By Dr. Merrill Matthews IPI Resident Scholar
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas While Republicans and Democrats are frustrated with each other over the debt ceiling and budget battle and the public is frustrated with both we think this is one of the most important debates the country can have. So its important we that get it right.
Washington has come to a crossroads: The debt ceiling and budget debate are only symptoms of a larger division over the size and scope of the federal government. House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans werent elected in huge numbers in 2010 to increase spending and raise taxes. But President Obama seems to think he was elected in 2008 to do exactly that.
So if Republicans cant get Democrats to dramatically cut spending without raising taxes the best thing to do is some type of short-term fixsimilar to what some Republicans are now proposingand let the American people decide next year which direction to take.
If President Obama is convinced that what he calls a balanced approach"by which he means Republicans should cave George H.W. Bush-like on their no-new-taxes principleis the responsible thing to do and thats what the American people want then he should be willing to let it be a campaign issue. Republicans certainly will.
But Obamas resistance to a short-term fixlike his effort to push through ObamaCare as quickly as possiblemay have more to do with his desire to get this issue behind him as far as possible from the next election.
Todays PolicyByte was written by IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
