Congressional Misconduct and Fiscal Suicide

The https://www.govtrack.us/misconduct website is an interesting read. This website records in its database 489 instances of what is termed “misconduct” by members of Congress since 1789.¹ These incidents run the spectrum from bribery and corruption to ethics violations. Of course the latest example of Congressional misconduct is that which is alleged of Democratic Senator Bob Menendez who is charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes and using his position to seek special treatment for himself and his wife.² However, these cases of malfeasance in office by our elected officials may pale in comparison to how the House of Representatives has been mismanaged for the past few decades and especially in recent months. The spat over the Speaker of the House role and continuing budget resolutions to keep the government running will have much more important consequences for the future of the country than greed and corruption of a few senators and representatives.

In May of this year (2023) the Congress played its usual game in passing a budget resolution to raise the “debt ceiling” so that the government would remain substantially open. This is how the The Hill described it:

If there is a small silver lining to this educational thunderstorm it is the fact that statistics show that the number of our children being educated in private schools and in home schools is growing rapidly and that these children are far ahead of public schools in those same, very important skills: math, science, reading and writing. Of course, private schools and home schools are the best examples of parents controlling their children’s education.

• The U.S. Congress long ago elevated our street sport to a world class political contest called “kick the can down the road.” It demands consummate skill and tactics to avoid. circumvent, postpone and otherwise skirt statutory deadlines. Someone once observed that Congress never met a deadline it couldn’t duck. The latest, and constantly recurring, example is Congress’s deft bobbing and weaving to revise and extend the statutory debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on paying-off our government’s credit card bills.³

As a result of his maneuverings to make this deal and others, conservative representatives led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla) ousted House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca). NPR reported McCarthy’s perceived wrongdoing to include his deal with President Biden to increase the debt limit and acceptance of higher spending over the next two years, his appeal to Democrats to pass a spending bill preventing a shutdown and more funding for the war in Ukraine.⁴

With the US economy in dire straits because inflation still makes it increasingly difficult for Americans to maintain their standards of living. The housing market is dying because the Federal Reserve continues to hold the line on higher interest rates as a hedge against inflation. High gasoline prices make it very difficult for the average American to commute and travel. And, because there is no Speaker, the House of Representatives is paralyzed and cannot act to offset the catastrophe that is ‘Bidenomics.’

In our view this is Congressional misconduct of the highest order. But Congressional misconduct is what we, the people of the United States, have made the order of the day because we have elected these representatives. As long as we continue to elect Democratic party politicians who have no interest in fiscal responsibility and as long as we continue to elect Republican politicians who cannot discern the immediate and dire best interests of the country as whole, then we are doomed to continue this governmental death spiral.

The solemn responsibility that we intend to shoulder here at I Vote My Vote is to become a source of real voter knowledge. We seek to inform voters so that they are aware of the views and policies of the people that are running for Congress and other offices, hoping to save the country from disaster.

1. Legislator Misconduct Database. (2023.) GovTrack.us. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/misconduct
2. U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, His Wife, And Three New Jersey Businessmen Charged With Bribery Offenses. (2023.) Justice.gov. Retrieved from https://www justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-senator-robert-menendez-his-wife-and- three-new-jersey-businessmen-charged
3. Wolfensberger, D. (2023). Congress plays defi game of ‘kicking the can down the road’. TheHill.com. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3982 104-congress-plays-deft-game-of-kicking-the-can-down-the- road/
4. Grisales, C. & Snell, K. (2023). Rep. Matt Gaetz launches effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. NPR.org. Retrieved from  https://www.npr.org/2023/10/02/1203008202/mccarthy-speaker-gaetz