Zero-Sum Brinksmanship by Majority Results in 2,000 Page “Megabus”

Zero-Sum Brinksmanship by Majority Results in 2,000 Page "Megabus"

On Friday, Rep. Slaughter spoke on the House Floor about the proposed megabus appropriations legislation, and the failed leadership of the Majority. Portions of her remarks are below:

Mr. Speaker,

My distinguished colleague is absolutely right, this is the rest of the bus. But it's going to be a little while before we realize whether we are on that bus or whether we've been thrown under it. Obviously, as Mr. Dreier called attention to it, this is the bill we have today. None of us will make any pretense at all of having read it. Now I have been around long enough to know that things happen this way. The House, the country, is about to shutdown tonight, the agencies are all prepared to close and we can't have that. And so we find ourselves confronted here today with this completed, and going through this conference. And a lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief this morning, frankly, particularly federal workers and the rest of the country that they're not going to be faced with a shutdown of federal agencies.

Although, we have been able to avert that crisis today, the 2,000-page package is not a cause for celebration, and I don't believe Mr. Dreier thinks it is either, but it is a demonstration of failure. As I said, I have known cases, and been participants in cases, where things like this have happened before. But through a Congress that had promised at the beginning part of the campaign, what we were promised at the beginning of this term was that this would not happen anymore. Instead, it has happened over and over again.

Over the past 12 months we have witnessed the utter failure to responsibly legislate, a failure that has led to this massive bill that we are considering today….

…But this is a sign of a larger failure- a failure of governing. It's a vision we went through all this year, based on brinksmanship and threats, an all-or-nothing game of chicken with their colleagues and the American people. Everybody is exhausted from will we do it, won't we do it, can't we do it, must we do it. Part of that has resulted in a lessening of the credit rating of the United States of America for the very first time.

So instead of spending the year finding common ground with their Democratic colleagues, the Majority spent the year advancing legislation to dismantle the EPA and to talk about light bulbs, and to open federally protected lands to foreign mining companies.
I find in my constituency the idea we were going to give land to Russia around the Grand Canyon to mine for uranium is mind-boggling to people. We really ought to be worried about that. This is a very serious problem.

Instead of spending the year finding common ground, as I have said we have done nothing about that. So throwing bipartisanship to the side, the Majority pushed forward with this ideological battle at the expense of the nation's welfare and what we see this morning is the result of their divisive efforts.

What we know is the process that begins with brinksmanship and threats end with this- 2,000-page, $1 trillion megabus crammed through the house as the clock hits zero is all we have. This is our chance to keep the government from shutting down.

With proper priorities and a serious effort to engage legislators from both sides of the aisle, we could truly have a process and a product that would make the American people proud. But that's not what we have here today. It's not what's been done this year.

I hope sincerely and I know that many people on both sides of the aisle hope sincerely that as the calendar turns to 2012 we can put an end to the zero-sum leadership that has been provided and finally give the bipartisan leadership they want and deserve and I reserve the balance of my time.

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According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, restaurants, hotels and other businesses are witnessing in real-time sales plunging as workers lose their jobs or dial back spending due to a possible job loss.

As the Journals' Paul Kiernan and Rachel Louise Ensign wrote, "Economists believe government layoffs and looming budget cuts will push the Washington, D.C., metro area into a recession, challenging its reputation for economic resilience."

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In an interview, Julie Coons, president of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, painted a dark picture of the immediate future, explaining, "We see this as potentially catastrophic for the region," before adding, "This is our Detroit moment.”

The Journal report notes, "In Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood, bookings at the Residence Inn are 10% to 15% below target for the coming months, according to general manager Flavia Sampaio, who said local hotels rely heavily on business from government agencies. Across the Potomac River in D.C., Bluebird Sky Yoga co-owner Kristine Erickson has seen a slowdown in people seeking yearlong memberships," adding, "Sales at Cork Wine Bar & Market, a restaurant on a bustling stretch of 14th Street, fell about 15% to 20% in February compared with the same month last year, said co-owner Diane Gross. March sales were helped by a 'tariff sale' of bottles of wine but still ended down around 10%."

The report continued, "Oxford Economics projects gross domestic product in the Washington, D.C., metro area will fall 0.5% over the course of this year. This is the second-worst projected performance for any of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas after New Orleans, where tariffs are a significant risk, said Barbara Denham, lead economist for cities and regions."

You can read more here.