Maybe It’s Time

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported to Congress at the end of October that

for the first time in its history [SIGAR was] unable this quarter to provide Congress and the American people with a full accounting of this US government spending [in Afghanistan] due to the noncooperation of several US government agencies.
The United States Agency for International Development, which administers the majority of US government spending for Afghanistan, and the Treasury Department refused to cooperate with SIGAR in any capacity while the State Department was selective in the information it provided pursuant to SIGAR’s audit and quarterly data requests.

These refusals directly violate current law regarding fund expenditure reporting requirements and are yet further examples of the disdain for inconvenient law held by members and supporters of the Progressive-Democratic Party.

Maybe it’s time to defund entirely the USAID and to drastically reduce funding for Treasury and State. That would significantly reduce the amount of government spending that would go unreported.

It’ll be difficult and noisy to do, though, since the Progressive-Democratic Party politicians controlling the Senate and White House agree that this badly needed information should be covered up.

Political Payback

The Wall Street Journal‘s Editors note that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R, CA) plans to remove three of the more sketchy and extremist members of the Progressive-Democratic Party from House committees if he becomes Speaker. The Editors then fret that

This sort of mutually assured political destruction is both a symptom and cause of the decline of Congress. But these are the polarizing precedents that Mrs Pelosi has set, and in politics payback is inevitable.

The Editors are correct regarding symptoms and causes here; however, they fail to proceed to the follow-on alternatives. The Republican Party getting even here will give both parties an opportunity to step back. Whether both of the parties take advantage of the chance is a separate question.

If there isn’t payback, though, the destruction is guaranteed to continue, and by a single party alone—which would be much worse.