Over at Contentions, John Podhoretz writes that the recent budget battle to cut the advertised $38.5 billion from the remainder of the 2011 federal budget will only cut around $15 billion, due to a series of accounting tricks. Furthermore, he warns "The budget deal may collapse" as Tea Party-backed freshmen find they've been duped.
If the deal falls apart, the House Republicans should just pass a series of (rider-free) continuous resolutions until October, slicing off a billion each week. The House is only one-third of the budget battle; throw a government shutdown into the hands of Harry Reid and Barack Obama.
But given that we're bleeding money anyway, I would prefer if Washington would just pass the budget and move onto the main event: Paul Ryan's 2012 blueprint. That's the crossroads with one path towards fiscal sanity and the other towards decline.
If the GOP cannot negotiate subway tokens in the current budget, what makes you think they can do better for the next budget?
ReplyDeleteWell, that's true, but I don't see a point in debating over another five months of the fiscal year. This is all nickel and dime stuff now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the budget deal is an accounting trick - but Rep. Ryan's underwear gnome numbers are OH SO TRULY REAL.
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