"Legislation is the Art of Compromise" Senator Harry Reid Nov 3, 2010
On the right side of the aisle, Republicans and Tea Party winners say the deficit is too big and we need to cut it, then they say in the next sentence we must extend all the Bush tax cuts including those for the rich and not just the middle class, which will add $700 billion to the deficit that they just said we must cut.
The Bush tax cuts over the past ten years were unfunded and added $1.4 trillion to the deficit, extending them will again add to the deficit because they are still unfunded, and just as Republicans didn’t care that they were unfunded ten years ago, they still don’t care that they are unfunded now and will again add to the deficit.
Before the election President Obama was pounding away on how the Bush tax cuts would add $700 billion to the deficit and how we must end the tax cuts for the rich but maintain them for the middle class. Today the White House is saying we are willing to compromise on the extensions for the rich and made no mention that it would add to the deficit.
The White House, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after the election spoke of compromising with Republicans, but the entire Republican leadership in the House, soon to House Majority Leader John Boehner , Eric Cantor and Mike Pence have all said NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR COMPROMISING. But lets be honest they have not been willing to compromise at all over the last two years. Their idea of a compromise is "our way, or the highway".
Over in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said before the election and again today, that the number one goal for the Republicans in Washington DC over the next two years is to remove the President from office. McConnell did not say the number one goal for Republicans is to help fix the economy and new jobs, no, he said getting rid of the President is number one on his list of things to do.
This goal, was the same goal before the midterm election, it started the day Obama took office, they did not compromise on any legislation to help our economy then, in fact Republicans voted against every tax cut for small business, and every proposal that could create an environment to create jobs, and they plan to vote the same way over the next two years.
The only spending cuts any Republican has offered up are, Entitlement programs, such as cutting Medicare, Social Security and Education. Oh and pork projects that only amount to about 1 percent of the deficit.
Any legislation that may make it out of the House will die in the Senate, just as we have seen the last two year. On the current Congress, which is the 111th congress, the Republicans set a record for blocking more legislation than any congress before this. The previous record for blocking legislation was set during the last congress, the 110th congress, also by Republicans. When the new congress is seated next year, which will be the 112th congress, there is little doubt that Republicans will set a new record for obstructionism since they have all said that there will be "no compromising".
Democrats say they are willing to compromise and Republicans say they are not willing to compromise, what will it take for the Democrats to realize that the republicans are telling them the truth when they say "no compromising"
President Obama and Harry Reid are saying they want to do the same thing the next two years, as they did the last two years, and think that they will get a different outcome.
The fools folly.