Passing the Budget Buck

Passing the buck just may not work anymore.

Only 2 days remain for the guys on the hill to reach a compromise that will bridge the $28 Billion gap between the democrat's $33 Billion cutting budget proposal and the republican's $61 Billion cutting budget proposal before the looming government "shutdown" occurs. Even as a shutdown looms, I can't help but feel that many in our capital that seem to be gearing up to use it for political gain.

Howard Dean was quoted recently as saying that he would be "quietly rooting" for a shutdown, because "[he knows] who's going to get blamed."  Chuck Schumer let slip that he'd been "instructed" by his caucus to label Boehner and the GOP as "extreme" for proposing $61 Billion in cuts from a bloated $3.8 Trillion budget that has a $1.4 Trillion shortfall.  Scott Brown called the cuts "irresponsible".

Extreme?  Irresponsible?  Let's talk about that for a second.

Isn't a $1.4 Trillion deficit irresponsible?  Isn't it irresponsible for the democrats to fail to present a 2011 budget at all when they controlled the house, senate and white house?   Isn't it a bit extreme for those same democrats to turn around and take pot shots at the republican-led congress that is spearheading the effort to salvage what should have been their budget in the first place?  Isn't it extremely irresponsible to prefer to use a shutdown as political fodder instead of confronting your failure to perform your basic duty as my public representative in the first place?

But the old-school political class is counting on our poor memory.  They are hoping that they can peg the blame for a shutdown on the more conservative republicans.  They'll say, "The Republicans didn't compromise with us, and failed to pass a budget.  They forced the government to shut down."  Obama would undoubtedly campaign on that lie.  What they don't realize is that the American public's memory is improving.  We know who's budget this is.  And we know who's trying to salvage it.  They also don't realize that the American public is increasingly aware of the severity of the mess that our debt problem has created.  Their nefarious plan to manipulate this potential crisis might just backfire.

A recent Rasmussen poll shows that 57% of Americans would prefer a shutdown to increased spending.  Only 36% think averting a shutdown is more important than reducing spending.  Another poll shows that while 37% of people would blame republicans for a shutdown, a total of 42% would blame democrats and President Obama.

The old-schoolers don't seem to realize just how serious Americans are about debt reduction.  The fact that Paul Ryan is willing to take the debate from talks of tens of billions of dollars on this budget to talks of TRILLIONS of dollars with next year's budget is testament to that.

The heart of the matter is, the political landscape has changed.  More Americans are serious about reducing the deficit than ever.  And those who fail to recognize that fact may just suffer the political consequences.