OPINION:
It looks like the heated rhetoric over raising the debt ceiling is about to come to an end. Instead of serving as a wake-up call to Congress on the need to change course, the debate has sent House Republicans and Senate Democrats scrambling to pass bills with illusory cuts and put off doing something about our nation’s crushing $14.3 trillion debt.
Congressional insiders expect Speaker John A. Boehner’s compromise on raising the government’s borrowing authority to pass the House Thursday. After caving on the continuing resolution (CR) in the spring, House conservatives hoped to use the debt ceiling to leverage real spending reforms out of President Obama.
Tempers flared at Wednesday’s closed-door GOP meeting as party members turned on each other over whether to vote on principle or with the party line. Mr. Boehner pushed them to get in line, saying that this is a short-term solution.
A Republican aide explained the reasoning. “We still have all the spending bills due in September,” he said. “So we’ll debate cuts over again when we have to pass a CR. This is just one bite. But, we need momentum and passage of this debt-ceiling plan would put it squarely on our side.”
Mr. Boehner heard the complaints from conservatives and boosted the 2012 cuts in his debt deal from $1 billion to over $20 billion - about two days’ worth of government outlays. Other reductions come in the form of spending caps imposed in future years, which can’t be enforced.
The House Republican plan offers a smaller debt-limit increase which will require the president to beg for more money in an election year. Democrats realize that’s political poison for a party known for big spending, and they’re not happy.
“Even if the speaker is able to beg, borrow and steal his way to 217 Republican votes, the bill remains a nonstarter in the Senate and the president will never sign it,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, told reporters on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the Boehner bill a “big wet kiss to the right wing … the Tea Party.” The Nevada Democrat continued to push for his own plan - which is backed by the White House - that gives Mr. Obama a blank IOU through 2013.
The outlines of the final compromise are obvious. In the end, the checks will go out and the markets will be reassured for a time, but Mr. Obama will keep his massive expansion in the size and scope of government.
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