One of the most frustrating elements of the just-completed presidential race was the utter failure of Mitt Romney's campaign to make sure the American people learned that their government hasn't passed a budget since April 29, 2009. It seems that because those who follow the news closely already knew that, they figured the rest of the country did, which was -- and still is -- not the case.
Of course, the other reason besides the lack of Republican and conservative assertiveness is the establishment press's utter failure to report it. Another in a long line of such failures appeared in the Politico this afternoon via David Rogers. Rogers covered how fiscal cliff discussions are delaying the White House's annual farce known as the President's budget for the 2014 fiscal year while of course failing to note that U.S. government hasn't passed a real budget for nearly four years:
Fiscal cliff: 2014 budget already delayed
The year-end budget impasse is being felt already in 2014.
The White House confirmed to POLITICO Sunday that it has deliberately slowed preparations for President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget until it has a better fix on the current talks with Republicans in Congress.
The customary late November pass-backs from the Office of Management and Budget—telling federal agencies what resources they can expect to get in the the president’s request—have been put on hold. “Yes. OMB has held off on pass-backs to agencies to determine if adjustments will be needed based on the current negotiations,” an administration official said after POLITICO asked about the delay.
The likely result is the 2014 budget itself will also be later—possibly slipping into March when a stop gap spending bill to keep the government running for the current fiscal year is also slated to expire. At one level, the self-imposed pause by OMB makes sense given that so much is up in the air right now. But it also shows how disruptive the impasse has become, sending out ripples that impact a wider circle of government.
... A draft government-wide omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year is in the same fix. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are anxious to move but without some breakthrough, agencies will continue to operate under an outdated—and often inefficient— continuing resolution approved as a temporary measure in September.
Rogers acts as if it's the poor bureaucrats who are most inconvenienced by all of this. Hardly; they're mostly beneficiaries.
The rest of the nation has watched spending increase year after year with no end in sight, something which will more than likely continue as long as the government stays on the fiscal equivalent of autopilot, pretty much guaranteeing that trillion-dollar annual deficits will continue. Already, the deficit for the first two months of the current fiscal year was $292 billion. The burden on future generations verges on becoming incalculable, and unsustainable.
David Rogers had a perfect opportunity to tell the nation that its government hasn't had a budget for years. He not only failed, but he also give relatively disengaged readers the impression that there really is some kind of real budget, when there isn't.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
