As everyone knows by now, the debt ceiling bill did pass by the date Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said was the drop-dead date, August 2nd – in fact, ON August 2nd, and we therefore avoided Armageddon (what some had begun referring to as Debtageddon.) So what does it mean, and where do we go from here?
First of all, President Obama got nothing close to what he had wanted, which was a “clean” (no spending cuts) debt ceiling increase, and a significant increase in revenues (taxes.) What most conservatives (like myself) favored was the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan. This required significant cuts in spending, caps on future spending, and a Balanced Budget Amendment passed by both houses of Congress BEFORE the debt ceiling was increased.
What we ended up with was based upon the principles of Cut, Cap, and Balance, except that the Balanced Budget Amendment vote will occur later this year, rather than before the debt ceiling is increased. In my view, this is the most unsatisfactory thing about the results.
Anyway, here are the details. The plan (now the law as President Obama signed it yesterday) cuts more spending than it increases the debt limit. (That’s a good thing.) However, the cuts are over the next 10 years, and if Democrats should take back the House during that time, or if Republicans should go back to their bad old spending habits, not all the cuts will happen. (That’s a bad thing.)
There are no tax hikes. And that’s despite the Democrats’ concerted effort to disguise tax hikes as “revenue increases.” And that’s despite their demagoguery about Republicans only caring about oil companies, corporate aircraft owners, etc. at the expense of seniors, children, puppies, unicorns, (fill in the blank.)
And the bill (sort of) requires significant cuts in future spending by creating a 12 member joint committee (six Republican and six Democrat Members of Congress) who must cut $1 ½ trillion in additional spending before President Obama gets any more money. It takes seven votes for passage of the cuts. If the committee is unable to come up with seven votes (which is very possible) automatic sequestration of funds occurs – meaning that big cuts occur and the results go to debt reduction. The agreement also requires both the House and the Senate to have an up or down vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment.
The final vote in the House was 269 – 161. 174 Republicans (including me) voted for it, 66 Republicans voted against it. The Democrats interestingly were split evenly, 95 for it, 95 against it.
I voted for the bill, but not enthusiastically. Considering that Republicans control only the House, and not the Senate nor the Presidency, I came to the conclusion that it was probably the best we could get. There will be more battles with Harry Reid and the Obama Administration over the next year and a half before we have the opportunity to truly change Washington in November 2012. Our ultimate goal has to be put a conservative in the White House, take the Senate, and hold the House. That’s when we’ll have the opportunity to make true and systematic change, and put America back on track.
Until that time, it’s important that we conservatives stay united. We must not let temporary disagreements over the debt ceiling battle divide us. After all, our disagreement was really over tactics, not principle. One other observation. Remember President Obama’s push for improving the level of civility after the senseless shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords earlier this year? Well, Vice President Joe Biden’s contribution to civility was calling conservative Tea Party Republicans “terrorists.” (He later apologized.) Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez called us “arsonists.” (He hasn’t apologized as far as I know.) And Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, dissatisfied with the cuts in spending, called the final agreement a “Satan Sandwich.” (Whatever that is.)
Ironically, Congresswoman Giffords made her first appearance on the floor of Congress since the January shooting which nearly took her life, and voted for the “Satan Sandwich.” It was truly inspiring to see this courageous woman, who suffered such head trauma as a result of the bullet wound, recover to the extent that she has, and cast her vote on behalf of her constituents. She received a heartfelt standing ovation by both Democrats and Republicans in the chamber.
In conclusion, although passage of the final agreement is a big deal (I’ll leave out any other adjectives so as to maintain this blog’s G-rating, and not repeat a Joe Biden gaffe), it’s only a first step towards getting this nation’s out-of-control spending under control. And conservatives were split on whether to support the final bill. I concluded that it was good enough to vote for, but not good enough to brag about.
