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