WV Farm Bureau Magazine October 2013 | Page 4

presidential paradigms We Deserve Better Leadership Charles Wilfong, President, West Virginia Farm Bureau It is hoped by the time you are reading this, that the partial government shutdown will be over. It’s difficult not to have access to USDA and other agency resources that we are accustomed to. The worst part of this situation is that all of it could have been avoided if Congress and the President could accomplish their most basic duty – approving a responsible budget. The Federal Government has been operating without an actual budget since 2008, when Obama was elected. The House has done their job during the past three years – approving budgets and sending them to the Senate. However, under Harry Reid’s leadership, the Senate has refused to pass a budget. So in its absence, the government operates under a “continuing resolution”, which temporarily provides funding for a designated time. The House has passed several CRs, which would have funded all aspects of government except the implementation of Obamacare. I applaud their efforts to stall Obamacare, which I believe will be disastrous to our economy, and will quickly force our country into a single-payer healthcare system. The Obama administration says that basic functions will continue through the government shutdown, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid payments; active military; border patrol; Coast Guard and all other “essential” employees/agencies. I find it interesting that out of EPA’s 16,205 employees, only 1069 were deemed essential – meaning 94% of EPA employees are non-essential! That validates what I have saying for a long time. This would be a prime place to cut federal spending. S