Conor Rogers, Editor
Washington, D.C.
The media is currently tossing around the term “compromise” and “deal” for a budget agreement that cuts spending by 2.4 trillion dollars – 1.4 of which may end up being across the board cuts – with zero definite tax increases.
Pinch me.
This deal is a magnificent compromise – between the Tea Party and Moderate Republicans.
Four weeks ago, Republicans were under assault as the enemies of Medicare, as sellouts out to slash grandma’s healthcare to protect corporate jet owners all while plagued by an especially dully primary field. This morning, they’re the fiscal heroes who paralyzed Washington to bring the country back from the brink of default.
But it was a brink that the GOP themselves created to force the Democrats’ hand on spending. It’s been a while since we had a true spending fight – DC hasn’t proposed a budget in 20+ months.
The GOP drew an important but entirely artificial line at the debt ceiling, creating a show-stopping controversy out of an issue that Congress has addressed over 100 times without much discussion. If the debt “deal” passes, the Republicans will have pulled off one of the most sunning political plays in history: a 2.4 trillion dollar budget cut in exchange for absolutely nothing — branded as a middle-of-the-road agreement. Democrats did not manage to sneak a single one of their legislative priorities into one of the biggest deals Congress has ever cut. The only compromise that happened in Washington this week was the staged sacrifice of the Balanced Budget Amendment, a tea party pipe-dream.
In a matter of weeks, the GOP forced a big-spending President who just last year expanded government entitlements to include healthcare for all to his knees. The stunning political reality of President Obama, elected as a liberal savior, actively lobbying for a deal that shrinks government by trillions of dollars cannot be understated.
Facing down a credit downgrade, fiscal liberalism has been banished from the beltway. More accurately, it surrendered –Democrats and President Obama inexplicably buckled. Last night’s debt agreement is the equal and opposite reaction to the bailouts, the stimulus, and the Affordable Care Act — and the spending rush at the end of President Bush’s second term.
This debt ceiling deal confirms a new political reality that has been taking shape since late 2009: American economic politics has jumped rightward – more accurately, yanked rightward – thanks to an uncompromising Tea Party. A 2.4 trillion dollar slash to federal government is being heralded as a moderate compromise.
Thank God. The “center” of our economic debates should always be something resembling a balanced budget, while the far left encourages incurring debt for entitlements and stimulus, and the far right argues for defense spending and tax reductions.
The Tea Party thinks the immediate cuts don’t go far enough, and liberals are outraged we didn’t hike taxes or increase revenues during a recession. Good – both ideas are far too risky in a shaky economy. We can’t pull billions of dollars out of the US economy this year – government dollars or private dollars, spending cut or tax hike.
If you’re under 40, this is an occasion to celebrate. The fiscal insanity that has dumped an unfathomable amount of debt on you and your (maybe-not-even-born-yet) children is under arrest. The likelihood that we’ll face a tax hike down the road simply to pay off our parents’ tax-cuts-while-spending lunacy just got a little less likely. For all the antics the Republican Party has produced the past two years, this stand on the national debt is why they were sent to Washington — not to defund Planned Parenthood or decide where the President was born — but to do something absolutely radical and put a stop to the spending binge.
Simply because we’ve had this debate at all, it’s fair to declare the days of reckless spending over and dead – if not sent to the political wilderness for at a few election cycles. American voters will not forget about the debt ceiling – and will never allow it to be raised without discussion ever again. Republicans have yanked American spending policies three steps to the right – and for the first time in decades, addressed the grotesque generational theft going on in Washington. Like an addict facing an intervention, we’ve recognized our problem – nearly 15 trillion dollars, five Presidents, three tax cuts, three wars, and four economic programs later.
Hello sanity, it’s nice to see you.
To say that the Democrats inexplicably buckled is like saying that it makes no sense to let a thief steal your car when the alternative is the thief killing you (and still stealing your car). What the far right did in this process was no less irresponsible than the policy of “mutually assured destruction” – a policy that “worked” only because it never was pushed to the point of being implemented.
