Coburn Pulls the Plug on Senate Deficit Deal
As he looked down the dugout at his inept Mets, Manager Casey Stengel famously asked, “Can’t anybody around here play baseball?” The American people have a right to look at Congress, especially the Senate, and ask, “Hey can’t anybody around here legislate?”
Sen. Tom Coburn’s decision to formally remove himself from the Gang of Six bi-partisan talks in the Senate reveals a growing crack in the attempts to reach agreement on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, and on the extension of the federal debt ceiling,. Coburn was part of the last remaining barrier to fiscal breakdown.
Coburn is a serious person who rarely does things to make a point or publicly postures. His departure, based as he said on a fundamental gridlock over entitlement reforms, strengthens those who believe that no significant fiscal deal can be reached this year. If the pessimists/realists are right, then we can almost play out in advance what the year will look like:
- some sort of deal on minor spending cuts in discretionary (appropriated) accounts will be reached;
- a process reform measure will help pass an increase for a short period of time in the debt ceiling;
- for the second year in a row no Congressional Budget Resolution will exist;
- most, if not all, of the FY12 appropriations bills will once again be wrapped into a Continuing Resolution;
- and, the two sides will be able to fight on the FY12 levels of that CR, just as they did on the FY11 CR.
Coburn’s decision is subject of course to re-consideration if the other members of the Gang of Six move toward real entitlement reform. But, those who said the Gang of Six initiative was doomed from the start may be right. The open opposition of the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer made success for the Gang of Six problematic. Reid opposes revealing any budget plan right now, saying that negotiations conducted under the leadership of Vice President Joe Biden should be the arena in which a plan is devised.
On the House side, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has drawn criticism for his budget plan for FY12, which passed the House earlier this year. Some in his own caucus now say that he tried to do too much and that the Medicare reform provisions in his budget may defeat many Republicans who voted for it.
Such critics are wrong. Ryan has had a plan similar to that which he used as his budget resolution for more than two years. No one can claim they didn’t know what was in it. No one can say that Ryan “hid the ball.” Almost above all other Members of the House, Ryan has been completely transparent about his views on the budget.
If House Republicans are smart, they will do exactly as Speaker John Boehner has done—stick with the Ryan Plan, go back to individual districts, sell it, and not back down. The “terrible” vote has been taken. If Republicans who voted for Ryan try to back off now, they not only will be unsuccessful in doing so, but they will be regarded as weak by many of their conservative supporters back home.
The polls on Medicare reform are mixed. In some districts and states, Medicare reform will never get a majority. But in many other districts and states, Medicare reform can garner a majority, if the proponents of reform don’t back down. President Obama himself has called for entitlement reform, including Medicare. In short, he agrees with Ryan and the Republicans that Medicare as it now exists is unsustainable. A deal on Medicare with the President seems achievable. What Republicans need to do is take a deep breath, talk continuously to their constituents, and do what leaders are supposed to do—educate and legislate.
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