Deficit super committee fails: Who's to blame?
No deal on how to cut federal deficits. That's the outcome as weeks of聽negotiating brought a so-called super committee of 12 lawmakers down聽to its practical deadline.
For now at least, it's over except the shouting over who's to blame.
Each of the two major political parties, not surprisingly, says the聽other is at fault. But early opinion polls suggest that, in the eyes聽of the voting public, the criticism may stick to the Republicans more than it does the Democrats.
Although the committee's deadline for handing a plan to the full聽Congress was Wednesday, Nov. 23, the panel also was supposed to make聽any plan public 48 hours ahead of its vote. So Monday was its聽effective deadline.
One sign of disappointment outside the Washington Beltway: Stock聽prices fell sharply Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average聽losing more than 2 percent as the super committee and worries聽about fiscal policies in Europe weighed on investors.
The broader gauge of public opinion, so far, comes in response to聽hypothetical questions about a super committee failure.
In a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Nov. 11-13, some 42 percent聽of Americans said that Republicans would be "more responsible" than聽Democrats if the committee fails to present a deficit-reduction plan.聽Thirty-two percent said Democrats would be "more responsible," and 19聽percent said both parties would share blame.
Similarly, a recent McClatchy/Marist poll found 39 percent would blame聽congressional Republicans, 27 percent would blame Democrats, and 23聽percent would blame both.
Why the extra blame on Republicans? The polls don't ask respondents聽their rationale, but it appears that positions on taxes hold the key.聽Most Americans agree, at least in general terms, with the Democratic聽push to get high-income Americans to pay more in taxes. Although聽Republicans on the super committee opened the door to the possibility聽of more tax revenue, many Americans don't believe the GOP has shown聽enough flexibility on the issue.
"For the past two decades, Republicans have obstructed just about聽every serious effort to get control of the federal budget by opposing聽tax increases, even in packages with major spending cuts," said a聽recent editorial in USA Today.
The editorial praised committee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R) of聽Pennsylvania for braving criticism from his own party, and putting聽forth a proposal that raised new tax revenues. But it argued that the聽offer of some $300 billion in new tax revenue over 10 years didn't go聽far enough.
Put in context: The committee's mandate from Congress is to find $1.2聽trillion or more in deficit reduction over that period. And many聽finance experts have issued call聽for a bigger bargain that would total some $4 trillion in聽deficit reduction, through spending cuts and perhaps $1 trillion in聽tax-revenue increases.
Even hitting the bigger target would leave the US running deficits,聽and probably struggling to find further cuts as baby boomer聽retirements add to the cost of health-care entitlements in years聽ahead.
Some columnists and bloggers argue that聽Republicans, influenced by tea聽party voters and antitax lobbyist Grover Norquist,聽even sought to make the super committee a聽venue for bestowing new tax cuts on the America's wealthy.
"The primary sticking point was over whether the rich should see their聽contribution to deficit reduction increase or decrease," Washington聽Post blogger Greg Sargent wrote Monday.
One liberal research group analyzing the Toomey plan found that his聽idea of a top tax bracket of 28 percent (while eliminating many聽deductions), would shift the tax burden increasingly onto middle-class聽households. The plan would be a tax cut for high-income people,聽locking in rates lower than those in the Bush tax cuts that are set to聽expire at the end of 2012, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities听蝉补测蝉.
Other columnists, however, argue that blame is an equal-opportunity聽game, calling out Democrats for failing to get serious about reforming聽entitlements such as Medicare to lower their fast-rising costs.
And some say that the party's leader, President Obama, has failed to聽lead. "He has the bully pulpit, but he hasn't used it," argued Robert聽Samuelson in a Washington Post column.
A number of big-city newspapers across the country have taken a聽centrist view, calling on both parties to compromise.
"Any serious blueprint to reduce the national debt 鈥� now $15 trillion聽鈥� requires both more revenue and brakes on automatic spending," the聽Cleveland Plain-Dealer said in a recent editorial.
After reviewing the state of play, a Baltimore Sun editorial said:聽"The next step? Split the differences down the middle and end up with聽a $1.6 billion package that is 65 percent based on spending cuts and聽35 percent聽on tax increases 鈥� or at least something in that neighborhood."
