Simply as a practical matter in these debt talks, entitlement reform should be taken off the table, not the discretionary spending but definitely Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. These latter three should be tackled separately so when Senator Coburn (R-OK) in today's interview keeps talking about entitlements, they should not be tied to the debt ceiling vote.
Two more important notions to keep in mind before we go any further, which are: 1) Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements. These are programs that as American individuals we pay into for all of our working lives and entitlements suggests that these are just 'given' to us, which they are not. Secondly, raising the debt ceiling accounts for money that the United States has already spent. We can argue about who spent what, but the fact remains that for all practical purposes, it must be raised.
In this debt debate, it has been pretty well clear that it has been President Obama who has been more willing to make concessions [read: compromises] to get a deal done. Also, we believe that Speaker Boehner has been willing, be it less so, to compromise as well. However, Speaker Boehner is completely beholden to the Tea Party Republican caucus in the house, and we agree with Doris Kearns-Goodwin when in today's panel she said that he is a different kind of leader, but completely disagree with freshman Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) that he's been a good one. As Ms. Goodwin stated, he is unwilling to demand followers, leveraging his power as the Speaker to get his part in line. That he can not get House Republicans to see a way to compromise is not leading.
Ultra business-friendly White House Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, stated that one of the keys is to take the uncertainty out of the market and the uncertainty that he is referring to, in the immediate sense, is whether or not the United States is going to default on its debts for the first time in its history. As we have stated before, we're not sure what will happen if the debt ceiling isn't raised (We're not one of those columns to think it knows everything about everything as former Senator Chuck Hagel mentioned during today's round table.), but any unprecedented act, especially one that is perceived negative, will have an adverse effect on the economy.
Last reported was that Speaker Boehner walked out of negotiations because the President 'moved the goal posts,' going from asking for $800 billion in revenue to $1.2 trillion in revenue. By the way, all of this revenue would be by closing corporate tax loopholes now, and then having the Bush Era Tax Cuts sunset for the richest 1% of the country in 2012. Mr. Daley, emphatically said that it wasn't true what Mr. Boehner said, 'he was in the room.' Even if the President did 'move the goal posts,' you're talking $40 billion a year more in revenue increases, which really isn't that much. When Speaker Boehner says that we can not raise taxes on job creators, it rings so hollow that it echoes to every corner of the country. The job creators to which he's referring are corporations who are sitting on cash with the lowest tax rate they've had in the past 50 years and are not investing the money that hence creates jobs. That statement means nothing.
Mr. Daily called a raising of the debt ceiling for the next six month a 'short-term gimmick,' which it is because it puts a beaten debt-ceiling argument back into play during the Presidential election, something that the President clearly doesn't want so it makes sense that he flatly rejects that.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) said in the next segment that it was a ridiculous position to hold because that is what the compromise vote is going to look like. Even though we disagree with most all of Mr. Coburn's political positions, he is worthy of our respect because he has shown that he understands that to lead in this country, compromise is needed. He does see room for getting rid of some tax subsidies for ethanol and wind. Mr. Coburn is the Senator that made news for saying that he would not be beholden to Grover Norquist's tax pledge, to which Andrea Mitchell asked a most sensible question - how do 236 members of Congress sign a pledge before even coming into the chamber? Congress Adam Kinzinger should have had to answer that, but it probably would have been a rote answer - 'We can not raise taxes on job creators...etc.'
However, Congressman Kinzinger does believe we can reach a compromise. That is the general consensus - everyone says that - but where is the compromise to go with it? What the Tea Party Republican caucus doesn't understand that in a large, diverse country such as ours (As Ms. Goodwin reminded us), compromise is essential - democracy can not survive without it.
One example that was touched on by Chief Daley and then rebutted by Senator Coburn was the impass over the FAA, which as Mr. Daley said resulted in the layoff of 4000 airport workers on Friday. Democrats and Republicans couldn't come to an agreement. Mr. Coburn said, for the Republicans part, that there were subsidies and duplication of payments that were a complete waste of federal dollars. What went unmentioned was that Republicans wanted the stripping of collective bargaining rights on behalf of the workers. Because Democrats would not give in to that demand, a deal didn't get done, hence the aforementioned result.
So when it comes to the debt deal, Mr. Daley described an 'our way or the highway' approach when it comes to revenue on the part of the Republicans. That's a problem that both the Paul Ryan budget plan has and the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill both have. When those bills go over to the Senate, controlled by Democrats, there's no chance of them going back to the House because the House will reject them because of compromises edited in by Senate Democrats.
Mayor Corey Booker said that he agrees with Republicans in that we have a spending problem, and we do, but it's where the spending is going that is the problem. Tax cuts can not be the only answer - it is not a panacea because if it were, the economy would be booming by now. What creates economic growth is a solvent federal government and for that to happen, it needs to take in more money, not just cut spending. Bringing that down to a familial level, mothers and fathers get more than one job to sustain a level of existence for their kids. To feed them, they not only say to themselves, 'We have to lower our expenses," but also say, "We have to find a way to get more money coming in." It's a two-way street.
And actually, there's a third important notion that you need to keep in mind. Former Congressman Dick Armey's FreedomWorks that started the Tea Party movement has no interest in having the economy stabilize. His motivations are purely to drive Democrats out of control of any part of government for the long term and put forth a radically right agenda. Hence, compromise on the part of Tea Party Republicans is not an option. With any problem, it's always very helpful to identify that cause so when you say that governing is compromising, you now know what the cause is. Is our government broken? Ms. Goodwin said that there's no question it's broken. So who broke it? Tea Party Republicans did. Hopefully, for all of us, a default on our debt and the downgrading of the United States' credit rating will not be their legacy.
Round Table: Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel (R); Illinois tea party freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R); Mayor of Newark, Cory Booker (D); Presidential Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
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