Republicans, looking for leverage to slash federal spending, created the phony debit-ceiling crisis that led to creation of the Congressional deficit-cutting “supercommittee.” But with the committee close to a deadlock — largely because Republicans will not agree to higher taxes on the rich — and the deadline for an agreement approaching, some Republicans are now talking about undoing the process.
We are no fans of the supercommittee. It is undemocratic, and the deep, automatic cuts the law would impose if the committee fails to reach agreement are gimmicky and potentially dangerous. But walking away at this point would be an embarrassment for Congress and a far-reaching blow to Washington’s financial credibility.
The committee of 12, divided between the two parties, was required by the Budget Control Act to come up with a plan to shrink the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade through any combination of spending cuts and revenue increases. If the members fail to agree, the law would automatically “sequester” $1.2 trillion in spending cuts — heavily affecting defense programs.
Democrats have proposed a $4 trillion mix of cuts and tax increases, carving too deeply from domestic programs. But Republicans have rejected any tax increases, and Democrats are rightly refusing to agree to any package without revenues.
If the committee fails, Representative K. Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, told The Times, “most of us will move heaven and earth to find an alternative that prevents a sequester from happening.” Several Republicans are talking about finding cuts elsewhere in the budget, and that surely means social-insurance programs. Democrats, including President Obama, would probably block any law that undoes the budget act, but even talking about doing so reduces the pressure on the panel to reach agreement.
The committee should be working overtime to avoid a sequester, which would cut virtually every discretionary program at the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department by 10 percent in 2013. (Cuts in the following nine years would be made by Congress but would still be 10 percent.) Medicare providers would be cut by 2 percent, and there would be major reductions in other domestic programs, including several necessary for health reform.
But as bad as the sequester would be, it would spare most social-insurance programs, making it better than the proposals by supercommittee Republicans to cut more than $2 trillion without raising any revenues. Those would largely spare the Pentagon but make deep cuts in programs that benefit the needy.
Simply dismissing the committee and undoing the sequester would be such a vast admission of Congressional failure that it could push down the nation’s credit rating, lead to chaos in financial markets and severely cripple hopes for an economic recovery. Republicans created the policies that forced up the deficit and then refused to compromise with President Obama. They cannot simply walk away now. Panel members have only a few days to come up with a plan that balances new revenues with spending cuts. That is the only way to wrestle down the deficit without doing huge damage to the economy and the country.
