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Super Committee Fail Triggers Republican Whining Over Defense Cuts
Its official: The Super Committee admitted failure, earlier this afternoon. As reported by the Huffington Post:
“Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling say that despite “intense deliberations” the members of the panel have been unable “to bridge the committee’s significant differences.”
It was pretty clear this was coming. The consequences of failure mean serious automatic cuts of $2 trillion to the Military (The GOP’s only sacred cow on the block) along with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
True to form, the GOP wants to get around the automatic cuts. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and other Republicans are working on legislation to block the automatic cuts to the Pentagon.
I just wonder whether they’ll be drinking the champagne celebrating cuts to programs that benefit seniors and the poor before or after they whine about cuts to defense.
All around the country, Americans are working hard to fulfill their obligations, and they expect Washington to do the same.
There are Republicans already claiming disappointment by the Committee’s failure, such as Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. As reported by CNN:
“On its current course the federal government is projected to spend almost $44 trillion over the next 10 years, and it is nothing short of an embarrassment, an absolute national disgrace and failure of leadership that we cannot agree on even a paltry $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over that time frame,”
A part of me is in agreement with Paul Krugman’s view as stated in Failure is good . It’s one of those rare occasions that in this case, failure is a good because while it is ideologically pleasing to the Republicans, cuts to programs combined with tax cuts for the rich and corporations while increasing taxes on the middle class and the poor is really a bad thing for the economy.
“Also, any deal reached now would almost surely end up worsening the economic slump. Slashing spending while the economy is depressed destroys jobs, and it’s probably even counterproductive in terms of deficit reduction, since it leads to lower revenue both now and in the future. And current projections, like those of the Federal Reserve, suggest that the economy will remain depressed at least through 2014. Better to have no deal than a deal that imposes spending cuts in the next few years.”
Still there is fall out. The republicans have announced their intention to block the automatic cuts that will come as a result of failure to reach a balanced agreement. Of course, that block will only apply to defense spending.
“Sens. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the panel, said they would “pursue all options” to avoid deeper defense cuts.
The congressional rank and file may be determined to spare defense and undo the automatic cuts, but there’s hardly unanimity. Deficit-cutting tea partiers within the GOP side with liberal Democrats in signaling they’re ready to allow military reductions. In addition, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said they would abide by the consequences of the deficit-fighting law – and they control what legislation moves forward.”
The President made a statement this afternoon regarding this failure to reach a fair and balanced set of cuts, making it very clear that he will veto any efforts to block the trigger cuts will get vetoed.
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13 Responses to Super Committee Fail Triggers Republican Whining Over Defense Cuts
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Ellen B
Nov. 21st, 2011 at 9:40 pm
My first thought was shock that J. Boehner says he will abide by the consequences of the failure to reach an agreement. Then reality set in. He probably was indicating that he will not move forward with any bill that will extend unemployment benefits or provide other assistance to those who are suffering the most in this horrible economy.
Reynardine
Nov. 21st, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Heads, they win, tails, we lose- those are the rules they abide by, huh?
Dan
Nov. 21st, 2011 at 10:25 pm
It has gotten beyond sickening how inept our “leaders” in congress have become. It’s disgraceful.
Boscoe
Nov. 21st, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Obviously the Republicants will write legislation to protect defense spending and then use it against Obama when he vetos it.
It’s not chess, I swear politics has become a game of checkers where each player has one piece and the board only has two squares.
SinghX
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 3:14 pm
The neo-cons can “try” to use the veto against the President come election time, but the republican party has over-used crying “wolf” so many times that most voters are tuning a deaf ear to their chanting (except the 20% or so that loves thems some republicans).
There is nothing new here for the republicans to use; they started this “dems are soft on defense” back with Joe McCarthy…and why are they’re still trying to sell it via McCain?…and we all know McCain “gets no respect, ya’ know what I mean?” None, nada…as in John who?
So, let the republicans spend millions on media, lobbyist, ect. trying to scare people and hold them hostage, but they are swimming against the tide. This is old news; deaf ears refuse to listen.
