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KAHNTENTIONS

KAHNTENTIONS is a blog post written by Gilbert N. Kahn, Professor of Political Science at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Beginning in 2011 KAHNTENTIONS was hosted by the New Jersey Jewish News which recently ceased written publication. KAHNTENTIONS presents an open and intellectually honest analysis of issues facing the United States, Israel, as well as Jews world-wide.

BY GILBERT N. KAHN

"These are the times that try men's souls."

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Governing Versus Vacation


American politics has lost its way. There are elected representatives as well as aspirants who seem to have no interest in solving the nation’s problems or governing, especially in the international arena.  The House of Representatives recessed on Thursday. It is unlikely to return until early January, leaving much of the people’s business unfinished and still on the table.


Congress has still not approved a full budget for fiscal year 2024 which began on October 1. (This specific battle will be re-engaged in early January or else the nation will face a possible government shutdown.)  President Joe Biden’s request for a supplemental aid package for support for Ukraine and Israel as well as funding for increased border security was left unfinished. The House raised its concern about increased immigration from Latin America and the inadequacies of border security but did not want to confront the difficult problem of seeking a viable compromise with the White House.  It then proceeded to walk away from addressing any of the priority aid packages to return home and celebrate the holidays.  


Politicians in Washington and in southern border states are treating the issue of the life or death of immigrants as if they were dealing with a challenge posed by an infestation of flies which could be swatted away.  It is appalling that political leaders as well as clerics of all faith communities are unwilling to speak to the inhumane and religious sacrilege transpiring as they watch government’s failure to treat all human beings as divine creatures. There are problems and policy issues which need to be solved, but not with the callous disregard extended to asylum seekers, children, and illegal immigrants.


Even on relatively straight forward matters such as military promotions, Members of Congress have allowed themselves to employ dilatory and procedural rules.  Citizens and politicians can disagree as to whether life begins at conception or whether having or performing an abortion is a crime, but when Senator Tommy Tuberville held up over 400 high-level military promotions for months because of his opposition to abortions, it seemed like legislative comity had lost its way. 


The economy may not be in perfect condition and many people are still suffering, yet President Biden, together with the Congress, has made dramatically positive moves to improve the overall economy over the past three years. Since the decline in COVID, the past 18 months have seen unemployment rates hover between 3-4%.  More people are working, although some not necessarily at the jobs they want. Inflation, according to Jerome Powell, appears to have been arrested. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank is predicting a probable decline in interest rates in 2024. Some basic costs remain high but the overall the economy is strong.


As Americans prepare to celebrate Christmas there continues to be one set of major political issues which is extremely challenging. There is a need for America to coalesce around a unified definition of the nation’s role in the world. Many in Congress—largely Republicans—remain unwilling to perform their duty to engage in serious, non-incriminating, debates concerning the future of U.S. foreign relations. This would include such issues as: support for Ukraine and Israel; future relations with Russia; the status of continued conversations with China over Taiwan, the Taiwan Straits, and the China Sea; Saudi Arabia and its possible role together with other oil producing nations in stabilizing Gaza after the conclusion of the war; and the future of NATO in preventing future military disruptions in Europe.    


Republicans, especially in the House supported --or were afraid to confront--the Trump Administration as it sought to return U.S. post-cold war American foreign policy to the pre-World War II isolationism. There is a growing movement among many of former President Donald Trump’s followers, both among elected officials and his supporters, to significantly reduce United States engagement in world affairs, except when it provides significant economic benefits.  


This position is counter to those championed by President Biden. Following Biden’s long-standing commitment to international engagement by the United States, the Republican House, did not want to address the President’s supplemental aid request. While many Senate Republicans were ideologically in line with their House counterparts, they understood that they ought not let America’s world-wide responsibilities be dismissed or diverted by a debate over immigration policy. There is a serious callousness in a Congress that agrees to go home and leave the world’s problems left to wait until after the holiday season. These, too, should be part of America’s governing concerns.

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