| OUR OPINION | This is greatness? Shutdown is an embarrassment, and so are our representatives It’s time to assign some blame in this government shutdown mess. So, let’s place it squarely where it belongs: on everybody . This is not a disagreement about government funding, or even about the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. No, this is a battle that has been brewing for years, with our nation’s capital slowly breaking into factions that each seem to have only one goal — wiping out the opposition. It’s the Bloods and the Crips in business suits, and we the citizens are caught in the crossfire. Here in Leon, Franklin and Jefferson counties, nearly 400 children — and about 100 workers — have been affected as the shutdown has closed nine Head Start centers. If those 3- and 4-year-olds can’t go to their child care, their parents can’t go to school or to work. So the shutdown not only is inconveniencing children — it is endangering the livelihoods of struggling families and indeed putting our future at risk. A little farther south, the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is closed, erasing the economic activity generated by boaters, anglers bird and butterfly watchers who come from all over the country. Elsewhere in the state, tourists have lost access to Everglades National Park, the Big Cypress National Preserve and more. Nationally, more than 800,000 workers have been furloughed. More than that number are working without pay. And that’s just the headlines. Veterans, cancer patients and small businesses are feeling the impact. We know of a local caterer who is left wondering when the government will pay him for an event that already has taken place. The shutdown touches nearly everybody in some way. And why all this pain? Because our president, our representatives and our senators refuse to do the basic job they were elected to do: keep our government running. In Washington, national monuments — the symbols of our great history — are closed. World War II veterans initially were kept away from the very memorial honoring their service, and Republicans and Democrats took advantage of that embarrassment to take even more shots at each other. On Monday, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., still had his eye on defunding Obamacare. “While Washington debates how to keep the government open,” he said, “too few are talking about how to keep the American dream alive for the vast majority of Americans threatened by Washington’s dysfunction and intrusions into our economy and lives.” Steve Southerland, a Republican who represents much of the Big Bend in the House, said on Twitter: “Midnight has come & gone. After Washington Dems rejected 3 House proposals to keep gov’t open, we have now entered the Reid/Pelosi Shutdown.” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in a floor speech on Tuesday, said, “What we need is for the folks down there at the other end of the Capitol building to open up this government.” He blamed House Republicans for their “narrow, extremist agenda.” But late last week, the Tallahassee Democrat asked all three men through their media offices: “What are you personally doing to try to end the stalemate and end the govand ernment shutdown?” Sen. Rubio’s office forwarded a speech he gave Friday about losing the American Dream. Rather than address the shutdown specifically, he remained focused on what he says are bigger issues: “With all this noise about politics and who gets the blame and who is responsible for what, I hope that we can use these challenges before us as a catalyst to begin to focus on these issues for why they matter: They matter because theyre hurting people. And its hurting people who are trying to achieve a better life.” That’s it. We received no answers from Sen. Nelson or Rep. Southerland. Sadly, an even more serious fight looms, with a promised battle over the debt ceiling — and whether the U.S. will be able to pay its bills. The world, meanwhile, looks on in disbelief. Is this what we have come to in America? Have we reached the point where our differences are so great that our only option is to shut down our government? It is a dark hour for our democracy. Let’s hope somebody can light the torch again. Let’s skip making political points and try talking Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A critical deadline approaches in Washington. The American people expect Congress and the White House to listen to their concerns, acting decisively and crafting a solution that represents their values. Instead, as the clock runs out of time, some D.C. politicians focus more on scoring political points than on heeding the will of the people they represent. Unfortunately, history has repeated itself once again as the federal government partially shut down last Monday at midnight because the House and Senate were unable to agree on a continuing resolution to fund the government for the next fiscal year. Making matters worse, some in Washington seemed to think the shutdown was a necessary price for the nation to pay so they could protect their own special subsidies under the health care reform law. These special exemptions, which help members of Congress and their staffs defray the costs of coverage under the 2009 law, have only reinforced the American people’s frustration with a system that provides one set of rules for them and another set of rules for their elected leaders. Shutdowns. Special exemptions for Congress. How did things ever get to this point? The widening divide on the health care law started when the president issued special delays for big corporations and labor unions to comply with the law. Then the president’s Office of Personnel Management exempted members of Congress, their staffs, and even the Obama administration’s own executive branch employees from losing their health care subsidies. And what about average Americans? No delays. No exemptions. When some in Washington weren’t ready to give up their health care exemptions, they decided instead to stop negotiating as the shutdown deadline drew near. In the House, Republicans worked through last weekend to find a solution to the impending standoff, while Sen. Harry Reid closed down the Senate for the weekend and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi flew home to California. In a last ditch effort to bring the sides together, House Republicans called for a conference committee between the House and Senate, a traditional means by which representatives of both chambers sit down together and iron out policy differences before sending a single piece of legislation to the president for his signature. Reid’s Democratic majority in the Senate rejected that effort. I joined my House colleagues in approving four separate resolutions funding the government and ensuring that vital services remained uninterrupted. All of those resolutions were voted down by the Senate, as well. Left literally without a willing partner on the other side of the negotiating table, the House continued to move forward with its own positive agenda reflecting the will of the American people to end this interruption in vital services and level the playing field between members of Congress and their constituents. First, I introduced a continuing resolution that would have averted a government shutdown and eliminated the special subsidies for members of Congress and their staffs. I am pleased that our provision to eliminate the controversial health care exemptions was approved by a bipartisan majority of the House. I also believe it is time for Congress put its money where its mouth is. That’s why I cosponsored the Government Shutdown Fairness Act, to withhold the paychecks of members of Congress for as long as the government shutdown remains in effect. Hardworking families and job creators across Florida’s Second Congressional District are facing economic uncertainty from the shutdown, and it should be no different for members of Congress Despite the Senate’s refusal to act, I believe the House still has a responsibility to work for an end to this standoff and fund the vital services left in limbo by the shutdown. As Tropical Storm Karen strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico, the House voted to ensure that FEMA’s federal disaster relief was funded. Despite the threat of a presidential veto, 23 House Democrats joined us in backing disaster relief funding. The House also ensured that active duty military would get their paychecks in full, that veterans benefits would remain in place and that cancer treatment research funding would be protected. The House has an obligation to continue doing its job — voting to methodically and responsibly to fund the government one sector at a time — until the Senate shows a willingness to act. To restore that trust with the American people, we must start by ending this shutdown and eliminating the special privileges provided members of Congress under the health care law. Those two goals are not unattainable. I learned long ago in my family’s funeral home business that healing starts with something as simple as a conversation. Steve Southerland II of Panama City represents Congressional District 2, which includes most of Leon County. To contact him, go to southerland.house.gov/. ‘’ Despite the Senate’s refusal to act, I believe the House still has a responsibility to work for an end to this standoff.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 13:33:15 +0000
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