government budget for years now.
He says that both parties must be taking responsibility for the current
shutdown. I agree with Lance and
especially when he was quoted saying, “It is time for the partisanship and
brinkmanship to end. It is time
for our leaders to put aside past differences, work around the clock and find
an agreement that avoids a continued shutdown. I stand ready to support their efforts.” (Fed shutdown hits parks, Great Swamp,
Picatinny October 2013). I
also find it interesting that Lance also made a point of saying that both the
Senate and President are to blame over the House for the rejection of the
revisions. He went on about how
Obama has been the individual deciding to have this government shutdown because
he doesn’t want his own law to be revised. Later in the article, Lance uses very interesting
language. He talks about how he
didn’t choose to reject the bill per
say, but that there should be a conference committee called in order for them
to all negotiate and have a discussion. Here, I feel he is trying to highlight
the necessity for a civilized discussion rather than the image most Americans
have in their heads right now of this chaotic and ridiculous banter in
Congress. He does touch-on the
image of Congress and how the American people’s trust and faith in Congress has
significantly decreased and become more negative. Lance feels this is problem that is connected to and goes
back to highlighting only the bad or negative, and that most of the public hears
about the conflict that goes on in Congress.
Garber, Phil. "Fed shutdown hits parks, Great Swamp,
Picatinny." Madison Eagle, October 4, 2013.
http://newjerseyhills.com/madison_eagle/news/fed-shutdown-hits-parks- (accessed
October 4, 2013).
Press TV, "US House GOP stands firm on Obamacare."
Last modified October 4, 2013. Accessed
October 4, 2013. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/04/327597/house-republicans- obamacare/.
No comments:
Post a Comment