Source: The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.儲存Sept. 20--For the better part of the past two years Americans have repeatedly been told that the federal government was weeks, days, and sometimes even hours away from a total fiscal collapse.The government's financial stability has been threatened by debt ceilings, fiscal cliffs, and sequesters. One or all of them seems to pop up in regimented fashion every few months.And like clockwork, Washington officials are warning again that the latest federal financial fiasco could shut the government down at the end of this month.U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., one of those sounding the alarm over a possible government shutdown, was uncharacteristically emphatic Thursday when discussing the latest spending stalemate."A lot of taxpayers must be saying to themselves 'Didn't those people in Washington get the message from 2011'," Casey said in a conference call with reporters. "The impact of [the 2011 debt ceiling debate] was devastating. You would think that some people would have learned, but here we are again."His colleague, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey seemed to agrees -- to a point."Like most Pennsylvanians, I am sick and tired of government by manufactured crisis," Toomey said in a statement. "This is no way to manage the federal government. Rather than enacting a budget, passing individual spending bills, and identifying and eliminating wasteful programs, Senate Democrats dodge the tough issues and pass these thousand-page, trillion-dollar, midnight monstrosities."The issue centers around a procedural vote in Congress that enables the government to continue spending money at current levels, and meet financial obligations already made.However confusion and dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act has produced a growing desire among many to exclude the controversial health care law from the funding resolution.Several grassroots organizations -- including some in Pennsylvania -- have appealed to legislators to not approve any funding legislation that enables Obamacare.Many in Congress -- mostly Republicans -- have moved to defund the health care law. Among them are Toomey, R-Lehigh, and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton.Both lawmakers have co-sponsored bills that would halt funding for the health care law.Earlier this month a libertarian group singled out Toomey over the issue. Tuesday he made his position crystal clear."In the absence of repealing this law, Congress should at least delay the implementation of its heavy-handed mandates to prevent the imminent harm they will have on the pocketbooks of Pennsylvanians, job creation, and our economy," Toomey said.But rather than seek some common ground, it seems Congress has positioned itself to reach yet another budgetary impasse.The GOP-controlled House is set to approve a funding plan Friday that excludes Obamacare. However the specific defund provision is expected to be sheared out by the Senate and then sent back to the House.Though many pundits believe the House will pass the edited measure, the budgetary dance is set to continue two weeks later when Congress takes up the debt ceiling debate again.And though Americans are split on the merits of a government shutdown, polls suggest most voters feel a lengthy shutdown would be calamitous for the country.Still, having been warned repeatedly of impending financial doom over the past two years, there's plenty of evidence that voters are burnt out over the whole debacle."I think there's a good bit of ambivalence," said Franklin and Marshall College pollster Terry Madonna. "As a hypothetic [the threat of a government shutdown] doesn't resonate.迷你倉It takes something concrete, something that affects their lives."Madonna pointed to the Pennsylvania voter ambivalence displayed toward successive late budgets passed under former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell."The voters had no problem re-electing Rendell by 21 percentage points," he said.But even though Obama's approval rating is suffering, Madonna said polls show an increasing inclination to blame the GOP should a federal shutdown take place."Shutting down the government to defund the Affordable Care Act I think would be disaster for the Republicans," he added.However those same polls suggest voters increasingly want Obamacare scaled back.And it's worth noting that the argument to delay funding for the health care law has both pros and cons.The administration has acknowledged flaws in the law, and it will require time to fix them. The calls to put Obamacare funding on hold, as Barletta's bill asks, would provide that time.However in the interim, millions of Americans would go uninsured and businesses would be left in a policy limbo that prevents them from solidifying future plans."They want to repeal this legislation, go back to the time with children with pre-existing conditions don't have coverage, ... and say to those millions of families 'Tough luck'," Casey said of Obamacare critics, adding that linking the debt ceiling debate to concerns over the Affordable Care Act is inappropriate."I voted for changes to the legislation and I'll vote for more, but I'm not going to vote for legislation that repeals the bill and walks away from the problem," he added.Casey's annoyance over the political use of Obamacare was matched by Thursday his contempt for the debt ceiling debate."We all know this is a manufactured crisis," he said. "It's a political stunt by some members of Congress to use the debt ceiling in a way that's very political and in a way that I think is very damaging for the country."The Scranton Democrat pointed to a new report from Congress' Joint Economic Committee that found the 2011 debt ceiling debate led to a drop in the stock market, the first national credit rating loss in American history, a 50 percent drop in job growth, and a negative effect on consumer confidence.Casey said economist have estimated that the mere 2011 debate cost the country $112 billion. And he pulled no punches in assigning blame to Republicans."This is what happens when a small group of ideologically extreme people take total control of a political party," he said defiantly.A new report from the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund agreed."Opponents of the Affordable Care Act have waged a systematic campaign to undermine and sabotage the law," said Tom Perriello, the fund's president. "These efforts may be seem like political games to some in Washington, but they have real consequences for real people."But supporters must come to grips with the inescapable fact that the Affordable Care Act and debt ceiling debates aren't going away -- Toomey and Barletta's recent bills are evidence of that.Toomey, however, sees it differently."I have written and introduced comprehensive budgets and offered ideas to break partisan logjams," he said. "But without cooperation from the other side of the aisle, it has been hard to make progress."So it seems it's left to Democrats such as Obama and Casey to put their partisan frustrations aside, be the politicians they were elected to be, and find a way to keep the lights on in Washington.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) Visit The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) at .pennlive.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage
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