Sequester-Nation

If the US were the Titanic and Congress were its crew, the situation would be like this: the ship is headed straight at an iceberg but the crew can’t agree on how to avoid the iceberg. Half the crew wants to steer to the right and half the crew wants to steer to the left. They’re arguing, “Go right … go left … no, right … no, only left avoids disaster.” Meanwhile the ship is minutes away from running into the iceberg.

Once again, the US Congress can’t get its act together to pass a budget bill. Congressional Republicans blame Obama, of course, but Obama has nothing to do with the problem. It is the responsibility of Congress, of the House and the Senate, to pass a budget bill.

Here’s what is supposed to happen. The President sends a budget request to Congress. Congress debates the budget request, makes changes to it, and finally both the House and the Senate agree to the budget and send it to the President to be signed into law.

Here’s what actually happened. The President sent a budget to Congress in February, 2012, for fiscal year 2013 (October 2012—September 2013). Congressional Republicans and Democrats have been squabbling over the budget ever since. They can’t agree on what changes should be made to the budget, and so there is no budget for the President to sign. Meanwhile, Congress is funding the government through a “continuing resolution” called the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, which was passed in the House 329–91, passed in the Senate 62–30, and signed by President Obama on September 28, 2012. The continuing appropriations resolution expires March 28, 2013. At which point it starts all over.