About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2017)
Friday, October 6,2017 Lake Oconee News Page A5 Reinventing Washington’s Broken Budget 4:43. Those are the odds the federal government will complete its budget process on time. Since the 1974 Budget Act became law, it has worked the way it was intended just four times in 43 consecutive tries. The American people are fed up with Washington — and rightfully so. Both parties are respon sible for this pathetic bud geting record and for its byproduct: a staggering $20 trillion debt. It’s time to forge a new path. Currently, Congress’ budget process consists of a resolution and 12 separate appropriations bills. However, the budget itself doesn’t have the enforce ment power of a law, so it often devolves into a politi cal manifesto rather than a governing document. As a result, Congress has passed an average of 2.5 appropriations bills annually since 1974. As we’ve seen year after year, the process breaks down. Inevitably, continuing resolutions are needed to keep the government open while all federal spending is lumped into a massive omnibus bill that must be passed at the eleventh hour. This expedited time- frame leaves little room for proper oversight and has even resulted in the funding of programs with expired authorizations. It sounds unbelievable, but this happens often. In fact, continuing res olutions to fund the gov ernment and keep its doors open have happened some 179 times over the last 43 years. The cumulative effect is uncertainty for both our national security and economy. Military leaders have repeatedly stated fi nancial uncertainty ties their hands when it comes to funding missions. Economically, financial uncertainty does not allow for business and families to adequately plan ahead. Furthermore, this broken process insulates the largest drivers of the federal budget from review because roughly 70 percent of all spending is man datory. This mandatory spending includes interest on the debt, Medicare, and Social Security. Some of our most vul nerable depend on these programs, as do working Americans who paid into the system for years. Washington has neglect ed to ensure their long term survival by letting them operate on autopilot. Today, both Social Security and Medicare are on a road to ruin. Recently, the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report predicted Social Security would be insolvent in 17 years and Medicare in 12. Until the process changes, there is no way for Congress to put in motion a feasible plan to save these programs. It’s clear that whatever your political party or personal priorities might be, the current budget process has failed you in a major way. Both parties and both houses of Congress know that, until we fix the budget process, dysfunction and gridlock will continue to rule in Washington, regardless of who is in charge. That means the budget will be delayed, funding decisions will be rolled into massive packages, and the consequences for failure will be passed onto the military and the American people. There are no winners in this scenario. Tinkering around the edges of the current process won’t work as a long-term solution. We both agree that the only way to truly break this cycle of dysfunction is to completely reinvent it. Accountability must be brought to the system with a clean-page, politically neutral platform. The new budget format Process must include several guiding principles: The budget resolution should be a law; every dollar being spent should be included in the budget; and there must be real consequences for failure to fund the government on time. While there is a dis cussion to have about the specifics of a new budget process, these principles are a crucial starting point. It’s also important to rec ognize that there is bipar tisan agreement that the status quo is not working. Given Washington’s dynamics, this could be one of the only chances Congress has to deliver lasting bipartisan results. Instead of ignoring this op portunity, let’s seize it. Sen. David Perdue & Rep. Doug Collins Letters to the Editor Letters must be signed and include your full address and phone number for verification; only name and town are printed. Submissions may be edited for content and length. The deadline is 1 p.m. Monday. Send to news@lakeoconeenews.us The Great Contradiction of "Kneeling" Madison needs change I think it is important for all Americans to consider why our beloved NFL stars are kneeling as the National Anthem is being played before games. To me it is the great contradiction of our times. First, we need to remember, the Star-Span gled Banner is not just a song. It is our National Anthem. It is played before events like this to bring us together as one nation, united in honor of our history, sharing the freedoms and prosperity we all enjoy. We typically have military honor guards present out of respect for what they have done to keep us free and safe. We raise our flag to show our love of our country. Patriotic Americans stand for this Anthem and place their right hands over their hearts. Others just stand and listen. Those who kneel disre spect our country and what the flag and the anthem represent. They mock our Greetings to our Second Harvest volunteers, and apologies for being a bit late with the update for our Sept. 16 food distribution. Our turnout for both re cipients and volunteers was well below normal for Sep tember which we attribute to conditions relating to the aftermath of the storm. Nev ertheless, those of you who were there — as usual — did an outstanding job. This is what we did together: we distributed about 15,000 pounds of food and produce to 179 families who represented 458 indi viduals. As part of that latter number, 148 individuals were over 6 0 years of age and 137 were under the age of 18. history to further a selfish campaign. Second, they say they kneel to send a message. Breaking news, your message is not getting through. Oh sure, we know you’re trying to say some thing. But it is lost in the uproar you have created and the anger you