The Democratic Party is the party that had the ability to stop this madness, yes. The “Fourteenth Amendment strategy” discussed would likely have been held up in court, but the President was wise not to use it. It would have created a crisis and an expansion of executive power generally only seen under, well, Republican Presidents. The idea that there is a debt ceiling that can be set by Congress is ludicrous. They authorized the spending. If they want to reduce it, then do so during the appropriations process. If the tables were turned, President Bush would have come up with constitutional arguments left and right to continue to fund his pet wars.
What I hope comes out of this is that the parties have shown their true colors. The Democratic Party is the one that will sacrifice anything and everything necessary to preserve the country’s (and the world’s) economy. It is the party that understands that compromise is a necessary component of politics. The Republican Party is the one that has shown that it is bent on political success without regard for the consequences, however dire they may be.
I used to coach youth soccer and frankly, this reminds me quite a bit of that experience. There were two players who were not particularly good at offense. One, who viewed scoring goals as being the only mark of a good soccer player (and goaded on by similar-minded parents), insisted upon playing forward, even if I assigned them to defense. The other, understanding that offense was not a personal strong suit, decided to focus on being the best defender possible. The result was unsurprising. The one who decided to play offense rarely scored, but gloated whenever it happened and insisted it was proof of offensive prowess. The other frequently prevented the team’s embarrassment at the hands of our opponents. There was far less glory in the resolute defender’s actions, but nonetheless, that contribution to the team was far greater to the careful observer. The Republican would point out that one cannot win games without a strong offense, but I would point out that one always loses games without a strong defense.
Conor: From yours :”…a deal that shrinks government by trillions of dollars” It’s not clear to me that you even understand what the deal is based on. The trillions you speak of are “savings” by lowering even higher numbers that we might have spent, to slightly lower numbers that we’re sure to spend… and more!
From yours again: “The fiscal insanity that has dumped an unfathomable amount of debt on you and your (maybe-not-even-born-yet) children is under arrest.” NIce image, but who’s got who in whose jail? Nobody’s committed to keep the “Bush” tax cuts, and if they’re allowed to expire: goodbye no-tax increase idea, and hello spending binge.
You toss off the balanced budget amendment as so-much Tea Party unattainable: that’s the ONLY thing that will cure Washington, the moderate Repubs like you and the socialist Demos work together to treat the tax payers in the Red States like galley slaves. Washington(you live there, you can’t tell. When we visit from the provinces, we can see how well it takes care of itself!) is not leading by cutting, the state capitols are! Christie for President!
Colin: Great to see you back on this playground! The new ones don’t know how to climb the jungle gym!
Both of you make the mistake of trusting that these criminals can be held to the deal. It’s just something to tell the press! The rating agencies are still going to downgrade, and in nit so long a time… we’re Argentine! First, TARP. Then, stimulus. Then Obamacare, and Hello insolvency! This deal cures nothing. It’s a band aid on a festering sore that’s killing the body politic. Look at the ratio Gov revs/GDP 90% Unsustainable, from the very crowd whose highest value is “sustainability.” It’s a mockery of itself. Joseph Stalin is laughing in Hell. And you two are willing dupes.
OD, this is far from the deal I think Washington needs, but if this is what we get when the Democrats control 2/3rds of Washington, it’s a sign things are moving in the right direction. That’s my point.
–I called the Balanced Budget Amendment a pipe-dream not because I think it’s a bad idea, but because you’d have to be on drugs to think it’d ever make it through Congress. Passed by the people is a different story, but even then, I’m not sure it’d go through.
“you’d have to be on drugs to think it’d ever make it through Congress.” After the next election, it’ll sail through. The electorate(disapproval of Congress = above 70%)will turn out the ne’er-do-wells, and get some doers in there(then they’ll drink some Dewar’s!)and they’ll pass it. And the new era can begin. STOP ACCEPTING THIS as the status quo.
Glad to hear you don’t think it’s a bad idea. Stop thinking it’s out of reach!
Nice pun