For John, BLUF: There is little agreement on Capitol Hill. Nothing to see here; just move along.
The Washington Post had an article a couple of days ago, by Reporters Lori Montgomery and Zachary A. Goldfarb, which tells us that Federal revenues are up and expenditures are down. Before you jump up and shout hurrah, there is a downside to this. The "crisis" has abated and there is likely to be no progress on long term solutions this summer:
That might seem like good news, but it is unraveling Republican plans to force a budget deal before Congress takes its August break. Instead, the fiscal fight appears certain to bleed into the fall, when policymakers will face another multi-pronged crisis that pairs the need for a higher debt limit and the fresh risk of default with the threat of a full-scale government shutdown, which is also looming Oct. 1.Ah, the drama of it all. I would expect that it will be a rerun of the story we read from Reporter Robert Woodward in his book the Price of Politics.
Hat tip to Ann Althouse.
Regards — Cliff
2 comments:
Ezra yesterday:
"But the precedent is noxious. The argument in 2011 was that the U.S. fiscal situation was so dire that raising the debt ceiling absent cuts and reforms was more irresponsible than default. This led to the Boehner rule: A dollar in cuts for every dollar in debt ceiling increase. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
This is the normalization of debt ceiling brinksmanship. After the election, Republicans threatened to breach the debt ceiling unless Senate Democrats released a budget — a budget, by the way, that Republicans now refuse to go to conference and consider. Now, perhaps, Republicans will threaten to breach the debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to a particular framework for tax reform. The debt ceiling is becoming all-purpose leverage.
This isn’t desperate times forcing desperate measures. These are normal times being punctuated by dangerous measures. Having repeatedly failed to win back control of the government, Republicans are trying to turn the debt ceiling into a continuous and flexible form of leverage for the minority. That’s an immensely dangerous precedent to set even if the underlying demands and aims are reasonable."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/08/wonkbook-this-is-a-dangerous-approach-to-the-debt-ceiling/
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Both parties have for all time I believe found and used this or that as "leverage" to twist the arm of the opposition. And of course, each time the press or the political intelligentsia "uncover" such a dastardly practice, it is always hailed as a "dangerous precedent." Americans have accustomed themselves to believe that when the Congress acts, their generally ill-advised, self-promoting output is immutable for all time. I don't believe for a moment that is true. And, contrary to early reports, I don't believe that liberals/Democrats/Socialists/Communists now rule the day going forward into infinity...."because the Republicans have self-inflicted fatal wounds." People in groups, such as an entire society, are like flocks of geese.....they flap their wings wildly, squawking frantically, dropping excrement from the air every place they race to......only to suddenly change directions without any apparent reason and fly in the opposite direction....behaving in the same manner.
The wise in our world refer to this as "the pendulum swinging" as if we represent some gigantic timepiece.
The only static in this world is change....and it too will come....and go.....just like geese......and will....generally.....leave behind the same reminders deposited by those flocks of honkers.
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