Well, color me surprised. They did it.
The government technically shut down for several hours this morning, while Ron Paul continued his one man crusade against increased spending (in the face of his vote to reduce revenues by way of sweeping tax cuts late last year). While we slept, the Senate finally passed the budget, which funds certain programs for two years or more, and funds the government for another six weeks while they hammer together a real budget. (So, you know, stay tuned in late March, right?)
Around 5:30 a.m. Central, the House also passed the bill, sending it to the President to sign.
Here's a link to the highlights of what the new spending bill does. There are a lot of good things in the bill, though left-leaners don't like that it fails to address the dreamers and DACA (which issue does require attention) and right-leaners don't like the departure from fiscal austerity that they favor (and I also sympathize with their aversion to deficit-making spending).
So the Valentine shutdown was over before it began. I'm frankly glad of it. But the starting and stopping that comes from short term budgets and the now-regular run up to the brink of a shutdown (and, now twice, with a brief shutdown to follow) has got to stop. This is no way to run a government. Congress can do better. And I encourage them to do better before March 23rd, when government funding is set to run out again. Let's not put it to the last minute yet again. (And by "let's," I mean, "you guys," because I am at your relative mercy . . . .)
Happy early Valentine's Day, folks. See you after St. Patrick's Day, maybe . . . .
(Oh, and what did I DO today in light of the non-shutdown? Went to work. Went to the ophthalmologist. Went to lunch. Went home for a nap to sleep off the eye dilation.)
