Three Steps Towards Sanity.



Three Steps Towards Sanity.  Lord knows there are plenty of experts giving the Republicans advice these days; not to mention an undisclosed number of therapists.   It is rather pointless to discuss what the wisest pre-negotiating position would be when negotiations have matured well towards a deadline; whatever the merits of principle involved, it is now time to fish and stop cutting bait.  Negotiating strategy for the future has a place at the table, but the clock is running down and it is time to execute, not game plan.

Here is one simple man’s idea about how the Republicans (BOTH House and Senate, not option A or option B) should handle this end game on CR and debt ceiling:

1.     The Democrats passed Obamacare on a party line vote.  They passed it using extraordinary procedures.  They had no inkling what was in it and many Democrats are now deeply alarmed at the reality it is revealing.  The administration has played fast and loose with its implementation strategy, handing out exemptions like candy at Halloween.  Obamacare is doomed to failure because of its fundamental logic; let it self destruct.  I do not believe it is sustainable in its true form and substance.  Now sincere legislators will argue that it is their sworn duty to try and correct bad law and that is true.  But a friend once told me that sometimes a train must run completely off the tracks before everyone realizes the train needs to be fixed.  I think we have reached that point with this health care law. Pass a short term CR with adequate time to pass the necessary appropriations bills and above all, adhere to the afore-approved sequester cuts.  They are significant, they represent modest progress in the budget process, and they are as much settled law as Obamacare.  Stop trying to defund Obamacare or revise it in the appropriations process.

2.     There is truly something morally wrong when a law is passed and the folks passing the law exempt themselves and selected others from the law; especially when it is controversial to begin with.  In the CR action, as many exemptions as possible should be removed.  This is a position that is defensible, winnable, and can be easily understood.  In order for voters to realize how truly bad this law is. it needs to be implemented in its original form.  This “cut and paste” implementation philosophy being exercised by the administration is questionable in legitimacy and can go forever, effectively masking just how stupid the original law is.  It was passed; put it out there the way it was passed and let the chips fall.

3.     There is one argument that the public understands and supports in this debt ceiling discussion; that is “one dollar cut for one dollar increase”.  Now we all know that a cut in WDC is not a cut in our hometown, but that is another issue.  This argument is sound in principle, is easily argued, and actually makes some good sense.  Try to slow down spending with the appropriations process; using the debt ceiling to put some meaning in word “ceiling”.