Government service in Washington? More like government disservice

Here we go again. The federal government is once again facing a possible shutdown, once again brought about by our elected officials failing to do anything more than pass one stop-gap spending measure after another. The current fiscal year ends on September 30, and if a new spending bill isn’t approved by Congress, the federal government would shut down on October 1st. Lawmakers knew this day was coming, but have done nothing to approve a new spending measure to keep the government operating. If a deal isn’t reached in the next week and a half, nearly 3 million federal employees will be sent home, government buildings and museums will be shuttered, and national monuments will be closed. It would be the second government shutdown in two years. It is becoming a way of life in Washington. Lawmakers have ignored the pending crisis, and gave themselves the month of August off to vacation and campaign. And the fight isn’t really about how much to fund government agencies. It is about whether the federal government should continue to fund Planned Parenthood, whose budget makes up just one five-thousandth of federal spending. Are we really willing to shutter the whole government over that? Those we elected to Congress aren’t performing government service. Instead, they are once again providing government dis-service.