Super Committee Is Super Disaster

Obama threatens veto as pre-determined cuts get triggered

Is anyone really shocked that the Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on deficit reduction?

In another round of partisan exchanges, President Obama blamed Republicans for the super committee’s failure to reach an agreement. The president said he also would veto any attempt to undo the automatic cuts, adding (as reported in the National Journal), “There will be no easy off-ramps on this one.”

To most people it would be surprising that Democrats and Republicans would agree to automatic cuts that they would not want implemented. Why place yourself in a position to lose funding over things you think are essential in the hopes of reaching an agreement with an opposing side with whom you have been unable to reach a meaningful deal with over the past year?

Even more peculiar is the fact that the automatic cuts seem to bother Republicans much more than the Democrats. With control of the U.S. House, Republicans were not in a weak position. Why did they agree to give the Democrats so much leverage? And why after giving away their leverage, were they then surprised that Democrats were willing to just let the automatic cuts take effect? This is bad governance any way you slice it.

At the end of the day, what have the Democrats and Republicans agreed to do?

• Democrats and Republicans have jointly increased federal spending beyond sustainable amounts to fund partisan and political projects
• Democrats and Republicans have jointly increased the national debt by more than $10 trillion in less than 20 years… And…
• Democrats and Republicans jointly agreed to increase the debt limit by trillions of dollars without agreeing on a comprehensive way to balance the budget

Just another reason why the Super Committee, run by Democrats and Republicans, was a super disaster for America.