Fiscal and Economic

It has become obvious over the past few weeks that we are now watching nothing less than the collapse of the American health care system. Millions of Americans are losing their health plans and are being set adrift into a dysfunctional system where they cannot find comparable affordable policies.

This nation has gone through 18 government shutdowns in the last 37 years. Fifteen of those 18 shutdowns occurred when Democrats controlled the House.

This October crisis is punctuated by three developments that are becoming increasingly obvious and disturbing. The first is the refusal of the Senate and the President to resolve their differences with the House through negotiation and compromise on the one bill that would fund this government and end this shutdown.

The debt limit exists for a simple reason: to assure that public debt isn't recklessly piled up without Congress periodically acknowledging it and addressing the spending patterns that are causing it. If a debt limit increase is supposed to be automatic, as the President suggests, there really is no purpose to it. A new dimension has now appeared in this discussion. Unlike every one of his predecessors, this President has vowed that unless Congress unconditionally raises the debt limit, the United States will default on its sovereign debt.

On September 30th, after two previous attempts to keep the government fully funded, House Republicans adopted a measure that fully funded the government, fully funded Obamacare, but simply delayed the individual mandate for a year. This proposal was summarily rejected by House and Senate Democrats and the government shut down.

Last night, the House attempted to re-open our national parks. Twenty two Democrats defied their party leaders and joined with the majority to provide this vital relief. The little towns around Yosemite National Park depend on tourism for their economies. They're still reeling from the Yosemite Rim Fire that brought tourism to a near standstill last month.