Budget: "Governing by crisis" is no more, budget deal advocates exult. But the sequester was working well cutting spending. This deal, by sheathing the sequester's ax, would "let a serious crisis go to waste."
Rahm Emanuel, that personification of Democratic machine arrogance and boss of the most ruthless mob in Chicago — its city government — infamously said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste."
To say it takes a serious crisis to get Washington politicians to cut spending is an understatement.
As we documented last week with the newest Congressional Budget Office historical spending numbers, entitlements, that mountain of the federal budget that increases automatically every year — notably Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare — have skyrocketed under Obama
From an average of 9.5% of GDP over the previous 35 years, the "new normal" of entitlement spending is now projected to hit 13% by 2021, after which it rises further.
So who can be thrilled with what House Speaker John Boehner and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan joined with Democrats to pass in the House overwhelmingly last week by 332 to 94?
Right away, this budget deal boosts non-entitlement spending by tens of billions of dollars, yet shortchanges an already-squeezed Pentagon. It scraps the sequester and promises cuts way on down the road a decade from now, but contains no entitlement reform. Is such an end to "governing by crisis" a cause of celebration?
Boehner can lose his temper before the microphones all he wants, wildly accusing Tea Party groups of having "no idea what you're criticizing." Such posturing seems designed to impress a dominant liberal media who demand Republicans "grow" out of their conservatism.
Sophisticated advocates of fiscal restraint have found out exactly what's in this deal. As one of them, the Cato Institute's Chris Edwards, points out, the powerful appropriators of both parties in Congress "are not going to go into hibernation for the next decade contented with current spending limits."
History shows they'll "try and raise spending every single year," Edwards warns. "The 10-year numbers mean nothing to them — especially now that they know Republican leaders will probably cave in easily next time."
This precedent will award both parties' big spenders with "even more clout going into future budget negotiations," he adds, leading to "spending hundreds of billions of dollars more over the coming decade."
Ordinarily, it would be a bad joke to say that Republican senators will come to the rescue, but that may actually be in the works; Sen. Jeff Sessions, R.-Ala., says they plan to obstruct passage.
Boehner and Ryan think they need to "accomplish something" with Democrats out of fear of future shutdown showdowns with Obama. But if the GOP wants to win in 2014 and 2016, they'll have to prove to voters they're serious about stopping spending.
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