This past Sunday, several members of the Congressional “super committee” in charge of resolving the deficit crisis admitted that their negotiations, after months of deliberation, have failed and that Congress is no closer to reconciling their partisan differences.
The “super committee,” formally dubbed the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, was formed in a deal struck by President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner following their failure to come to agreement this past summer. In the spirit of bipartisanship, the committee was made up of 12 House and Senate members evenly divided amongst Democrats and Republicans.
In the end, Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a balance between tax increases and spending cuts. Surprise!
The failure of the committee was inevitable. A “super committee” evenly split between parties embodies nothing but a microcosm of the House and Senate themselves, and if Congress as a whole could not come to some sort of understanding over the summer, then this “super committee” had no hope to begin with.
The cause was even more lost because Republicans entered into the negotiations after having pledged that they would not impose new taxes, which immediately closed the floor to discussion before deliberation even had a chance. As elected representatives of our government, the Republicans, and Democrats too, for that matter, have a responsibility to serve the American people, not to sign pledges for hounding lobbyists.
Moreover, there is absolutely no way we can sufficiently reduce the deficit by solely relying on spending cuts; new taxes are just as crucial. On the other hand, Democrats are very reluctant to concede to cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the reform of which is necessary for the nation’s fiscal sustainment.
This “super committee” seems especially dysfunctional due to the fact that election season is upon us. Members of Congress are desperately trying to cater to the sometimes inane desires of their constituencies to maintain their seats while failing to consider the good of the nation as a whole.
In an interview with The New York Times, Representative Jeb Hensarling. R-Texas, said, “As a nation, I am not sure how long we have to put America on a sustainable path.” If Congress continues in this petty stalemate, Hensarling’s ominous words could be a forecast for the future.
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