They’ve Done It Again and Again…Politicians Just Cannot Be Responsible

In the 20th century the Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling 90 times.¹ According to Time, since 1960 the ceiling has been raised 78 times.² It’s been raised two more times since that Time article was written. Here are the dates that the debt ceiling has been raised over the past decade:

• September 8, 2017, weeks before default
• February 9, 2018, a month before default
• August 2, 2019, a month before default
• October 14, 2021, weeks before default
• December 16, 2021, days before default
• June 3, 2023, day of default
• November 11, 2023, days before default
• January 18, 2024, days before default

Every time the debt ceiling is raised and spending by the Federal government exceeds the prior limit, the national debt grows exponentially. Under President Biden so far the debt has grown by $2,499,993,043,258.10.³ But Biden’s present debt is miniscule compared to President Obama’s debt record of $7,663,615,710,425.00. Even under President Trump the debt rose by $6,700,491,178,561.60.

Time goes on to point out that during the period since 1960 the debt ceiling was raised 49 times during a Republican President’s administration and raised 29 times during a Democrat President’s administration. The Biden administration has since added two more raises to the total for Democrat Presidents. This national debt irresponsibility seems to be a bi-partisan practice even though Republicans are supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility. This quote from Vox.com explains why the Republicans who supposedly control the House of Representatives cannot reduce the national debt which stands as of this month at over $34 Trillion…that’s Trillion…over $264,000 for each taxpaying citizen.

• While far-right Republicans make it hard to keep the government running, others in their party have been reaching constructive legislative compromises.⁴

The reason this quote is revealing lies with the framing of the issue by the press. The Republicans in Congress who realize they cannot just keep spending at the same levels and raising the national debt limit, are called “far-right.” The Republicans that are willing to continue ‘kicking the can’ down the road are labeled, “constructive.” Later in the same article, House Speaker Mike Johnson is described as “…extremely right-wing.” So, this press outlet, like most of the national press, portrays those in Congress who realize that this sort of irresponsibility cannot continue as ideologues, who are wayyyy out of the mainstream and cannot be trusted. This despite polls like this Pew Research Center poll from January of 2023 indicating that 57% of Americans believe “…reducing the budget deficit should be a top priority,”⁵

This framing by the press frightens the daylights out of Republicans in the Congress who are afraid of being voted out of office by constituents who supposedly abhor a government shutdown. Of course, the shutdown would result from current spending levels that exceed the national debt limit. So, the cycle continues. The frightened Republican majority does nothing to curb spending. But the government shutdown phobia is another issue of press framing. In other words, the national press, with few exceptions, is lying about a government shutdown.

Does most of the US population actually abhor a government shutdown? According to most recent polls the answer to this question is “yes.” For example, a September 2023 poll by Navigatorresearch.org concluded “63 percent of Americans feel a government shutdown would have a negative impact on people like them compared to just 7 percent who think it would have a positive impact.”⁶ The majority of respondents to the poll making up the 63% felt that the shutdown would negatively affect Social Security and Medicare payments. Why does this majority feel this way?

Once again, national press irresponsibility is the major cause of this misunderstanding. The majority Democrat press refuses to report the actual truth regarding government shutdowns and Republicans who stand for spending responsibility just cannot seem to be able to correct these press lies. A Heritage Foundation article describing the potential effects of a government shutdown labeled the usual press treatment of a government shutdown as “apocalyptic” when in fact, none of the usual press descriptions are accurate.

Consider this article from the Kiplinger Personal Finance website under the heading “How Medicare Would Be Affected By A Government Shutdown.” A person scanning the article and just reading the headline would automatically assume without reading the article that Medicare would be affected by a government shutdown. If however, one reads the article and gets two paragraphs into it this can be found:

• The upshot is that, under CMS, you would continue to receive Medicare even if a shutdown occurs. Social Security checks, too, would not be affected by a government shutdown.⁷

An accurate headline would be something like this “Government Shutdown Will Not Affect Medicare and Social Security Payments.” Instead, this trusted financial press outlet chooses to mislead the public. But bait and switch headlines like this don’t hold a candle to some media outlets and politicians that just cannot help themselves and outright lie about the issue. This is Ms. Leger Fernandez, Democrat member of the Congress from New Mexico speaking on the Congressional Record,

