The Custodian

 Prayer: I pray God gives our lawmakers and leader wisdom and discernment as he did for the leaders in the bible.  Our Savior has already empowered and embolden us with the knowledge, resources and abilities. May he give us the compassion to govern with a heart for the people we serve.  

    I am confused. When I am confused I have questions.  First, why was the pro tempore put in place? More specifically what was the purpose of appointing a pro tempore? Was it to say a prayer and bang the gavel each day and to provide the next assembly? Setting the next meeting and banging the gavel could be done by the custodian.  By custodian, I mean the person who empties the trash bins at the end of the day. I was under the impression the pro tempore was set in place for the assembly to be able to continue with the business at hand -until the next speaker had been selected. There are two pressing matters that need immediate attention: aid/defense and CR to the budget fast approaching. In order to handle the business of the day and address the matters; workflow will need to continue. Continuing at a slower pace is far better than stopping all workflow. These are unprecedented circumstances, keeping this in mind; the pro tempore should be shown some grace, respect and support in getting bills to the floor and passed. 

    I understand aid support to Ukraine and Israel, but when did Taiwan come into the picture for assistance.  Better yet, why have they been brought into the picture? I wake up one morning and see Taiwan in the budget.  One of my biggest pet peeves is piggy-backing in the political arena.  The most convoluted occurrence of this is on the local ballot.  On local level taxpayers are polled and ask to agree to add a home exception tax credit and in the same question  piggy -back taxing  the people for the next 19 years to build a casino in their back yard. In a larger picture, not allowing a resolution for aid/defense or CR budget in order to get funds allocated towards putting up this wall or strengthening border patrol is subversive. Lets work together.

    Enhanced border security and immigration enforcement. Sigh. This one is hard and I believe will take some research. It is hard because this country was founded on "discovery" by Christopher Columbus, who before discovering was a foreigner. Then those now know as African-American were brought to America against their will and kept as slaves. It wasn't until hundreds of years later those same African-American were "said to be equals".  Based on this I say open up the borders and let anyone that wants to take a shot at the "American dream" have at it. If one is willing to work hard and be a productive member of society-who am I to deny.  The fentanyl crisis can resolve itself thorough natural selection. It may sound harsh, but to what end do we pour into the never ending war on drugs.  Our children need education, after school programs, tools and resources. Note to self, research best practices for US, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, UAE and UK border patrol policies and security. 

Its been a week! Goal for next week continued pray for those caught in the crossfire. 

State of the nation

 Where do I begin? With prayer.  My prayers are with Israel and Ukraine, may God give them favor and peace. 

    Now as for the House speaker, there is too much money for these folks not to get it together. Matt Gaetz made a powerful move removing McCarthy from the position.  However, paralleling this to a chess move, he left the nation vulnerable. This vulnerability comes at a time when the US cannot afford.  Until recently I didn't know McHenry was sitting pro tempore and essentially going through the motions each day until a permanent was selected. At this point, the nation needs to make moves. From what I have gathered Scalise withdrew and Jordan isn't the right one either. McHenry seems content with doing the minimum and is not looking to help precedence to be written.  I think for the next six months or until the next speaker has been selected, McCarthy and McHenry should work together to get aid packages to Israel and Ukraine. The 6 B that Ukraine requested is not going to be plausible. What is more plausible is 50% going back into US defense (China and Russia off the coast of Alaska in International waters did not go unnoticed), 25% going to Ukraine and 25% going to Israel. 

    Next an approach meeting needs to be set up to work out how the budget will be handled.  The CR has already taken place allowing more time, but a systematic approach to cut the budget needs to be established. No one, and that is absolutely no one needs to come to the table without less than 20% in budget cuts. The approach meeting needs to set out how the budget will be reviewed, when and which date each of the 12 agenda items are to be addressed, the first being aid and defense. Two agenda items a month and meetings every week until this gets sorted out is the only way this is going to work in the favor of our nation. 

    We as a nation need for these "Representatives" to put aside the pettiness, such as going after Biden when those efforts can be put to good use elsewhere.  McCarthy still needs to work this out like he stated when he was voted in, and since McHenry is already in place, he will have to do more.  Like bring the agenda items to the floor and possibly getting the House on the same page. He cant do it by himself, he will need help. Who better than the man that was ousted and the last one in the position. Compromise and communication should not be a new concept.