Congratulations to the 40 Republicans who broke rank with the unyielding Republicans that refuse to raise any taxes. Finally some Republicans are willing to compromise in a balanced deficit reduction plan that includes raising some taxes as well as cutting spending. These sensible Republicans signed a letter along with 60 Democrats asking the congressional super committee charged with deficit reduction to go for a more balanced plan, and to aim for cutting $4 trillion dollars over 10 years, well over the 1.5 trillion that the super committee was tasked with.
Up until now, the super committee has seemed to be at a stalemate, since Democrats have offered to make cuts in Medicare and Social Security, but only if Republicans agree to raise more tax revenue. The 6 Republicans on the super committee have taken an immovable stance against raising any taxes. This stubbornness seemed to destine the super committee to failure, and it was looking more and more as if they would fail to reach agreement by the November 23rd deadline. If the panel doesn’t come up with a recommendation, or if Congress doesn’t pass its recommendations, then automatic triggers would take place that would make cuts to defense and domestic programs. The cuts to defense would be hugely unpopular with Republicans, while the domestic cuts would probably hit Medicaid the hardest. This would be equally unpalatable to Democrats.
The national debt in this country is $14.9 trillion dollars and growing. This problem needs to be seriously and quickly addressed. This is no time to play politics! There should be compromise, and our Congressmen need to be Americans – not politicians. This is far too serious a time in our history for our government to be dysfunctional. Let’s show the country and the world that American democracy is not yet broken, and that we can address our financial crisis in a reasonable manner. To not do so could possibly have catastrophic consequences.
So here’s hoping that the super committee will take the recommendations made not only by Democrats but by 40 of their fellow Republicans. Get to work, do your job as Americans. A September poll showed that only 12% think congress is doing their job satisfactorily. Perhaps coming up with a reasonable solution would convince Americans that our governmental process is not completely broken, and some faith in the system will be reinstated. This is desperately needed in this time of economic crisis.