• A shutdown could delay veterans and Social Security payments.⁸

Of course, Ms. Fernandez knows that a government shutdown cannot affect Social Security and Medicare, but it suits her purpose for continued spending to lie about it. The US News & World Report pushes the government shutdown lie without shame:

• Other services are affected by shutdowns. For recipients of Social Security and Medicare, checks continue to be sent, but administrative services such as benefit verification and card issuance are paused.⁹

In actual fact, card issuance would not be affected, and verification would only be affected if the Social Security Administration decides to put that on hold during a government shutdown.¹⁰ In other words, if Social Security recipients face reduced services during a government shutdown it is only because those government agencies choose to inflict that pain. I wonder why? President Obama’s actions during a government shutdown reveal the reason. As the New York Post reports, this is just standard operating procedure for our Washington politicians.

• It’s called Washington Monument Syndrome. That’s shorthand for the way federal agencies react to any threat of budget cuts or a government shutdown: by closing down the most popular public services. No one has mastered this better than President Obama. Which explains the dramatic — and wholly unnecessary — confrontation Tuesday at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Faced with signs saying the memorial was closed, war vets rightly pushed past makeshift gates and barricades to make their visit. That there were barricades at all underscores the phony politics at work.¹¹

The article goes on to point out that keeping the memorials open costs the government nothing but closing them required additional funding.

And so it goes on again and again. Less than five months ago the House of Representatives passed Speaker Mike Johnson’s stop-gap spending bill to keep the government open. Johnson’s plan extended federal funding at current levels for several agencies and programs through this month, and others until Feb. 2.¹² In essence, this plan delayed the possibility of a government shutdown until after the first of the new year. Then just a week ago, the press and the politicians shouted the same old lies from the rooftops and frightened the Speaker into another budget compromise, ‘kicking the can’ down the road…again. The prospect of a government shutdown is delayed…again. So that in a couple of months the same charade will be played out in the press portraying those who demand spending responsibility as the party that wants to hurt the elderly and infirm.

The question really is, “Are you going to buy these Washington lies?” We here at I Vote My Vote want you to know exactly what is going on with this government shutdown nonsense. We believe an informed voter is the kind of voter that this country needs!

1. History of Debt Limit and Why It Matters. (2024). BGR Group. Retrieved from https://bgrdc.com/history-of-debt-limit-and-why-it-matters/
2. Popli, N. & Waxman, O. (2023). What to Know About the History of the Debt Ceiling. Time Inc. Retrieved from https://time.com/6281003/debt-ceiling-history/
3. Srinivasan, H. (2024). U.S. Debt by President: Dollar and Percentage. Investopedia, Dotdash Meredith. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/us-debt-by-president-dollar-and-percentage-7371225
4. Levitz, E. (2024). The GOP is moderating — and coming unhinged. Vox.com. retrieved from https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/1/20/24044474/government-shutdown-republicans-right-house-senate
5. Van Green, T. (2023). 6 facts about Americans’ views of government spending and the deficit. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/24/6-facts-about-americans-views-of-government-spending-and-the-deficit/
6. Parra, G. (2023). Most Americans Think a Government Shutdown Would Negatively Impact Seniors on Social Security and Medicare. Navigatorresearch.org. Retrieved from https://navigatorresearch.org/most-americans-think-a-government-shutdown-would-negatively-impact-seniors-on-social-security-and-medicare/
7. D’Amico, E. (2024). How Medicare Would Be Affected By A Government Shutdown. Kiplinger Personal Finance. Retrieved from https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/medicare/medicare-affected-government-shutdown
8. PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1435, PRESERVING CHOICE IN VEHICLE PURCHASES ACT; Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 149. (2023). Congress.gov. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-169/issue-149/house-section/article/H4310-5
9. Hubbard, K. (2023). Who Really Gets Hurt During a Government Shutdown? US News & World Report. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2023-09-29/who-really-gets-hurt-during-a-government-shutdown
10. Konish, L. (2024). Social Security beneficiaries can count on checks as government shutdown deadline looms, expert says. CNBC.com. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/08/social-security-checks-to-continue-as-shutdown-deadline-looms-expert-says.html
11. Obama shuts down WWII national memorial. Nypost.com. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2013/10/03/obama-shuts-down-wwii-national-memorial/
12. Quinn, M. (2023). House passes short-term funding plan to avert government shutdown. CBSNews.com. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2023-government-shutdown-house-vote-today/