Avoiding a shutdown

The governing body of almost any group, including organizations such as churches, veterans clubs or neighborhood associations, have the responsibility of determining the activities in which the group should engage, determining how much should be spent, and raising the money needed to meet expenses.

While the House of Representatives and Senate are legislative bodies, which set the goals and programs for a country of more than 330 million people, their responsibilities in dealing with the country's finances come down to determining a budget based upon what will be collected in taxes and how much will be spent on each line item. Unfortunately, these two bodies have not demonstrated a particular talent for executing these tasks as well as most organizations with lessor responsibilities.

Beginning in 1977, the governmental fiscal year was set to run from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 of the following year. In only four instances have all of the regular appropriations acts have been enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year in which they were supposed to operate. And in 15 instances there was a government shutdown or funding gap.

This past Oct. 1, the country narrowly avoided another funding gap. However, unless the House of Representatives functions as it should, we will face the possibility of a funding gap on Nov. 17. Since the House of Representatives will be wasting its time to consider impeaching the president and possibly picking a new speaker, I am not optimistic that we will avoid a shutdown.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau