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The Spectacle Blog
Had I not missed this op-ed by John Boehner in the Wall Street Journal last night, I would have included it in my column on the sequester. Boehner, like many other Republicans in Congress, isn’t pleased about the looming cuts:
The sequester is a wave of deep spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will occur this year, with another $1.1 trillion coming over the next decade. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much—we should be cutting even more—but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it.
By law, the sequester focuses on the narrow portion of the budget that funds the operating accounts for federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense. Exempt is most entitlement spending—the large portion of the budget that is driving the nation’s looming debt crisis. Should the sequester take effect, America’s military budget would be slashed nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Border security, law enforcement, aviation safety and many other programs would all have diminished resources.
Boehner and the current crop of House Republicans have fought harder for spending cuts than any Congress since Newt Gingrich accepted the gavel. So why is it that now, when a few measly “cuts” (and they are measly) are finally about to take place, they speak in portentous tones and point the finger at President Obama?
Boehner spends much of the rest of his article exculpating the GOP House. At the end, he tosses the basketball back to the president: “Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy. What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?” The answer, as Obama told Boehner in their last round of debt negotiations, is none. The president and his Senate allies have no intention of cutting spending unless they’re forced into a corner. Boehner knows this, which means his question is just political posturing.
Politics is life in Washington. But this particular round is worrisome. The GOP has spent years proposing hypothetical spending cuts that haven’t actually happened. Now we have an actual round (however diminutive and poorly targeted) of cuts in the hopper, and the Republican reaction is to fret and blame the president for how people will be affected. But people will be affected by any set of cuts. Will a GOP that reacts thusly to the sequester really have the stomach to reform entitlements? Even after the interest groups start complaining? It’s one thing to propose cuts; it’s another to actually implement them.
A final piece of advice for Speaker Boehner. You say you’re serious about cutting spending. I hear that Reps. Tim Huelskamp and Justin Amash are as well. Perhaps you could consult them?
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More Blog Posts by Matt Purple
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/02/20/more-sequestration-depression
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Mike G| 2.20.13 @ 12:10PM
"Boehner and the current crop of House Republicans have fought harder for spending cuts than any Congress since Newt Gingrich accepted the gavel."
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......whoooo.......hahahahahahahahahahah....oh, my side hurts.....hahahahahahahahahahahahah.
N8tivTxn| 2.20.13 @ 12:42PM
Will a GOP that acts thusly to the sequester really have the stomach... NO!
TERM LIMITS is the only way we will ever make a dent on this sort of political machinations, and even they won't be perfect. Think of it from this perspective. We need term limits to save good lawyers from the temptation of becoming crooks.
Now we need a slogan.
JD| 2.20.13 @ 1:07PM
Term limits suppress Democracy without suppressing liberalism.
N8tivTxn| 2.20.13 @ 4:08PM
Getting into the DC crony capitalism groove requires considerable time. Lobbyist pay for a lot of golf et.c., in their quest to search for "common ground" with the newbies we send to the infested swamp.
Yes, with term limits, they will try to fast-track their schemes, but that will require both parties to necessarily take more risk, whereby we possibly have a chance of seeing them trip up in some of their unethical, if not illegal behavior.
It could also render the DC stenographers, otherwise known as the MSM a little less cozy in their nice chummy gold-plated cocktail party circuit.
Boehner has been in DC for 23 years, and plans to run for U.S. Senate next. At this point, who is he representing? Himself! He is exhibiting the behavior of a man who is scared to death that something will happen during his SotH tenure that may cause his blue state to reject him, and yet we sit here like morons, wondering why he can't/won't be more effective.
Look at the expression on his face... look at his body language. It is evident that he is walking a tight rope, while holding his breath, having not had a smoke or relieved himself for 24 hours...
The Founders never envisioned our Congressional representative positions as career paths for shylocks, but that is where we are.
Bandido| 2.20.13 @ 12:46PM
It's all a game, just posturing. The "leadership" of this country is of such low quality that banana republics appear as Periclean Athens. Never have so many been so corrupt and so ignorant for so long.
Commander Kelly | 2.20.13 @ 1:20PM
The Sequestration was Obama's idea. Sequestration amounts to "Sea-Castrtion" for the US Navy. See why in my blog post "If By Sea" only here..
http://americanconservativeinl.....pot.co.uk/
Maxwell| 2.20.13 @ 1:59PM
It is a good thing I'm not in charge. I well remember my father told me many times a small story when he was with General Electric. The president of GE then was Gerard Swope (1922-45). He held a meeting with not only my father but many of the higher ups and asked a simple question, justify your existence and pay here at GE, you have 1 minute.