Monday, December 3, 2012

Republican counter to fiscal cliff sequestration: keep the cuts.

You have to hand it to Republicans.  Last year, to avoid a debt ceiling fiasco, Democrats agreed to the Budget Control Act to placate Republicans who had insisted on either keeping the debt ceiling in place or at least requiring deep cuts in spending.

Again, remember that Republicans wanted much deeper cuts than were agreed to, by essentially keeping the debt ceiling in place.  Their compromise was to agree to fewer cuts, which was the sequestration of spending cuts equal to $1.2T over the next decade.

So guess what they included in their fiscal cliff avoidance plan: In place of $1.2T in cuts to resolve last year's debt ceiling showdown, they want $1.2T in cuts, and to force more cuts by keeping the debt ceiling in place; they only quibble about where the spending cuts are made.

My eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets; they're still stuck in their echo chamber.

No need to bargain, just let them have their fiscal cliff and debt ceiling; why bother rescuing people from their own dogma?

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