Job Performance

Now that the Congress has returned from its deserved (?) summer vacation, the next battle over the 2014 budget will begin anew. There are two major stumbling blocks that could force the voters to revisit the existing class with Republicans controlling the House and the Democrats holding the Senate.

Obamacare - According to the latest polls, it appears that Americans do not favor the law as it presently exists from anywhere 56% to 62% against. The House has had over 40 votes for repeal to no avail of President Obama's signature piece of legislation, which probably will define his presidency, unless something more pressing evolves, like the escalation of another Middle East problem.

In addition, the movement to defund the law will not stop the non-financial aspects of the law to be implemented, for example, the IRS having access to all sorts of health information, which technically violates HIPAA.

Instead, both parties and President Obama need to recognize that the law as presently constructed, is unfair to many people who have not received exemptions or waivers, nor postponements. The whole law needs to be delayed so that the unpopular issues can be fixed before the law is implemented. Otherwise, it may be found to be unconstitutional after implementation, due to some  unforeseen part of the law applied unequally. Then, to untangle the law would be an unmitigated disaster.

Debt Ceiling - This issue is a political football every time it comes up. Presently, we are dealing with a sequester, whereby certain services are reduced, or denied because funds have not been allocated. On a local scale, this would be considered a form of austerity.

In 2011, as part of a "grand bargain", several Members of Congress were assigned to a special committee to develop a workable plan to resolve ongoing battles over the debt ceiling increases and spending cuts to pay for them. These respected men and women were unable to hammer out an agreement and decided to kick the can to December, 2012, with a threat of sequester built in to try to hold the Congress' feet to the fire.

Voila! The agreement had as much chance to succeed as ice freezing in July. Hence, the sequester. Now, by mid-October, it looks like the government will run out of money unless the Congress raises the debt ceiling and gives itself the authority to borrow more money.

If these two issues are not resolved, there will be no chance to pass a budget before the end of September to be effective on October 1. Then, a continuing resolution will be necessary to avoid a complete government shutdown, similar to the one which occurred in 1995.

Perhaps, we should demand that Representatives and Senate forgo their paychecks as they haven't earned it. Then, we will see how quickly the people's employee does the people's business.

After all, those of us in private industry are penalized each day if we don't do our jobs. It's time to treat the Congress as we are. It's only fair, right?