Avoiding government shutdown two weeks at a time not the way to go

President Obama told reporters last week that, "We can’t keep on running the government based on a two-week extension ... That's irresponsible". He was referring to the stopgap measures Congress is taking to keep the government running by extending what's known as a continuing resolution.

The Wilderness Society and 33 other conservation and public interest groups across America have joined together to create some guidelines for the federal government in 2011 that would generate jobs and protect natural resources. In a document called the “Green Budget” there are a variety of recommendations to Congress that offer incredible benefits to the American people — from preservation projects in New Hampshire to stimulating the economy in North Carolina.

There’s an old saying about “death by a thousand cuts.” Those words could easily be used to describe how federal environmental programs fared during the eight long years of the Bush administration.

Throughout those years, in agency after agency, programs vital to the health of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the well-being of our nation’s beloved forests, parks, and wildlife refuges were systematically bled of the money they needed to assure their survival.

Here are just a few of the many examples of the damage: