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发帖数: 29846 | 1
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on DickMorris.com on January 7, 2011
Every Republican member of Congress should sign the following pledge, being
promulgated by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform:
"I promise not to vote for any expansion of the federal debt limit unless it
is preceded or accompanied by significant cuts in federal spending."
We all know that the reason the federal government debt is exploding is the
reckless spending policies of the Obama Administration. From the time
George Washington took the oath of office to the time Barack Obama did,
Washington borrowed $9 trillion. Since Obama took office, two years ago, we
have borrowed almost $5 trillion more! Domestic discretionary spending (
non-defense) has risen by an astonishing 41% in two years!!! Welfare
spending, primarily Medicaid, has gone up by 54% in two years!!!! We must
roll back these increases. (It is not increases in Social Security - 14% --
or Medicare -16% that are the problem).
Obama will never allow spending cuts unless they are jammed down his throat
and his need for an expansion of his borrowing authority are the key chance
to do so.
House Speaker John Boehner sounded an ominous note of possible capitulation
even before the first shot was fired when he said "We're going to have to
deal with it [raising the debt limit] as adults. Whether we like it or not,
the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part.
"
Obligations? Sure. But don't we also have the obligation to stop the crazy
spending even as we allow the debt limit to rise to pay for the spending
that is already underway? Is this not the perfect time to demand spending
restraint?
The American people will strongly support the spending restrictions as a
precondition for raising the debt limit. Most don't want the limit raised
at all. But almost everyone will see the wisdom of cutting the spending as
we raise the debt limit.
Obama will resist and, if he vetoes the spending cuts, he - not the
Republican House - will bear the onus for the ensuing government default.
And he will blink just like he did over extending the Bush tax cuts.
What spending cuts? Nothing complicated. The most important one is to roll
back domestic discretionary spending to pre-Obama levels - 2008 levels -
and freeze it there for three years. This step would cut the deficit by
over $100 billion for each of the next three years (and, if we take the step
now, for this year as well). Let the federal agencies figure out what to
cut. But force them to make these cuts.
We all lived pretty well in 2008 before the 41% hike in domestic
discretionary spending (on things like transportation, Congress, EPA,
Justice, Education, Energy, etc). Let's go back to those days and erase the
legacy of the Obama stimulus package.
And we should also take two other steps:
(a) Transform Medicaid into a block grant to the states giving them the
flexibility to spend it as they wish. Roll Medicaid back to 2008 levels and
include a modest annual inflator for increasing costs of about 3%.
(b) And, we should only increase the debt limit by $500 billion (about
three months worth) so as to keep Obama on a short leash and make him keep
coming back for more while we add restrictions and new cuts each time.
Republicans need to be smart to leverage their one-house control into real
accomplishments and there is no better place to start than with the debt
limit vote next month. |
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