To head off deficit disaster the US Congress needs a coalition of common sense.

Saturday, March 23^rd, President Biden signed into law the latest 1.2 trillion dollar, ‘Continuing Resolution’ (CR). This makes the 6^th CR the Congress has already passed in fiscal year 2024 and continues the futility of efforts by the Congress to pass a sound budget that reins in unrestrained spending by its members in the Senate and the House, from both sides of the political aisle.

CR’s are according to some, necessary so that the Congress can avert a looming ‘shutdown’ of the government that many in Congress and the press warn will cause catastrophic problems for the country. Not much is said in the press about the ‘looming’ catastrophic problems for the country caused by CR’s and there are many negative consequences resulting from their passage. The Bipartisan Policy Center claims that because of CR’s many government agencies cannot function as usual. Some of these agencies affected include the following.

• The Department of Defense could not continue some types of assistance to service members. The Army could not offer recruiting bonuses.
• The Department of Education could not continue assistance for students at some colleges and universities.
• The Department of Agriculture would be unable to provide cost of living increases to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and would delay farm rental assistance.
• Health and Human Services could not provide assistance to households under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection would have to release many agents and other employees to furlough and ICE might need to release detainees.
• TSA would have to freeze hiring leading to increased waits for airline passengers at security checkpoints.¹

But the REAL consequence of CR’s is that the venality of our political leaders is covered up so that voters don’t demand competence from our Congress and actual fiscal responsibility. ‘Venality’ is the perfect word to describe what appears to be the motivation of Congressional leaders, both Democrat and Republican, who have enriched themselves as politicians and buy votes with help from the special interest groups they often serve that in turn, fund them and work to keep them in office.

This congressional misconduct keeps us on the road to a financial debacle because CR’s damage the US economy in many significant ways. According to former Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) there are many ways that reliance upon CR’s to fund the government cause economic and social harm to the country. Leahy says that they undermine “…national security and the ability of American families to cope with the increased costs of heating and cooling, food, and housing.”² In other words, in a time of economic disaster visited upon families because of the current government’s inflation-causing activities, CR’s make everything worse!

In their latest report, the Citizens Against Government Waste cite as an example, the irresponsibility of Senator Chuck Schumer, calling him “Porker of the Month.”³ The Democrat politician has gotten wealthy leading the US Senate and he buys votes for his tenure in the Senate by ‘earmarks’ such as the following from the latest CR…

• In the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill alone, there are seven earmarks worth $12.4 million for two museums and 25 earmarks worth $30.7 million for bike paths. Sen. Schumer got $6.75 million for museums in New York City, one of which had $354 million in income in 2022.

This website, reflecting the views of responsible citizens describes Schumer’s actions as “legalized bribery.”⁴

We here at I Vote My Vote believe that voters need to understand the danger of continuing with a Congress that practices Continuing Resolutions; deceiving voters to cover up the fraud. We must hold our elected officials accountable. I Vote My Vote seeks to inform voters about politicians such as Schumer who destroy our country’s economic security so that they can remain in office and personally enrich themselves. We believe that it is necessary for responsible voters to ensure that the Congress is competently led by a ‘Coalition of Common Sense.’

The ‘Coalition of Common Sense’ would see the folly of ‘kicking the can down the road’ with Continuing Resolutions and enact legislation creating a planned and balanced annual budget. By law (the Congressional Budget Act of 1974), the Congress is required to pass a budget and lawmakers have not passed a complete budget since 1997.⁵

This ‘Coalition of Common Sense’ would be composed of politicians from both the major political parties who believe that Congress must act immediately to stop our economic slide to disaster to where we cannot fund essential government functions such as defense, Social Security and Medicare. It is the work of I Vote My Vote to help you, the voter, to understand what must be done for the future and who to elect to this Coalition of Common Sense.

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1. Lautz, A & Fano, A. (2024). What You Need to Know About Continuing Resolutions. Bipartisan Policy Center. Retrieved from https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/what-to-know-about-continuing-resolutions/
2. Impacts of a Full Year Continuing Resolution. (2022). United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. Retrieved from https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/impacts-of-a-full-year-continuing-resolution
3. Abrams, A. (2024). Citizens Against Government Waste Names Sen. Chuck Schumer March 2024 Porker of the Month. Citizens Against Government Waste. Retrieved from https://www.cagw.org/media/press-releases/citizens-against-government-waste-names-sen-chuck-schumer-march-2024-porker
4. Ibid.

5. Congress has long struggled to pass spending bills on time. (2023). Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/congress-has-long-struggled-to-pass-spending-bills-on-time/