Editorial: Public push would force politicians to act on debt
Politicians talk about the federal deficit and debt when they think the public cares. But, actually, they’d just as soon discuss other matters. Like continuing tax cuts. Or protecting and expanding entitlements. Or creating jobs.
They can go on and on about those topics, and the public generally rewards them for doing so. As the recent past has shown, lowering revenues and handing out more goodies is a recipe for electoral success. It’s also a recipe for economic and budgetary disaster, but not right away. So they’d just as soon not talk about that, unless it becomes the public’s paramount concern.
At present, it isn’t. Polls show that job creation ought to be the top priority. It’s certainly true that the sooner the economy regains its footing, the easier it will be to address long-term deficit nightmares. But that doesn’t mean that all efforts to chip away at the nation’s mountainous debt need to be suspended.
The 18-person deficit commission put together by President Barack Obama has voted on its final report, and 11 of 18 members have endorsed it. That is short of the 14 votes needed to press Congress for action, but it still represents a bipartisan consensus that this is a serious issue requiring a rapid response. The panel’s blueprint would lower the debt by $4 trillion by decade’s end, with $3 trillion in spending cuts that touch on Medicare, Social Security and defense, and $1 trillion in tax increases.
Whether Congress takes this seriously is up to you. If voters don’t put this on the front burner and turn up the heat, politicians will gladly keep it on perpetual simmer.
We hope Congress uses the report as a catalyst for change. Members need not cast up-or-down votes on the report, but they do need to push their leaders to come up with comprehensive alternatives. Want an all spending cuts solution? Show us how that would pencil out. Want to protect or expand all entitlements or defense programs? Show us how you’d pay for that and bring down the deficit. What is unacceptable is to merely pan the report and move on. The burdens placed on future generations would be unforgivable.
Republican senators on the panel signed on to the plan, even though it includes a 15-cent bump in the federal gas tax and other revenue increasing measures. It also has big cuts in defense spending. Democratic senators signed on, even though the plan gradually raises the retirement age for Social Security and calls for seniors to chip in more to cover Medicare.
But many politicians have already issued brusque denouncements. Others have deflected inquiries by saying they haven’t had time to read the report. It will be up to the public to start the march by sounding a loud, insistent bugle. Only then will politicians race to the front and take charge.