Congress Avoids Reality, Again
By STEVEN RATTNER, NYT
AFTER almost six weeks of budget negotiations uncharacteristically devoid of histrionics and dire threats, a House-Senate conference committee gave birth Tuesday night — but only to a mouse.
How wonderful it would have been for our elected officials to have had a major fiscal success to show for more than two years of stalemates, shutdowns and all-around silliness.
Even the most significant budget showdown, in November 2011, produced absolutely nothing, even though those deliberations occurred at the point of a gun, the impending forced spending cuts known as sequester.
This time around, legislators didn’t face similar consequences for inaction. So while we urgently need to reverse the federal government’s crazily backward fiscal policy and address long-term deficits, the agreement accomplishes neither.
(More here.)
AFTER almost six weeks of budget negotiations uncharacteristically devoid of histrionics and dire threats, a House-Senate conference committee gave birth Tuesday night — but only to a mouse.
How wonderful it would have been for our elected officials to have had a major fiscal success to show for more than two years of stalemates, shutdowns and all-around silliness.
Even the most significant budget showdown, in November 2011, produced absolutely nothing, even though those deliberations occurred at the point of a gun, the impending forced spending cuts known as sequester.
This time around, legislators didn’t face similar consequences for inaction. So while we urgently need to reverse the federal government’s crazily backward fiscal policy and address long-term deficits, the agreement accomplishes neither.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home