Better than nothing #3

Minutes after the Senate passed the debt ceiling bill, President Obama spoke from the Rose Garden and called for a renewed focus on creating jobs.

Calling on Congress to present him with job-creating bills soon after they return from the August vacation. He also called for an extension of payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

Is this Congress likely to do either of those just after having gone down to the wire insisting on the absolute necessity of spending cuts?

You never know. A lot is for political theater. Now that the conservatives can tell their constituents that they "hung tough" and "changed the conversation in Washington," it might actually be easier to do something for the good of the people.

Whether it gets results or not, Obama is right to immediately set the tone that passing the debt ceiling bill is only one step, and we cannot stop there.

Ralph

Better than nothing #2

And what do We, the People think about the debt deal?

A CNN/ORC International poll finds that by 52% to 44% we disappove of it.

65% approve of the $1 trillion in cuts over the next decade (30% opposed).

60% disapprove of the lack of tax increases in the deal.

And -- the unkindest cut of all -- 77% agreed that the elected officials in Washington have behaved "mostly like spoiled children," while only 17% said they had behaved like "responsible adults."

I suspect that an even higher number in Congress would disapprove of the bill, too, if answering a poll. But they had a responsibility that those being polled don't have. As for me, I would have said, "Yes, definitely, I disapprove." And "Yes, I would have reluctantly voted for it as necessary and better than nothing."

The bill passed both houses by comfortable margins -- because many felt it was necessary and better than nothing:

House 269-161; Senate 74-26.

Obama will sign, and then let's see who gets chosen for the special committee to figure out a deficit reducing plan.

Ralph

Yes, is it better than nothing

Earlier this morning, I asked: "Is it better than nothing?" My answer was yes. But here is the better explanation for why we should accept this -- and the attitude with which we should accept it. Written by Jonathan Cowan, president of Third Way:

"The deal announced last night by President Obama and leaders in Congress will avert a short-term economic calamity, and it will serve as a necessary step toward grappling with our budget deficit. We urge Congress to pass it.

"But this deal is just a first step, and no one should declare ‘mission accomplished.’ As Third Way has said from the beginning of this debate, the only way to avert a long-term fiscal crisis is a grand bargain. The deal pending before Congress gets us part of the way there by making real spending reforms on both the defense and domestic sides of the ledger.

"But to finish the job, the next steps toward such a bargain must involve tough choices on both sides – Republicans must be willing to throw out their pledges and support an increase in revenues; Democrats must tell their core supporters that the only way to save entitlements like Medicare and Social Security is to reform them. Both options must be on the table immediately, and neither side should view their absence in the current deal as an opportunity to declare them off-limits. . . "

The most important message in this is:

"[T]his deal is just a first step, and no one should declare 'mission accomplished.' . . . Both options [tax reform and entitlement reform] must be on the table immediately, and neither side should view their absence in the current deal as an opportunity to declare them off-limits."

Ralph