Repeal this idiotic law
by digby
Certain members of the left, including yours truly, have been saying that we should simply repeal the sequester for many moons.Campaign for America’s Future initiated a petition calling for just that. Today, Keith Ellison of the Progressive Caucus wrote this:
If Congress cannot come up with a replacement to the sequester before the end of the week, we should eliminate the sequester entirely. One million working Americans should not be forced to pay the price for Republican stubbornness. If this goes into effect, it will be one of the most irresponsible legislative failures in the history of the Republic.
We would prefer to replace the sequester with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. The Progressive Caucus already introduced a bill called the Balancing Act that reflects what the American people voted for in November. It replaces the sequester with a fair approach to new revenue and necessary Pentagon budget cuts, and it creates jobs all over the country. It equalizes the budget cuts we’ve already made with revenue by closing tax loopholes for America’s wealthiest individuals and corporations. We shouldn’t sacrifice our economic recovery because Republicans are unwilling to vote for a penny in new contributions from their billionaire friends.
The sequester was a temporary face saving ploy that came out of the disastrous 2011 debt ceiling negotiations in which President Obama proposed massive spending cuts that have permanently moved the goal posts into the austerity zone. (And needless to say, the Republicans demanded even more. That’s how they roll.) So here we are.
The conventional wisdom has it that we are going to go through with the sequester because neither side is willing to slash entitlements to the bone — which everyone knows is the only responsible way to deal with a projected deficit that may or may not even be accurate. But more and more the VSPs are saying that the sequester isn’t really so bad so why not just go with it. Indeed, they are saying that nothing is more important than cutting — cutting anything, cutting everything, cut, cut,cut. At this point there is almost no discussion anywhere that doesn’t begin with that premise. Sure the president is asking for some vague (and obviously temporary) “loophole closing” which is laughable on every level, but as his press secretary said, “the president believes we have a spending problem” so I think we know where the emphasis is going to be.
Chuck Todd just announced on MSNBC that there is a growing consensus among the House GOP to allow the sequester to proceed but give the president more flexibility about what he’s going to cut. The idea is to blame him for the fallout. The president, on the other hand, feels confident that he can successfully blame the GOP. But one thing that I think they all agree upon is that defense contracting will not be seriously cut.
So, if this happens, it’s going to be a pain and blame fest. I’m guessing that the Republicans will get the worst of it since everyone knows they love cuts while the president is a closet socialist. But it’s going to be unpleasant for everyone. At some point I would guess they can come together and decide to cut those nasty entitlements and spare everyone any further inconvenience. After all, the “entitlement” cuts won’t be felt for a good long while. Most of the politicians can cash in long before anyone actually gets hurt. Win-win.
Update: GP at Americanblog has more.
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