Surprising Benefits of a Split Congress

by Greg Harvey

 

Ever since the Republicans took the House of Representatives in 2010, compromise in Washington has been hard to find. This all came to a head on Monday night when Congress failed to pass a bill to continue any discretionary spending, resulting in the first government shutdown since 1994. Obviously, both sides are pointing fingers at each other over whose fault the failed negotiations were and the media naturally blames the Republicans, but maybe the shutdown really isn’t that bad. Here are a few points to think about:

First, the shutdown forces the government to only fund bare necessities. While it is a shame that national parks and some agencies will have to close abruptly, all the essential functions, including the military, mail delivery, and Social Security checks, won’t be affected. Even the USPS and Amtrak will stay open, though for how long remains uncertain. Overall, the whole shutdown simply forces the government to only spend money on the things it really should, which is what it should have been doing all along. For too long the government focused on spending money every time the opportunity arose, which created a system that couldn’t be justified indefinitely. While the parties have been quick to criticize each other over whose who caused the failed compromise, it’s really just the culmination of decades of irresponsible government.

Second, even though the media blames the House Republicans, they deserve some credit. They passed two bills before the deadline, only to be shot down by the Senate. While the Senate disproval of the bills due to the cuts to Obamacare was certainly expected, what was shocking was that they refused even to compromise. Instead, they engaged in a war of words, with Harry Reid stating the Republicans “lost their minds,” but then rejected the Republican offer to create a committee to settle differences.

Finally, this is the third time this year that Congressional partisan caused scares; the other two times were the sequester and the expiration of the payroll tax. Both of those times, remember, were preceded by warnings that failure to work out a deal would lead to bad things for the economy. What was the ultimate effect? There weren’t any major repercussions to the economy, at least nothing as serious as the aforementioned warnings promised, and, as an article from Fox Business reported, the government actually ran a $117 billion surplus in June. While the actual effects of the shutdown have yet to be seen, recent events certainly indicate, this shutdown will likely not create any widespread harm to the country. Rather, it may even produce some good side-effects to our fiscal health.