Monday was the legal deadline for President Obama to submit a budget proposal to Congress. So how did that budget proposal look?
Oh, sorry, all Congress received was a note explaining, “The fiscal cliff ate it.”
Not that anyone is the slightest bit surprised, but for the fourth year in a row, the president failed to submit a budget by the deadline proscribed by law. This year the White House claimed that the fiscal cliff talks in December set the process back, but they’ve always got some excuse.
Then again, at least the White House has an excuse, however flimsy. Senate Democrats don’t even bother making excuses for why they haven’t passed a budget for the past four years. They just don’t want to pass one.
What’s worse, is you get your news from the lamestream media, you might not even know that the president has once again blown off his responsibility to pass a budget. It’s not exactly a big story. They’re all over Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and the facial reconstruction of King Richard III, but the fact that the president of the United States can’t be bothered to submit a budget on time is not worth their time to report.
One of the reasons we’re running deficits in excess of $1 trillion every year is that, with no actual budget for the public to scrutinize, it’s easier for Democrats to borrow and spend under the radar. Paul Ryan points out that House Republicans will pass a responsible budget this year, and that’s true. But Republicans are culpable too, because they keep allowing the continuing resolutions that have been authorizing spending for the past four years to pass.
When no one in Washington is willing to do their jobs, and no one in the media thinks it’s a big deal, this country is in big trouble. Somehow, We the People need to stage an intervention.
