History Repeats Itself

Congress on the brink of another shutdown
If nothing changes in Congress by this Thursday, the government will once again be shut down. The argument is centralized on a spending bill and "unrelated issues." One issue holding up Congress is the recent immigration executive order. As of now, it is looking like a short-term spending bill will have to be passed by both the House and Senate soon so that the government will not shut down; this will give the Senate "more time to approve the measure"over which they are arguing. Sometime today, the House's Committee on Appropriations is supposed to release legislation that "funds virtually all of the government for a full fiscal year."

Our government and economic lessons from this week relate extremely well to this current event, and they both have made this problem easier for me to understand. However, I do not think that stubbornness should shut the whole government down. I agree with some Republican leaders quoted in this article who argue that the immigration fight should not be responsible for this shutdown, and should be saved for when the Republicans control the majority of both House and Senate.

'Merica: Paying Nazis Since 1945

This CNN article discusses rights of Nazis to receive Social Security. The House of Representatives just passed a bill-- unanimously, in fact-- that "cuts off" former Nazis from getting these benefits. Sam Johnson, a Republican Representative from Texas, stated: "Allowing payments to continue is an insult to those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis." New York's Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney guessed that there were around four people who are currently receiving Social Security benefits, although a recent investigation put that number higher-- around 12. The investigation reports that these dozen Nazis were "stripped of their citizenship and forced to leave the country," but a "loophole" has made it possible for them to keep receiving Social Security. Mirroring the House, the Senate has a similar anti-Nazi bill to pass, but both the House and Senate (and both Democrats and Republicans!) are hoping to be able to place this issue in front of President Obama by the end of this month.

To be honest, the first thought that came to my mind after reading this article was shock that there were still Nazis alive, and living in the United States! As silly as it seems, I was momentarily caught off-guard by the thought that I was living in a world in which Nazis still existed-- I definitely only think of them living about 50 years ago. However, overall I do not believe that these 4-12 people still benefiting from Social Security should be, especially if they have already been "stripped of their citizenship."