On Friday, Virginia’s government agencies submitted to Gov.
Bob McDonnell a list of ‘suggestions’ for which limbs to lop off in case the
U.S. Congress cannot come to a budget deal and the so-called “fiscal cliff” is
not averted.
Should Gov. McDonnell decide to balance Virginia’s budget
sheets, the state agencies outlined a list of spending cuts of over $132 million
over the next 18 months[1].
The list represents 4% in cuts derived by Virginia’s department heads at the
request of McDonnell.
Perhaps not surprisingly in a mostly conservative state, the
biggest state agency cuts that are being proposed belong to public safety, to
the tune of $53 million. Health and Human Resources is next in line with close
to $34 million in proposed cuts.
As has been the case, however, many of the reductions to
state agencies would be handed down to local governments, forcing the governing
bodies of these localities to make cuts, raise revenues, or a combination of
both.
I would like to believe that these cuts will prove
unnecessary because our national congressmen and women will have finally
stepped away from the “cliff” and back to reality where the rest of America
resides. However, this is just wishful thinking on my part.
The U.S. Congress appears unable and unwilling to compromise
with one another for the good of the country. And although the conventional
wisdom is that as the end of the year approaches, and with it the automatic cuts
and tax increases, members of congress will finally reach some type of economic
disaster averting agreement, the exact opposite has been true in the past: both
sides have viewed deadlines as political tools to try and force the other party
to cave their demands.
Both parties are at fault in this inexcusable debacle (even
though one party in particular shares more of it). If America cannot rescue itself
from this self-induced affliction, it will go down as not only the most
powerful history in human history, but the most powerful country to clearly undermine
its own standing as a “great power.”
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