I don’t think that’s defaulting, I think it is just a partial government shutdown. Still bad, just not never before done.
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I’m thinking that it’s politically easier to say "we are going to keep total spending below $____ " than it is to write a bill with line item appropriations that actually hit that number.
Lots of people like lower gov’t spending in theory, but don’t like to see their favorite program cut.
So, I’ll withhold judgement on what the Senate will do with these bills that come in below the agreement until I see the bills with all their line item detail.
If there is a forced shutdown of some government services, I think the salaries, expenses, and healthcare for Congresscritters should be halted first before all other spending. I know that’s a drop in the bucket, but it makes sense that those that created the crisis should feel the effects first.
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According to the Congressional Research Service,
Article I, Section 6, says that congress members “shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
requires that Congress gets paid. (We might object, saying they obviously haven’t provided the basic service of passing a budget.)
OTOH, congressional staffers have to come to work but don’t get paid. Traditionally, they will get back pay after shutdown ends.
The last deal with Obama put in sequestration requirements meaning that if they couldn’t agree on cuts, everything just got cut pro-rata. No one really liked that method so they refused to use that method. They now have to actually write bills below the limit and those bills have to pass.
from the article though, it seems the R’s are saying that they are being given an upper limit and it is ok to come in below that. The D’s are saying that those additional cuts weren’t what they were expecting and probably won’t agree to them if they are pushed through in the bills.
The R’s had been pushing for greater cuts to be included in the debt limit bill anyway. Now they are just writing the spending bills to incorporate some/most of those other cuts they couldn’t get in the debt limit bill.
So it seems less trying to hit that number as it is actually hitting that number rather than coming in below it.
Well, perhaps the rate ascertained by law can be lowered. Of course, the Congress would have to pass that law themselves. Good luck!
Yep, I get that as the R’s general idea.
I’m being skeptical. I think they want to come in below the debt limit deal. But, when they have to write line-by-line bills they will discover that is very hard. I’m sure some Rs will be fine with big cuts to some programs. But, they have to get almost 100% of the Rs on board to pass something in the House that the Ds don’t like. I think that level of agreement isn’t going to happen.
That runs into the 27th amendment:
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened .
So they can’t lower their own pay, just the pay of the next Congress.
These morons are going to shut down the government again, and it may last for a while as the GOP House can’t get close to an agreement among themselves.