Bush on the
Medicare cost overruns:
"Well, I, two weeks ago, received an estimate about Medicare," he said. "I asked two questions to the estimators: one, does the Medicare reform do what we want it to do still, which is to provide modern medicine for our seniors and to introduce competition, which will eventually hold down costs of Medicare. And, secondly, the new estimate of Medicare costs fulfilled my promise to reduce the deficit in half over a five-year period of time?
Only two questions, George? Maybe you should have probed a little deeper...this kind of lends credence to all that stuff in the
Price of Loyalty, eh?
"And the budget we'll submit on Monday," Bush added, "does fulfill that promise, that we'll reduce the deficit in half. Now, it's going to require Congress to be wise with the taxpayers' money."
Of course, the budget Bush will submit on Monday will do nothing of the kind.
Even some Republicans acknowledge this:
But in briefing papers prepared for this weekend's party retreat -- expected to be dominated by budget debates -- the Republican "appropriators" who actually divvy up federal funds each year noted even a complete freeze in the spending targeted by Bush would cut the deficit by only a "minimal" $3 billion.
"We need to be realistic about the impact of this proposal," the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said. "Solely targeting non-defense discretionary spending will not have a significant impact on the deficit."
Meanwhile, Bush is still whistling along the path to Argentina, proposing a
13% funding increase for the missile defense boondoggle, a
trip to the moon, etc.
The good news is that it looks like the White House is now backing away from the $31 billion Energy Bill, which was temporarily killed by a Democratic filibuster in November, but is rearing its bloated and ugly head in Congress once again. The best option would be no Energy Bill at all, but the smaller it is, the less harm it can do.
But the bad news is that what we're seeing now is how the trap plays out:
- The Republican Congress and the Bush Administration spend much more than the federal government takes in. Billions in taxpayer dollars are funneled to current or potential Republican constituents.
- Democrats, in part seeking an issue to hit the Republicans with and in part just being sane, call for fiscal sanity. The small government portion of the Republican base chimes in.
- The Bush Administration, responding to its critics, calls for spending restraint.
- A bipartisan effort begins in Congress to hold the line on spending.
- The reactionary Republicans in Congress seize control of the budget cutting process and whack off social spending for Democratic constituents that are politically weak, such as the poor.
We're somewhere around the fuzzy middle ground between Stages #3 and #4 right now, although I imagine that active planning for #5 will get underway at the Republican party retreat mentioned above.
But the Republicans don't have to win this battle.
For a start, solid progressive alternatives for deficit reduction are out there.
But according to Bill Clinton, one of the most important ways Democrats can win is by "putting a human face on the deficit."
"Deficit" is a big word referring to an abstract concept, and I seriously doubt the average American's ability to explain what it is when asked. And voters always put a hefty discount on the future, which makes it doubly hard to hammer home a message of restraint.
That's why the "human face" is so important.
The Republicans are in a bind now--caught between their desire to win at all costs and their residual self-image as the party of limited government. If recent history is any indication, they will overreach, so if Democrats do a good job explaining to soccer moms and NASCAR dads that cutting college loans and housing vouchers for the poor isn't necessary when Bush and the Republican Congress are still pissing money down their collective legs for things that won't help out ordinary Americans, we will do lot to further our chances in November.
So far, only John Edwards is hitting with masterful rhetoric like that in his "Two America's" speech. Whether Kerry and our various Congressional candidates can pull this off remains to be seen.