Kim Strassel: If Obama Is So Committed To His Positions, Let Him Swim In Them

As of 7/1511: National Debt
Now Over $14.5 Trillion

Today in Washington, D.C. - July 15, 2011:
The Senate is not in session today and will return on Monday and will resume consideration of H.R. 2055, the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill, one of the annual appropriations bills that are considered by Congress. On Monday the Senate will vote on the nomination of J. Paul Oetken to be a District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 56-40 to waive a budget point of order made by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) against H.R. 2055 that appropriations bills should not be considered until the Senate has passed a budget.

The House passed on a voice vote last night an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill that will block implementation of the ban on standard incandescent light bulbs, which is scheduled to begin going into effect on January 1, 2012. A recorded voted scheduled for this morning was cancelled, so the amendment is now part of the bill that the House will send to the Senate. The voice vote on the amendment offered by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) comes on the heels of a failed vote earlier this week, which did not reach the two-thirds majority required under special rules, but garnered a clear majority The vote on H. R. 2417, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, was 233 to 193.

Today, the House Republican Leadership and the President had dueling speeches this morning on the network. The House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi also spoke but look dogeared and ragged in their comments. The House Republicans looked professional, committed and confident in their solutions to deal with the government overspending and the national debt.

In a prior article today, Speaker John Boehner addressed that "With Economy in Trouble, It's Time for Dems to Get Serious About Cutting Spending."

In the Wall Street Journal column today, Kimberley Strassel runs down the series of unacceptable choices President Obama and Democrats are trying to foist on Republicans in the debt ceiling debate: She writes,  “Instead of blinking, Mr. Obama has stubbornly dug in, committing himself either to whacking the country’s credit or whacking the country’s economy—or both. He’s made clear to Republicans that the only deal he’ll cut will require their help in those ruinous objectives.” . . .

“Option No. 1 is for the GOP to do a $4 trillion ‘big deal,’ in which it gets some cuts, including to Medicare, though only in return for agreeing to significant tax hikes. The president forces Republicans to make a mockery of their own tax promises, and he gets cover for what’s been his goal all along. He also gets to brag to his base about that victory, even as he demoralizes conservative voters.

“Option No. 2 is the smaller, $2 trillion Biden deal. Even here the White House is demanding some tax increases, while Democrats insist a significant chunk of the cuts take place in future Congresses (which can ignore them). The conservative base will deride this as budget gimmickry, and the GOP will get little credit. The president, however, will boast to the rest of America that he has clocked ‘significant’ spending reductions, and he’ll run as a deficit-cutter.

“Option No. 3 is for the GOP to go to the brink and share the turmoil or shutdown that follows default. Ask Newt Gingrich how that worked out for him in 1995. Mr. Obama today owns a failing economy. Republicans are begging for joint custody. Come turmoil in August, the president will lay every unemployment uptick, every poor economic statistic, at the foot of whatever panic or pain came out of the debt-ceiling mess—and the Republicans who helped push it to that point.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday proposed a possible forth option. He said, “I proposed a possible fourth option. A last resort if the President continues to shirk his duty to do something about our dire fiscal situation. If the White House continues to insist on either tax hikes or default, then we’d send legislation to the President that requires him to propose spending cuts greater than the debt limit increase he requests. Make the President show in black and white the specific cuts he claims to support. If he refuses, he’ll have to raise the debt limit on his own. But he’s not going to get Republicans to go along with it. That way the President can’t pretend to support cuts when he doesn’t. He’s forced to put up.”

As Strassel writes, “If [President Obama is] so committed to his positions, let him swim in them. Let him own a deficit that’s on track to hit $1 trillion for his third presidential year running. Let him tell America why he’s cut nothing. Let him explain a credit downgrade caused by his failure to get serious about American debt. Let him explain the slowing economy, the high unemployment and his proposals for new taxes—next summer. Let the Democrats up for re-election have to vote (as Mr. McConnell’s proposal requires) to back up Mr. Obama’s profligacy. Let Americans understand, clearly, that this is what they will continue to get if they re-elect him.”

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