To All Our Elected Representatives - "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way!"

This past week, our Local Congressman published a column (posted below) in our local paper (The WAVE) entitled Shutdown the Shutdown.

Congressman Meek's stated that his constituents have asked him, "Who is responsible for this mess...How have things come to this...What needs to be done to reopen the government?"

I was interested in reading Representative Meeks' thoughts on this issue and his suggestions for addressing both the ongoing government shutdown and approaching debt ceiling decision.  

I was hoping for a fresh take on these problems and, perhaps, even some innovative thinking.

Wouldn't it have been great if his response to that question was "All of us in Congress are responsible for this mess!"

Unfortunately that was not to be.  

Instead, what our Congressman has offered us is a partisan fixation of blame on House Republicans and the Tea Party with such pejorative terms as "total war", "bullied", "bulldozed", "hostage taking" "wreak(ing) havoc", etc. while portraying Congressional Democrats as the only adult clowns in that Washington D,.C. circus we loosely refer to as Congress.

Just once I would love to hear a politician tell his constituents "You know in retrospect, all of us here in Congress could have done better and we are striving to fix this."  Instead all we hear are claims of obstructionism from "the other side". 

Now don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle and as far as I am concerned, both have failed miserably.

I have always thought that the mark of a true leader was one who worried more about fixing the problem than fixing blame.  If that is true, then it's time for all of our elected representatives to put on their big boy and girls underwear and stop engaging in partisan politics, worrying about their next election, and get down to doing what they are (supposedly) paid for - the people's business.

I, for one, am tired of hearing Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi whine like children while their counterparts across the aisle, John Boehner and Mitch McConnel carry on like spoiled brats.  

I am tired of pundits attempting to explain this unacceptable behavior on the part of our politicians by describing politics a a "time honored blood sport."  That is hogwash!  

I am tired of cash laden special interest groups cutting to the head of the line to garner a representatives favor.

I am tired of hearing about Obama care and how it is a disaster.   Let that legislation stand on its own two feet.  If it works - fine!  If it goes down in flames, that's fine too.  Pick up the pieces and try to fix it but don't bring the country to a screeching halt because of ideology. Nobody read the legislation before passing it anyway.

The people did not elect anyone to go to Washington D.C. (or Albany or the City Council for that matter) to simply sit on separate sides of an aisle and point fingers and spew vitriol at members of the other party.

At election time, Democrats and Republicans alike, rejoice in telling their assembled supporters that they know how to:

create jobs,

lower unemployment, 

better our children's education.

improve our standard of living,

lower crime,

create housing, 

improve medical care,

etc, etc, etc.........

Unfortunately as soon as they get elected (or re-elected) they suffer a marked diminution in intellect as if suddenly struck by the onset of Alzheimer's and their litany of political promises are soon forgotten.  

Stop acting like politicians and start acting like the adult elected representatives you are supposed to be and fix the damn problems! 

One way to do that is to start treating your constituents like adults.

When asked to discuss an issue or a problem, make sure you do so in an intelligent and factual manner, without resorting to the "partisan blame game"!  

If you can't offer a rational and viable solution, keep quiet until you can.

Every once in a while when asked a tough question, don't obfuscate!  Simply answer that you don't know enough about the issue to speak to it but you will do your research in order to formulate a response.

Think about the legislation you are about to pass. Consider the impact (both short and long term) such laws will have on your constituents.   Maybe even read the bill or have qualified staff people read it for you. 

Need I mention Biggert-Waters?

Have lunch or dinner with your colleagues across the aisle.  Yes, even play a game of golf with them. Discuss thorny issues with them out of eye and earshot of your party's leadership and stop worrying that a photographer will snap a picture of you with the "enemy".  

Quite simply, please just do your job!

There is a time honored saying regarding an individuals involvement in the resolution of tough issues describing three courses of action - "Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way!" 

Pick one!

