Washington Post: The Senate’s gimmicky debt plan: The best of a bad choice

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-senates-responsible-answers-to-the-debt-standoff/2011/07/25/gIQAB6nFZI_story.html

THE CURRENT House proposal for lifting the debt ceiling is irresponsible. The Senate version is gimmicky. Between the two, we’d opt for gimmicks at this point. It is imperative, as President Obama said Monday night, to call a halt to this “dangerous game.” But even if one of these plans manages to limp past the finish line and avoid fiscal meltdown, no one — least of all those involved in negotiating an end to the debt-ceiling impasse — should feel proud of the outcome.

First, the irresponsible approach. Any serious effort to get the debt under control will require a blend of spending cuts, including entitlement spending, and increased revenue. The package unveiled Monday by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) represents the antithesis of that balanced approach. Mr. Boehner’s two-step solution would cut now (some $1.2 trillion over the next decade in discretionary spending) and cut more later (through a super-committee of Congress that would propose another $1.8 trillion in “entitlement reforms and savings”)

Second, the gimmick track. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has come up with a rival approach: a supposed $2.7 trillion package that manages simultaneously to avoid touching entitlement spending and to avoid raising taxes. How? Mr. Reid starts with the $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending cuts on which both the White House and congressional Republicans have already agreed. He adds in $100 billion in cuts in mandatory spending, including $40 billion in “program integrity savings” from going after our old friends — waste, fraud and abuse.

Then come the real gimmicks: The money that won’t be spent as a result of winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is pegged as a $1 trillion savings, and another $400 billion in savings is credited to lower interest payments. Such gimmickry has a long, bipartisan lineage. The problem is that the tricks offend Republicans who insist on a 1-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to increase in the debt ceiling. But there is no reason, other than showy symbolism, to continue demanding that ratio.

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'll take the gimmicky choice, at this point.

[MiniMe]

2. At least Reid's plan won't expire in 6 months