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Consequently, Democrats are on the cusp of getting everything they
want in the upcoming budget bill. When Democrats are fully committed to
growing government and Republicans are publicly committed to
surrendering their leverage on budget bills, we are left with a
one-sided deal. It’s that simple.
After taking Obamacare off the table, despite the fact that it is
demonstrably more of a political liability for Democrats than it was in
October, Democrats moved in for the kill on the sequester. They figured
that Republicans were so scared of a budget showdown, they’d give them
anything they desire. Evidently, that even included items that
Republicans already have in the big, such as the sequester. The
sequester is already the law of the land, yet Paul Ryan has agreed to
abolish the sequester for 2014 and 2015.
At issue is the scheduled sequester cuts for 2014 that will trim back
discretionary budget authority from $1.027 trillion to $967 billion.
The emerging deal will likely reinstate most of that spending for the
next two years. Ryan and Murray plan to offset the spending with tax
increases on airline tickets. Air travel is already very expensive
because of the cost of fuel (thanks to our anti-energy policies).
In addition to the expensive cost of air travel, passengers are
already hit with taxes and fees that jack up the cost of air travel by
30% of the base cost. Do we really need more airfare taxes in order to
fund Obamacare and undo the only spending cuts we’ve ever secured?
The undercurrent of this agreement is the emergence of a dynamic that
Republicans want to end all of the budget battles once and for all.
That would explain their eagerness for a two-year repeal of the
sequester. It also coincides with their decision to push off the debt
ceiling indefinitely. Even though the debt ceiling law will be
reinstated in February, the Treasury will be able to use “extraordinary
measures” to delay the deadline until the summer.
So why is there such a rush to eliminate all of our points of leverage?
Who know? But The Hill has already posited
that the end of budget fights will be used to pave the road for an
amnesty bill next year. This theory is even more plausible given that
Paul Ryan is the lead negotiator on the budget, and in light of recent
reports that Boehner will push amnesty (thanks to his new staffer) after the filing deadline for primaries passes.
Even if conservatives don’t have the stomach for a full defund fight,
the worst thing they can do is enable leadership to permanently obviate
their future leverage. Rather than passing a permanent new
appropriations bill for the rest of the year, conservatives should
demand another clean short-term CR with one condition attached. They
should write instructions forcing both houses of Congress to pass each
of the 12 appropriations bills separately for the next fiscal year (FY
2015). As we’ve noted before, this will allow us to isolate funding for
Obamacare in one or two bills without the rest of government funding
getting encumbered in the imbroglio. At least we will have the
opportunity to fight Obamacare next September without the specter of a
full government shutdown.
Ultimately, the future of the Republican Party will boil down to the
following question: Is their desire to pass amnesty stronger than their
will to fight Obamacare?
(Click link below to read more)
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- Judy Chaffee
- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
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