Bobfr (aka Our4thEstate)
Nov. 21st, 2011 at 10:46 pm
What part of VETO don’t they understand.
#PRESSON
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 7:42 am
They had a ton of precedents to work with. Lots of work on the deficit cuts had been done before them. Regardless of the consequences this is a failure by our representatives to do anything even remotely to earn their pay.
They can stuff the defense spending. They can close the bases and stop the generals from playing war. I think from now on that any president or Congressman that wants to go to war should have to put this before the people that have to pay for it.
There was a representative from the constitutional convention named George Clymer who thought that it was his responsibility As a representative to do the thinking for his state. He thought that his opinion overshadowed that of the people he represented. It’s pretty obvious that that is what we have here today. Rich people in Congress who could care less about the people they represent.
As far as I’m concerned every single person in that Congress and the United States should be released from duty and a new Congress elected.
grammy11
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 8:51 am
He already sid he would veto any legislation that attempts to stop the defense cuts.
KatzKids
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 9:34 am
But then we know Boehner is a liar & a weakling. What he says today, turns around as soon as the hawks get to him. He does it when the TP is after him too.
Deborah Montesano
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 11:34 am
I think Ellen may have it right–Boehner is probably speaking selectively about what he won’t advance. McCain and Kyl are the next biggest bozos around. As someone from Arizona, I’m embarrassed by them both and can’t wait for them to be gone!
Hsquared
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 12:25 pm
“The consequences of failure mean serious automatic cuts of $2 trillion to the Military (The GOP’s only sacred cow on the block) along with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Lets be clear. If I’m not mistaken, and please correct me if I’m, the automatic cuts don’t effect Soc Sec and Medicaid; and only provider cost associated with Medicare. If that’s correct, let’s be careful here about what we’re say.
From whitehouse.gov: ” Consistent With Past Practice, Sequester Would Be Divided Equally Between Defense and Non-Defense Programs and Exempt Social Security, Medicaid, and Low-Income Programs: Consistent with the bipartisan precedents established in the 1980s and 1990s, the sequester would be divided equally between defense and non-defense program, and it would exempt Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement. Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side.”
SinghX
Nov. 22nd, 2011 at 3:21 pm
you are correct and it’s a small percentage. No individual will suffer because of the cuts, just the larger administrative areas (the garbage Bush piled on medicare by parsing into all those parts that no one understands plus increasing a vast bureaucracy for his insurance buddies…the supplemental providers).
robert chapman
Nov. 23rd, 2011 at 11:27 am
Senator Corker’s remarik is interesting. He noted that the US Federal Government is on track to spend $44 trillion over the next ten years.
There are a couple of interesting things to put this into perspective, the US economy over this same period, is on track to generate $176 trillion in output. The national debt is on track to climb to $25 trillion.
That last figure is very scary, in this scenario if represents 150% of GDP which, if amortized over thirty years means debt service- paying back the debt with interest would reach something like 4% of GDP, that combined with continued borrowing and continued staglation would severely restrict the federal government’s ability to meet its obligations on medicare, medicaid, on aid to the states, on defense and on any other services provided by the federal government.
State and municipal governments would be faced with higher medicaid costs to meet the shortfall in federal financial participation, and their other operations, roads, public safety, etc would be constrained by cuts in other federal grants in aid.
It would be clear to all that the power of the US military was extremely constrained by US budgetary woes and whether or not we had the force structure, deployments would be restricted by the simple question of paying to support the forces on deployment.
The $1.2 trillion in cuts does not even begin to set things aright. These are draconian and completely unsupportable cuts that were set in place to pressure the Super Committee. McCain and others are right in demanding they be scrapped. The idiocy of the “automatic cuts’ is reflected by the fact that Boehner supports letting them pass.
Congress has to grow a sping and recognize that both sides of the equation- revenue and spending must be fixed simultaneously.
This is a golden opportunity for President Obama to rise above politics and to propose tax reform that distributes the cost of government fairly by assuring a PROGRESSIVE tax system, taxing consumption instead of income and investment and taking more of the collections burden off the states and municipalities.