It’s My Turn

Shutdown The Shutdown

By Congressman Gregory W. pMeeks
10/11/2013

While Americans wait, over 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed; millions more are working without pay; vital federal services, programs, facilities, national parks and monuments have been suspended or closed; federal intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies are understaffed; cities and communities where federal facilities are located and the tens of thousands of small businesses with federal contracts and the hundreds of thousands of workers they collectively employ, are being hurt. Some of these businesses may not recover.If it wanted to, the House Republican majority could immediately end the government shutdown it has caused.

Constituents ask: How much longer is the shutdown going to affect me? Why did things come to this and who’s responsible for this mess? What needs to be done to reopen the government?

We’ve reached this impasse because of the total war Tea Party Republicans in Congress are waging on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Frankly, it’s hard to tell whether it’s just that they don’t like the ACA or all things Obama.

Republicans are a 234-201 majority in the House. Democrats are a 54-46 majority in the Senate. The 49 members of the House Tea Party Caucus account for only 20 percent of all House Republicans. The five members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus make up just 10 percent of Republican senators. Nonetheless, these minorities have cowed their GOP colleagues into going on the impossible mission of undoing the historic health care reform that Congress enacted and President Obama signed three years ago; that already has three years of implementation under its belt; that the Supreme Court ruled constitutional 16 months ago; and that voters affirmed 11 months ago by reelecting President Obama by five million votes along with a 332-206 landslide victory in the Electoral College against a Republican who pledged to repeal “Obamacare.” Yet, the Tea Party still wants repeal of the law that is finally making affordable, quality health care insurance accessible to tens of millions of Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions, age, or employment status.

During my 15 years in Congress, members whether Democrat or Republican addressed a law they didn’t like by fulfilling their legislative oversight responsibility to monitor that law’s impact or by seeking to negotiate adjustments they thought would improve the law. Not so with Congressional Tea Party Re- publicans. They’ve bullied the House Republican leadership and bulldozed a majority of the Republican conference into incorporating their ideological objections to Obamacare into the continuing resolution (CR) that would otherwise simply fund the government for a period of time while the House and Senate, Congress and the White House, Democrats and Republicans, work out their differences on the budget for the 2014 fiscal year.

Again and again, the President said he is willing to discuss any Republican proposal designed to improve the Affordable Care Act. The fact is the ACA itself is an example of what can happen when both sides listen to each other. It is modeled after the Massachusetts health care program proposed by a Republican governor and authored by a Republican think tank. ACA includes over 160 proposals House or Senate Republicans made in committee.

If the President and Congressional Democrats give in to the hostage taking and extortion tactics of Tea Party Republicans in this instance there is absolutely no doubt that they would use the debt limit negotiations a week from now or next year’s budget process to dismantle other laws and programs they don’t like - namely Social Security and Medicare. We cannot allow a small faction of our government to wreak such havoc on our nation. The long term ramifications of this kind of brinksmanship are grave. We have already had a taste of the consequences.

So, here we are. The shame of it is that there are enough votes in the House to pass a clean CR. Until the Obama presidency, enacting clean continuing resolutions were the norm. Congress has done so 45 times since Ronald Reagan was president. John Boehner has voted to approve a clean CR numerous times. The federal government had been operating under a clean CR all year long.

Last week, 200 House Democrats sent Speaker Boehner a letter calling for floor vote on a clean CR. Over 20 House Republicans have said they would vote yes. Together this is enough votes for passage. Given the majority Democratic Senate, Congress could quickly enact it and the President just as quickly signs it into law. The government could be fully reopened. All federal employees could return to work with all federal agencies, services, programs, national parks and monuments resuming operation. Plus, a bipartisan predicate will have been laid for raising the debt limit and preventing a default without another deliberately engineered crisis. I hope House leadership will soon put our country’s economic stability above its party politics; that’s what I’m fighting for until this is resolved. We should all be. 

Congressman GregoryW. Meeks is the U.S. Representative for New York’s Fifth Congressional District