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The White House game, obviously, is to portray these coming cuts in the most dire way possible. Secretary of Education Duncan was caught this past week exaggerating, saying some district in West Virginia was already sending out pink slips to teachers, when it actually had nothing to do with the sequester. And the problem the administration has is that they need the dire effects of these cuts to happen immediately, in the next week or two. They're going to happen much -- if they ever happen, they'd happen, you know, a month, month or two from now. This coming week the House will pass a so-called continuing resolution to keep the government running after the end of the month. It'll be at the sequester level, with a little bit more flexibility in defense and veterans' affairs. The Senate then will very likely pass a similar bill, also at sequester levels. So I think it's very likely that the end game here, we get the sequester cuts staying in law.
-Rich Lowry |
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Sequestration -- $85 billion in automatic spending cuts -- has arrived. And on both sides of the aisle in Washington, politicians are scrambling for the political morning-after pill. Neither side wants to face voters, angered by the budget knife. The House and Senate leadership is already talking about how to modify the sequestration formula. The next date to mark on your calendars is March 27th. Without a deal, the federal government will run out of funding. The U.S. government will be forced to shut down, at least partially, as in 1995. Federal workers will be furloughed. National parks will be cordoned off. Museums will be shuttered. Tempers will flare. House Republicans have a plan that keeps the caps on spending but gives the administration more flexibility about who and what gets cut. But the president says that if there are no new taxes, there will be no new deal. The world is watching. International observers are baffled. Quote: Both Barack Obama and the Republican Party deserve blame. The White House has done precious little to persuade Republicans it is serious about addressing Medicare and Social Security, which are the real drivers of the long-term U.S. budget deficits. And the Republicans are wrong to dig in their heels in defense of inefficient and unmerited tax breaks for the wealthy. So, the House is controlled by Republicans [232 Republicans, 200 Democrats.] The Republicans should pass their own package of entitlement reforms and bargain from there. Courage is lacking on both sides. The fiscal circus keeps rolling, and Washington remains in desperate need of adult supervision, unquote. So says the Financial Times in an editorial, slightly edited. By the way, this year the FT celebrates its 125th anniversary, extending its reputation as the world's greatest newspaper. |
