“Government shutdown looms if deal can’t be cut by midnight, Friday!”

A federal government shut down even in parts will affect everyone. A shutdown affects every industry in place that supports that entity from House & Senate committee members to maids and janitors in the building and private contractors that keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

If neither parties can reach an agreement by midnight Friday, then they have failed to live up to the promises made to their constituents doing election time.

A senior Democratic source with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations said the biggest obstacle to a deal involves whether reductions in mandatory spending programs, known in appropriations parlance as “Changes in Mandatory Spending” or CHIMPS, should be part of spending cuts.

Examples of mandatory spending programs include Pell Grants, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and some types of highway funding. Such programs are funded for multiple years at a time, with the spending set for the time period covered, exempt from congressional authorization each year.

It is interesting that with each interview with the House of Representatives, the interviewer consistently says “Well, I see that you got in all your” talking points”. What is the interviewer trying to tell the listening audience? It appears that they are telling the listening audience that no matter what question I ask them, they are going to stick to the script in an effort to persuasively support an argument or discussion. i.e., “Remember, no matter what they ask you blame the looming shutdown on the other party.”

House Speaker, John Boehner & Tea Party Congressman, Tom Price, Chairman of the House Budget Committee along with Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has a daunting task to collectively speak for each of their parties and prayerfully come to a meeting of the minds or “compromise” if you will. Anything short of a resolution is a failure to protect and keep the government stable, irrespective of who will ultimately become the scapegoat.

If the government is force to shutdown, the constituents’ will view their representatives as failures; who could not get the job done. Make no mistake about it, if the government shuts down at midnight, Friday, there are no winners, not the House, Senate & Tea Party, President and certainly not the people, who voted you in to represent them and “do the right thing by them!”

The ball is in your court, representatives, the bases are loaded, the crowd is on its feet in anxious anticipation, the pitcher throws and you can hear the sound of the ball connecting to the bat, the bat sends the ball into the stratosphere, the players are making their way around the bases, the first one is heading into home base getting ready to place his foot on home plate and the referee shouts…..to be continued!

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