Congress on Saturday passed a stopgap funding bill that will keep agencies open for 45 days, averting at the 11th-hour shutdown that a day earlier seemed inevitable.
Of course, members of both parties went straight to the awaiting news media microphones to begin taking credit for once again failing to meet their constitutional obligations by kicking the proverbial can down the alley.
We did not elect the members of Congress to represent us by neglecting their Constitutional responsibility to pass a balanced budget well ahead of the end of each Fiscal Year. The reality is that we have neither a balanced budget nor even a bankrupting budget for Fiscal Year 2024 which begins on October 1, 2023. Congress has once again failed the American people and their Constitutional responsibilities.
The leadership within both parties, who are typically the ones that have been members of Congress for two-plus decades, cannot seem to negotiate in good faith on behalf of their constituents because doing so does not address their personal agendas and bankrupting programs. They govern in a "my way or the highway" mentality. Meanwhile, those they pretend to serve are once again left unserved.
Could there be any more convincing evidence of a need for the convening of an Article V Convention of State?
If we had an amendment restricting federal spending and requiring a balanced budget, that would narrow the extent of spending and by extension should limit the time needed to negotiate and pass a budget.
Term limits would go a long way in eliminating those who have accumulated so much seniority and power that they are unwilling to accept common sense budget recommendations that do not meet their agenda.
How much longer must we wait before our state legislators recognize what we common folks can so clearly see? They must accept the fact that Congress is broken and is causing devastation to the American people and recognize that our Republic needs them now more than ever. State legislators must set aside their politics and serve those who elected them by passing a resolution to convene a Convention of States.
