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McCook Gazette

Nelson explains impact of government shutdown on Nebraska

Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sen. Ben Nelson's office

April 6, 2011 -- Today, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson explained that the consequences of a government shutdown will be real and will likely cause hardship to people in Nebraska.

"Why has Congress failed to pass a budget since last October? One word: politics," Senator Nelson said in his weekly conference call with the Nebraska news media. "Political shenanigans and partisan games in Washington have led us to the edge of a government shutdown, which is not necessary and could be easily avoided if Congress would just do the job Nebraskans expect it to do."

Nelson explained that a government shutdown is much too serious to simply be another tool used by partisans to gain political advantage.

"The prospect of a shutdown isn't a gimmick. Serious issues are involved and, make no mistake, a government shutdown will be real, and it will likely cause hardship in Nebraska. It could adversely impact Nebraska families, jobs and economic development, and deliver a setback to our national economic recovery, which is fragile and reversible."

Congress has passed a series of short-term continuing resolutions to fund the government with stop-gap measures while it has been unable to pass an annual budget. Nelson announced that he will no longer support continuing resolutions because they only postpone the adoption of a federal budget.

"The can has been kicked down the road long enough. It is time to stop playing political games and finish the job that the American public is paying us to do," Nelson said. "Congress is testing the public's patience and failing to provide the stability that American businesses need so they can invest, plan ahead, hire new employees and continue to move our national economy forward.

"It's time to put partisanship aside and come together to create a budget that is fiscally responsible and fair. It should be built on shared sacrifice, not politics."

Nelson went on to outline some of the consequences for Nebraska and the nation if the government shuts down, including:

* Military families will experience financial hardship. Our troops will fight but will not be paid during the shutdown. This could be particularly hard for the families back home of service members deployed overseas.

* Today, more than 1,100 Nebraska National Guardsmen are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. An additional 3,700 Nebraska guardsmen also face this uncertainty.

* Farmers will lose operating loans during planting season. The USDA's Farm Service Agency has 85 loans approved in Nebraska that cannot be funded because of the budget uncertainties. Nelson has heard from many Nebraska farmers concerned that the instability of the budget situation will impact their spring operating loans.

* Roads projects will be delayed. Reimbursements to local communities and approval from federal agencies for federal roads projects will be delayed.

* Economic development in Nebraska will slow down. Agencies such as USDA Rural Development, the Small Business Administration and the Economic Development Administration that help rural communities with economic development projects will likely close.

* The real estate market will slow down again. Federal Housing Administration new home loan guarantees may cease. FHA loans are 30 percent of the market. During spring home buying season, taking FHA out of the equation could adversely impact the fragile housing market.

* Taxes will be collected, but tax refunds will be delayed. Under IRS precedents, while the agency would process tax returns that contain payments, they may not issue individual and corporate tax refunds.

* The IRS likely won't answer its taxpayer hotline at the height of tax-filing season.

* Processing of paper-filed returns, about one third of the total, would likely be suspended.

* Small businesses would lose access to SBA loans. Small Business Administration applications for business loan guarantees and direct loans to small businesses would likely cease. That hurts a major driving engine of our economy and could hurt the economic recovery.

* Job creation will be delayed. The government's E-Verify program, used by businesses to make sure their new employees are in the U.S. legally, will stop. That delays new hiring, delaying job creation.

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  • No one to blame for this mess but Ben Nelson himself along with Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. They had majorities in the House and Senate along with the White House, but refused to fulfill their congressional mandate last Fall to pass a budget. Not only did Nelson & Co. not pass a budget, they didn't even try to vote on one knowing their "shellacking" in November would have been even worse. Now, the GOP is left to clean up their budget mess along with Ben Nelson's $5 TRILLION in deficit spending under Obama through this year. The only real solution to Ben Nelson's whining about everyone but himself is to IMPEACH him!

    -- Posted by 9th ID on Wed, Apr 6, 2011, at 3:46 PM

  • 9Th ID: That is the "heart" of the whole situation. The Demos spent so much money on their projects they didn't want to show the public how bad it was. They didn't want to make a decision and now the 2011 House/Senate are strapped with the Demos lack of leadership and responsibility. Senator Nelson is to blame for this process. He has to go!

    -- Posted by Online on Wed, Apr 6, 2011, at 5:18 PM

  • Sounds like the perfect argument for why we are too reliant on the federal government. "Too big to fail" also applies to our government.

    -- Posted by McCook1 on Wed, Apr 6, 2011, at 5:42 PM

  • Another fairy tale spin by our so called leaders,this is far from new, they have been here before and they will play this one on us again. Just like the argument in Wisconsin, they will bust the unions and then in about 6 months it will be some other reason that they can't be fiscally responsible. I say fire them all, but that would just prompt our corporations to hire new politicians.

    -- Posted by nebraskamike on Wed, Apr 6, 2011, at 9:06 PM
  • *

    545 vs. 300,000,000 People

    -By Charlie Reese

    Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

    Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

    Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

    You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

    You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

    You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

    You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

    You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

    One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

    I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

    I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

    Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

    What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

    The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

    It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

    If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

    If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

    If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ....

    If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

    There are no insoluble government problems.

    Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

    Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

    They, and they alone, have the power.

    They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

    Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

    We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

    Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

    -- Posted by Mickel on Thu, Apr 7, 2011, at 9:54 PM
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