In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Utah Representative Ken Ivory discuss:
- Impact of the Government Shutdown
- A "one-size-hurts-all" policy
- No one is stepping up to resolve the fundamental issues
- "The system is broken"
- States need to "own the problem"
- Many are waking up to this reality
To help listeners understand the impact of this week's government shutdown, Chris speaks with Utah Representative Ken Ivory to his insider's perspective.
To put it bluntly, which Rep. Ivory does, the shutdown adds insult to injury:
You have got something on the order of $3.6-3.8 trillion in expenses and $2.4-2.5 trillion in revenue. That is not a good long-term recipe for success. We have been doing that for what? Five, six years now, and with no budget. That is what really amazes me. There is all this discussion about their "hair on fire" because they have not resolved this continuing resolution, which is really just a can-kicking exercise. They are going to kick the can down the road to keep this overspending sputtering along. They have not had a budget for nearly five years now. There is no discussion in the media, in the news, on the fact that they have not had a budget for five years. That this really seems to be a fiscal suicide mission.
And the political leadership in Washington, D.C.