CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) When someone tells you that an issue is “critical”, or is “a coming catastrophe” and then is not willing to negotiate with one’s political opponents over it… then it is neither.
That’s the truth that’s about to be revealed over raising the debt ceiling.
The Biden Administration says not raising it would unwind the entire world’s economy. The consequences would be unthinkable. And yet Biden says there will be no negotiations over spending cuts in exchange for the ceiling being raised.
Perhaps this is just the time-honored Washington strategy of kicking the can down the road. Congressional action isn’t needed until June. We are told that right now a bipartisan group of Senators are working on a deal. But anything they agree to still has to make it through the House, where a small group of conservatives are insisting that spending cuts be part of the deal.
I hope they hold their ground.
Until now, no matter what the issue, spending must go up. The spend-more crowd (which includes all Democrats and many Republicans… Mitch McConnell we’re looking at you…) has the nerve to suggest that two years of COVID spending become part of the new budget baseline for government agencies. The crisis is over, but the spending continues.
The sad truth is that spending is never cut in Washington, and the debt ceiling is one of the rare tools left that could still be effective. And newly elected House republicans remember how the $1.7-trillion omnibus bill was rammed through before they took their seats. They are hamstrung by a spending bill that covers nearly half their terms in office. For the old guard, the spending train is rolling and there’s nothing that can stop it. This may be the last stop for the new faces to say ‘no’.
Chris Conley
Comments