Our Opinion: It’s swampy
Some in the media were blaming the current government “shutdown” on “dysfunction” in the U.S. Senate. That really is not the case. The Senate is functioning just fine — but many of its Democrats have decided to use the shutdown for political purposes.
On the other hand, the temporary suspension of some federal functions is a display of another kind of dysfunction — in the bureaucracy.
Exhibit A was the government’s decision to close the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to tourists. New York Gov. Andre Cuomo, a Democrat, stepped in, saying the two attractions simply could not be closed. The state of New York would provide the $65,000 a day needed to keep them open, Cuomo said.
And, he added, that would cost New Yorkers nothing. Revenue from the two sites would more than offset costs.
Money was not a problem for the two attractions then. The federal government could have kept them open, had bureaucrats chosen to do so.
And they wonder why we call it “the swamp.”