Airline passengers who?
Airline passengers who are now complaining about Sequesterman,
the evil superhero sent across the land by Congress to wreak havoc on
government programs large and small.
Congress and the President wouldn’t do their jobs and cut
spending on programs that they themselves had authorized, or sponsored, or
promoted as what America needed to move us forward into the next blah
blah, to prepare us for the next wave of blah blah, to save us from the coming
onslaught of blah blah, to blah blah blah us into submission.
They tried everything, but were so unwilling to make the
hard choices that they created Sequesterman, a cold, uncaring emotionless guy
who would implement harsh, across-the- board budget cuts in all areas of the federal government. They made him just in
case they needed an incentive (more inspiring than their dismal single-digit
approval rating) to force action "in the best interests of the country" to solve
our debt and deficit problem. Which they also made.
They heard speeches and pleas, arguments and suggestions,
ideas and proposals to not let Sequesterman loose on the country, of what would happen if they did allow the
arbitrary cuts to go in; they heard it for days and weeks and months on end. And as
they do so well, Congress pretended to act. The deliberated, and wrung their
hands, and rattled their sabers and each other’s cages, and voted on some stuff
that they all knew would not pass - and
ultimately they allowed Sequesterman out of the box.
Fast forward to this week:
Sequesterman has started furloughing air traffic controllers as part of
the mandatory spending cuts. And so
people living outside the rarefied air in Washington (they’re called voters) are
starting to be hurt by those furloughs, as flights are being delayed with fewer controllers manning the towers. (Of course, I think some folks would think that a flight delay is not
such a hurt compared to say, losing pay because of Congressional
gridlock. But as usual, I digress.)
The airlines, no dummies --they’re announcing to passengers
that the flight delays are caused by Sequesterman. Republicans in the House, they’re blaming the
President. Democrats in the Senate, they’re blaming the Republicans in the
House. Anyone surprised here that the most action we get out of these people is finger-pointing?
Congress, after blaming the FAA for mishandling the
across-the-board cuts made necessary by Congressional inaction, found somewhere
in their pocket Constitutions the right to on-time air service; it must be
right up there with free speech, corporations are people too, and a
well-regulated militia.
Unanimously and without debate, the Senate approved a bill
that allows the FAA to move freely about their own budget to find the necessary
cuts, making the furloughs unnecessary. Over in the House,
41 people pretended to have the courage of their convictions and voted no; however, since
passage by a huge margin was a forgone conclusion, a no vote was completely
meaningless.
In the end, everyone caved, and those pesky voters can now
get where they’re going with only the normal, non-Sequesterman delays in front
of them. (Mother Nature, the ball is back in your court.)
All I can say is I am extremely fortunate that my Congress
can act so swiftly when voters get angry about something as trivial, in the
overall scheme of things, as delayed flights, particularly ones that impact the NY-to-DC corridor.
Because that quick, decisive action will be what gets us well prepared
for the blah blah blah of the future, which will come as soon as our do-nothing
Congress gets back from their vacation.
Knock knock.
