It’s all the Republicans’ fault.
That’s what President Obama told the nation last night in his prime-time ad dress on the debt-ceiling crisis.
Republicans’ refusal to raise taxes, along with cuts in spending, is what’s holding up a deal.
“The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach” and won’t “ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all.”
To his credit, House Speaker John Boehner refused to cede that patently partisan point.
“The president has often said we need a ‘balanced’ approach,” Boehner said in his rebuttal. (Last night, Obama used that term fully eight times.)
But, as the speaker rightly noted, “balanced” in Washington means “we spend more, you pay more.” And tax hikes — which is what the president insisted on — “will destroy jobs.”
Which is why the GOP needs to hold firm.
Already, Republican fortitude has yielded a key concession: Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan, which the White House accepts, no longer calls for tax hikes.
Now the most significant conflict is over whether to pass a hike in the debt ceiling that will last through this year — the GOP approach — or a larger one that would permit continued borrowing through the 2012 elections.
Obama last night said the short-term approach “doesn’t solve the problem.” He’s right — but then, neither does his 18-month approach. Indeed, the key difference is that the longer term allows Obama to get through next year’s elections without fixing anything.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have a plan to tie an initial $1 trillion hike in the debt ceiling to spending cuts — statutory caps on discretionary spending that would save $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
A second step would be to form a joint congressional committee to trim another $1.6 trillion to $1.8 trillion by November.
If it passes through Congress without amendment, the president would be empowered to seek another $1.5 trillion debt-ceiling increase, including reforms of entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.
Reid’s plan, in contrast, provides a single debt-ceiling hike and a $2.7 trillion spending cut — though much of that is questionable, since it relies on savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reid’s plan, to be sure, is a significant step in the right direction from what his party initially proposed. But — unlike Boehner’s plan — it leaves open the very real possibility of adding Obama’s tax hikes down the line.
Plus, it falls far short of the GOP’s ambitious plan to cut spending and address runaway entitlement programs.
It is, in fact, little more than the same “patchwork” approach that Dems claim they oppose.
Bottom line: It is the GOP that’s putting principle over politics, by addressing the root causes of America’s unsustainable debt — runaway spending.