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Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Blind Leading the Blinder?
Yesterday, the Senate voted once again against beginning debate on a package of tax cuts called the "extenders" for the fourth time this year. The vote was 51-43, and will put off any consideration of the legislation until Congress returns from their August recess on September 8.
The two main holdups are a deadlock between Democrats and Republicans over whether and how to address high gas prices (which is unrelated to the extenders bill), and the continuing debate over whether to pass fiscally responsible legislation. As I wrote yesterday, the first appears to be just election-year shenanigans typical these days in Washington. The second issue, however, is central to the debate over the future of the U.S. government's fiscal health and the economic health of our country.
In the wake of the continuing deterioration of both short and long-term budget deficit projections, yet another increase in the country's credit limit, sustained, disturbingly-large military expenditures with no end in sight, and continued woeful economic performance, it is long past time for Congress and the president to wake up to some fiscal realities.
Despite what the president and some Republicans in Congress would have us believe, the U.S. Treasury is not a bottomless money pit. It's time Congress and the president stop passing fiscal policies like they are on spring break with Mom and Dad's credit card and prioritize policies in a fiscally responsible way. We elect our leaders to make difficult decisions - that's part of the job. But the fiscal policies of the last eight years skirt those choices by pretending we can have our cake and eat it too.
Yet the Bush administration continues to care very little about the impact of current policies on future generations. Once again, they released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) opposing the extenders bill because it attempts to comply with pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules - because it offsets extension of some tax cuts with different tax increases. And the Republicans in the Senate continue to bury their heads in the sand and fall in line with that ideology. Even the usually respectable and sometimes responsible Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking member on the Senate Finance committee, cannot find a compromise that is fiscally responsible (i.e. he won't accept any tax increases). Does Grassley honestly believe we can keep running up debt in the current fiscal environment with no consequences? Does he understand the larger context of the decisions he is making - or more accurately, the ones he is not making?
The Democrats aren't much better. They've talked a good game on fiscal responsibility since taking back Congress in 2006, but when the going gets tough during policy debates or votes on high-priority issues, they lose their gumption. Witness how the Democrats caved last year over the Alternative Minimum Tax debate or the passage this year of the expansion of the G.I. Bill as just a couple of examples. Unfortunately, despite their tough talk, there is little evidence to point to a change this time around.
So, in the end, our nation's fiscal policy comes down to a battle between those willing to look the other way and those who don't know which way to look. Awesome.
Posted by Adam Hughes
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