Just about the time the suggestion that we throw out all members of Congress out in this election year comes up, proposed legislation surfaced in both the House of Representatives and Senate that makes sense. The No Budget, No Pay Act bills won’t be adopted, but it gives us hope that common sense is perhaps still alive in the Capitol.
The House legislation, H.R. 3643, would provide that “members of Congress may not receive pay after Oct. 1 of any fiscal year in which Congress has not approved a concurrent resolution on the budget and passed the regular appropriations bills,” effective in October 2013.
The Congressional Research Service notes Congress has not passed all its appropriations bills on time since 1997. It has done so just four times since 1977.
The Senate, the chamber that likes to call itself “the greatest deliberative body in the world,” has gone more than 1,000 days without adopting a budget. Perhaps that’s why two pieces of similar legislation, S.1442 and S.1981, were filed in the Senate.
Congress has not adopted a budget in more than 960 days. But who is counting?
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The House legislation would prohibit members from receiving pay after missing the deadlines for budget and appropriations bills. Another section would ban retroactive pay.
Congress has been funding our government without a budget. The funding has come from continuing resolutions and appropriations bills that no one in Washington can comprehend.
That explains how Washington amassed a $1.3 trillion deficit this past year. It’s called lack of leadership on both sides of the political aisle.
The House bill has more than two dozen co-sponsors, including three from Arkansas: Fourth District Congressmen Mike Ross, a Democrat who would not be impacted by the legislation since he is not seeking re-election, and Republicans Tim Griffin of Central Arkansas’ Second District and Rick Crawford of Eastern Arkansas’ First District. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., is one of four co-sponsors of a similar bill in the Senate.
The concept behind No Budget, No Pay has merit. That’s why we are not optimistic it will become law. The only personal incentive our lawmakers have is getting re-elected.
Boll weevil
Apparently the only boll weevil left in Arkansas is the University of Arkansas at Monticello mascot. It would be nice if we can keep it that way.
We have a $250 million investment in eradicating the pest, not the mascot, so continued detection efforts are wise.
State legislators have endorsed a recommendation to keep the fee paid by farmers in the Northeast Delta Zone — Mississippi County and the eastern half of Craighead County — to support the eradication program at $14 per acre for at least one more year.
Eventually, the fee could be eliminated once the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation’s $9 million debt is retired.
The eradication program was launched in 1999 and is being supported by farmers in five eradication zones through an assessment based on the number of cotton acres they grow. The assessment ranged from $5 to $14 an acre, depending on the region of the state.
Now that the boll weevil is gone, the foundation is reducing the size of the staff that has been inspecting fields and setting boll weevil traps for the past decade. As late as 2004, the eradication program had 300 employees. That number is down to about 20 today and should be down to 10 by fall.
While we have been boll weevil free for three years, the state still needs an eradication program to make sure the pest never returns to damage Arkansas’ $450 million cotton industry.