Letter to the Editor

To the Editor,

Maybe I need a refresher in the Civics class that I had in grade school? Don’t all Washington elected officials still take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States? According to Article 1, Section 7 (as it has been historically interpreted) the House of Representatives is responsible for the funding of the government and the bills associated with that funding shall originate in that chamber. The bill is then forwarded to the Senate for concurrence, amending, modification and passage. If a bill passed does not concur a conference committee resolves the difference, and it is returned to the chambers for passage. When passed, the bill is then sent to the Executive Branch for signature or veto.

We wonder why the government is viewed as broken? Our elected officials are not following the Constitution. I would propose that all sections of the government operate as the Constitution spells out. The House should debate, pass, or defeat funding measures for each of the nine currently shut down departments and agencies and send them forward to the Senate for the same consideration. If passed by both chambers after debate, consideration and potentially joint conference resolution these funding bills should be sent to the Executive for signature or veto. Seems pretty simple doesn’t it?

Governing by tweets, finger pointing and personal attacks is not governing. Holding 800,000 employees of the government hostage by being furloughed or forced to work without pay is just wrong. Refusal by the Senate to not consider funding measures passed by the House is not following the Constitution and the oath sworn to uphold it.

Let the system as spelled out in the Constitution play out. If the Senate cannot pass measures sent by the House after debate and potential compromise, so be it. If the Executive won’t sign into laws bills passed by the Congress, let him veto them. Each segment of the government currently unfunded should stand on its own merits. We have gotten into this mess by allowing omnibus funding measures rather than individual consideration.

Compromise isn’t defeat but how the system is supposed to operate. Winning isn’t everything, and all I see now is everybody losing, the government employees, the Congress, the Executive but mostly the American people and our faith in the system.

Randy Leinen