cause by inter rupting what for the rest of the population is a leisure time, fun activity. If you have something to say, run for office, write to your representatives, start or contribute to a charity, do something other than just complain. Stop whining and propose solutions that we can all consider within le gitimate processes. If your message is that you don’t like this country then leave. Third, the kneelers say they are protesting in equality. The average salary in the NFL is $2.4 million per year, not including endorsements and all the other “goodies” these Second This month those two age groups represent 62 percent of the people we served which continues to be an ex cellent indicator that we are focused on the two groups that are most in need. These are about the same good numbers we’ve been seeing over the last few months. Kudos and ‘thank you’ to each and every one of you for your contribution and for showing up and doing your usual stellar job of organiz ing and moving all of that food. And, as we usually do, we had many food recipients who also helped by volun teering their time to serve others. We also want to express our thanks to our ‘parent’ or- pampered athletes receive. I find it odd that they are condemning inequality from their perch of excess. What’s unequal about their standard of living versus the rest of us? Fourth, they kneel under the banner of free speech. I say they are abusing that right by using the NFL and TV platform that the rest of us don’t have. Further more, they are invading my right to privacy by showing up in my living room unin vited. Finally, and most im portant, is their claim it is their individual right to express themselves. But these are not individ ual actions, they are part of a carefully choreographed political campaign by the left to portray the right as racists, and to bring down Donald Trump. Make no mistake, there is a strong, organized polit ical bent to this. The Democrats like to claim racism, sexism, in equality and any other bias, whenever they don’t Harvest ganization and our sponsor of the month: The Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam Counties. We thank them for their many and ongoing generous contributions to our com munity and for their finan cial assistance in making this month’s distribution happen. Thank you also to the representatives from Ten- derCare Clinic and Good Samaritan Hospital who joined us and provided in formation on breast health and free mammograms (in advance of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month). And finally, thank you as always to The Oconee Regional Humane Society for distributing pet food and STEFFEN THOMAS MUSEUM SHOP Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 AM-4:00 PM Stefan Tfieoms Ori^mfe and Prints Currently featuring a wide selection of pottery from North Carolina Potters, Interchangable Snap Jewelry and much more! Shop first and get free admission to Museum with shop purchase of $10 or more! 4200 Bethany Road, Buckhead, GA 30625 706-342-7557 www.steffenthomas.org get their way. This has been going on for the two plus centuries our country has existed. Send up a barrage of accusations to mask the real story. Say “no” to every conservative proposal. Obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. When it comes to racism, check your history books, folks, the Democrats are hypocrites. They don’t want us to know about their votes FOR slavery at the time of the Civil War. They don’t want us to know they founded the Ku Klux Klan and sup ported it at the state and federal levels over the years through outright legisla tions and looking the other way. So, if they really want to accomplish something by kneeling, go to church, say a prayer for the impov erished and leave some of your millions in the collec tion plate for them. Gerry Giesler Greensboro Next Monday, the Madison City Council, once again, decides on whether to approve devel oper Brad Good’s petition to rezone the Marcy Miller property on Main Street from R2 to R4, thus allowing him to build density housing in the historic district. Despite the numerous yard signs all over town against the development, despite the conclusive advisement of the Historic Preserva tion Committee as well as Planning and Zoning, Council and Mayor may yet decide to contravene the will of the people and vote in favor of developer Brad Good’s infill devel opment proposal. What a travesty that would be not only politically for them, but also for all of us who live in the historic district. In light of the opposition for the development, the clear and unambiguous advisement by HPC and P&Z, I would expect all our elected officials, who may vote in the develop ments favor, to tell all us voters why they believe infill, pocket develop ment is appropriate in the Historic District. For a governing body to consis tently vote against the ad visement of its Planning and Zoning Commission as well as the all-import- ant Historic Preservation Commission and side with developers in their deci sions is troublesome, to say the least. In the face of overwhelming opposition to density development in the historic district, does Council and Mayor delude themselves into believing that their con travening votes are cou rageous manifestations of what they truly believe is in Madison’s best inter est...I do not think so... not by a long shot. But if so, let’s give them an opportunity to explain themselves directly to the voting public on Monday’s Council meeting. The future of Madison and its economic growth is not just the slicing and SEE MADISON » A8 to the Greensboro McDon ald’s for supplying the always delicious coffee for our food recipients and volunteers. Our next distribution is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21 so please mark your calendar now. All of us continuing to work together as a team are helping improve lives in our community, and we hope you’ll be able to join us and participate in our effort next month. Thanks again for a great Saturday! 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