The Senate approved a package of six appropriations bills ahead of a late-Friday deadline and sent it to President Joe Biden to become law after some haggling over amendments.
I both agree with you and disagree. I agree that having a long term plan (beyond one year) would be amazing, but I disagree that essential things will always be paid. That is actually true, you are right, but the problem is that these other things that are, essentially, essential, will become nonessential. They just do not get done. And both the "customers" and the employees are expected to deal with it. It is a public-private pipeline. I hate it. For openness, I am a federal employee.
To put it simply, this is just not how the legislative branch works. Most of their power derives from the power of the purse. People who are only in power for 2 years are not going to cede the main power that they invested so much time and money in order to obtain.
Moreover, 10 years is a lifetime in politics. Our government already moves slow enough as is.
Instead, I propose a few changes:
Get rid of the debt ceiling fight. We already agreed to the commitment of funds.
3 people per house seat, based upon top 3 ranked choices. This will encourage minor parties and cooperation.
I get that laws need to be long so that they cover loopholes, nuance, interpretation, sausage making, etc. but laws should have simple summaries that the general public can understand. At least one of these summary pages should read like a change log: new features, bug fixes, changes to existing stack, deletions, etc.
Robust Sunshine laws for office holders and staff, except where classified for national security
Continuing ed: Politicians or at least their support staff should be educated and qualified to understand what they are legislating on.
Computer generated, panel approved district maps
The fed has a dual mandate, something similar should be developed for politicians. Spend I’m lean times, save in boom times, but never stop aspiring to do great big things.
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