Well, that didn't take long. Just the other day in my first post on this subject, I pointed out that the media was impatient to start promoting the impending doom resulting from the need to raise the debt ceiling and the imposition of the sequester after the two month delay. This new "crisis" would be one that could only be solved by more negotiations between president Obama and speaker Boehner. So now, the Washington Post has started that ball rolling. The WaPo reports that the White House is looking for another grand bargain to resolve the debt ceiling and sequester problems. Then it gets to the essence of the discussion:
Democratic and Republican officials say they could build on the grand bargain talks, which looked at raising new revenue through an overhaul of the tax code and reducing spending, including on Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs.
As in the earlier negotiations, however, there remain sticking points. How much new tax revenue would Republicans accept, especially now that tax rates on the wealthy are already climbing under the “fiscal cliff” agreement? And how far will President Obama go in meeting the GOP demand for deep spending cuts?
Do you see the point here? It comes in the sentence that reads "How much new tax revenue would Republicans accept". We just had a deal that raised taxes. Now is the time for cutting spending.
If Republicans look to use the debt ceiling increase as a lever, they will likely fail. It is an attempt that carries with it the essence of failure: by using the debt ceiling increase, the GOP will have a choice between putting America into default or accepting a further rise in taxes. So long as the debt ceiling is there to threaten default and disaster for the USA, Obama's obstinent refusal to oppose spending cuts will never be the main story; all we will hear is about GOP terrorist tactics that threaten to send us all to our doom. No, the GOP's position must be to realize that the only way to win this game is not to play it. Republicans must be the reasonable ones. They ought to just raise the debt ceiling now. Then, they ought to pass a budget and bills to implement a freeze in spending and avoid the sequester and send them on to the Senate. Let Obama and the Obamacrats explain to the nation why it is not enough to spend the same as last year.
For those of you who rabidly want spending cuts, remember that a spending freeze would be described in Washington-speak as a seven trillion dollar spending cut over ten years. Still, while the Obamacrats talk of a massive cut, the GOP should always speak about spending exactly the same amount as last year with no increase but no cuts.
Democratic and Republican officials say they could build on the grand bargain talks, which looked at raising new revenue through an overhaul of the tax code and reducing spending, including on Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs.
As in the earlier negotiations, however, there remain sticking points. How much new tax revenue would Republicans accept, especially now that tax rates on the wealthy are already climbing under the “fiscal cliff” agreement? And how far will President Obama go in meeting the GOP demand for deep spending cuts?
Do you see the point here? It comes in the sentence that reads "How much new tax revenue would Republicans accept". We just had a deal that raised taxes. Now is the time for cutting spending.
If Republicans look to use the debt ceiling increase as a lever, they will likely fail. It is an attempt that carries with it the essence of failure: by using the debt ceiling increase, the GOP will have a choice between putting America into default or accepting a further rise in taxes. So long as the debt ceiling is there to threaten default and disaster for the USA, Obama's obstinent refusal to oppose spending cuts will never be the main story; all we will hear is about GOP terrorist tactics that threaten to send us all to our doom. No, the GOP's position must be to realize that the only way to win this game is not to play it. Republicans must be the reasonable ones. They ought to just raise the debt ceiling now. Then, they ought to pass a budget and bills to implement a freeze in spending and avoid the sequester and send them on to the Senate. Let Obama and the Obamacrats explain to the nation why it is not enough to spend the same as last year.
For those of you who rabidly want spending cuts, remember that a spending freeze would be described in Washington-speak as a seven trillion dollar spending cut over ten years. Still, while the Obamacrats talk of a massive cut, the GOP should always speak about spending exactly the same amount as last year with no increase but no cuts.
1 comment:
Requiring departments to hold spending at 2012 levels assumes the departments fully understand their budgets, Oh I forgot, there is no BUDGET!
I believe it is time to demand the spending cuts & balanced budget, otherwise---close the fed gov. in the areas that can not be funded without further borrowing.
Can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. Time to FORCE the administration into IT'S Fical Reponsibibilty. If these folks were employees of a COMPANY, They would be FIRED. Waste is really not a word in the administration vocab. Waste is what they are!!!
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