The GOP's playing games on debt ceiling
It is time Republicans stop planning their 2012 campaigns, demonstrate that love of country trumps love of party and meet President Barack Obama in a serious discussion about our shared future.
Do we really want to head into August unsure about whether Social Security checks will arrive? Do we really want to wonder about anything so awful?
Republican intransigence on raising the debt ceiling is actually making a worst-case-scenario look possible. The question, of course, is why. And the answer, as explained by GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, sadly is political.
Cut through his notion of allowing Obama to raise the ceiling without a deficit reduction plan, and it becomes very clear the GOP posture is based entirely on positioning for November 2012 elections. McConnell knows the country has to do the responsible thing to avoid a national default, but he wants Republicans to be able to blame a politically unpopular move on Democrats.
It’s a foolish stance and now is the time to say “enough.”
Here are the facts: The federal government spends significantly more than it takes in through taxes. Of those expenses, about a quarter is spent each year on defense. Almost half the money goes toward Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Everything else lands in the final quarter of annual expenses, and that includes the spending that covers interest payments on the national debt.
Eliminate every penny to welfare and education, and this nation still has about $1 trillion a year more in expenses than revenue.
The meaning is simple: Congressional Republicans have to stop playing games. The debt ceiling, which pays for past expenses, has to be raised, and should be boosted enough to quiet fears in financial markets around the world. Long-term spending cuts and tax increases (including closing loopholes) have to be part of the solution.
Obama has journeyed beyond where many Democrats are comfortable, proposing a solution that would benefit this country. Republicans need to work with him to negotiate a responsible compromise.
Playing more political games, and failing to fund Social Security checks, should not be an option.
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