At moments like this it is customary for pundits to say that both sides share the blame, but the shutdown of the federal government at midnight on Oct. 1 was clearly the fault of the growing radical right in the Republican Party.
They have put their agenda to block the Obama health care reform above the good of the nation and they should be held accountable.
This is an embarrassment. Because an agreement could not be reached, many of the 8,100 civilian federal employees working on Long Island have been furloughed and those whose offices remain open are working without pay until there is an appropriation for the new fiscal year.
In addition there are hundreds of federal employees who live on Long Island and work in Manhattan. They have bills to pay and families to pay.
The members of the House and Senate will continue to get paid. Lucky for them.
The military, public safety and social services including Social Security and Medicaid will continue for now but new applications for these services will not get processed. The shutdown may slow down or even stop the federal funding for the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
Anyone who tells you that the impact on Nassau County will be minimal is dreaming.
But even this is nothing compared to what will happen if the same Congress does not agree to raise the debt ceiling in October.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to congressional leaders last week telling them that they need to raise the debt limit by Oct. 17, when the government will run out of extraordinary measures to continue to pay the bills.
If that happens, for the first time in history, the United States of America will be in default. There will be no money available.
It’s no accident that the Republican tantrum, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), coincides with the day Obamacare was scheduled to begin.
If there is a bright side to all of this, it is our hope that Long Islanders will see just how dangerous and self-absorbed Tea Party and other extreme conservatives have become. To block Obamacare the Tea Party is willing to bring this nation to its knees.
Republican moderates are becoming fed up with the nonsense.
Long Island Congressman Peter King, a politician we don’t often agree with, hit the nail on the head last week when he said this was a battle his Republican Party couldn’t win.
“We know we’re going to lose,” he said
“I think it’s a wing within our party led by people like Ted Cruz who have been really, as far as I’m concerned, carrying out a fraud with the people by somehow implying or even saying this strategy is going to win,” he said.
Our hope is that moderates from both parties will find a way to work together, to reduce spending without cutting important services including health care for every American.
