Basic Governance, Abdicated?

This is sad. With both houses of Congress in their control the Republicans cannot even craft a compromise to get the most fundamental tasks of governance done. If you own both houses and cannot fashion a compromise, perhaps your position is too far to one side, eh? The NYT report that "Republicans Ponder Not Adopting A Budget This Year"

WASHINGTON, June 2 - They have tried sweet-talk and dire warnings,
insults and bluffing tactics. None of it has worked, which is why a
growing number of Republicans are beginning to despair about agreeing on
a budget plan for next year.

Embarrassing as that would be for the party that controls both houses
of Congress, many Republicans are concluding they would be better off
with no budget plan than with one that would require them to pay the
cost of permanently extending last year's tax cuts.

Senate Republican leaders, back from their Memorial Day recess, showed
little sign on Wednesday of persuading a small band of rebels within
their own party to drop their insistence on "pay as you go" rules.

The four Republican dissenters, joined by most Democrats, are demanding
rules that would force Congress to pay the cost of any new tax cuts
either with spending cuts or tax increases in other areas.

The impasse has already undermined President Bush's top domestic goal,
which is to make the tax cuts permanent, and it will apparently postpone
major budget decisions until after the elections.

It has also exposed a rift over Republican priorities: Is it more
important to cut taxes or to prevent the budget deficit from expanding
beyond its current level of about $400 billion?

The White House and House Republicans have staunchly opposed any such
restrictions, because permanently extending Mr. Bush's tax cuts would
cost about $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years.

But let's be fair - there are four moderates who cling to the former Republican value of fiscal responsibility.

In addition to Mr. McCain, the major Republican Senate holdouts are
Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, and Lincoln
Chafee of Rhode Island.

And Zell Miller, a democrat in name only, is not with them on this. This situation is the equivalent of the spoiled little kid(s) who say "If I can't have it ALL my way, I'll just take my toys and go home!" Again, its sad.


According to the study, by the Tax Policy Center and the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities, more than three-quarters of all households
would end up net losers if the government actually paid for the tax cuts
by either spending cuts or other tax increases.

But the wealthiest one-fifth of families, who are by far the biggest
beneficiaries of the tax cuts, would end up big winners.

This is the cause for which Republicans want to scrap the PAYGO rules, installed to force discipline on Democrats and their spending desires when they ruled both houses. The chickens have come home to roost. It exposes the lie that Republicans are fiscally responsible.

Democrats have already made it clear they will vote to
extend at least temporarily three major tax cuts - an expansion of the
child tax credit, a reduction in the so-called "marriage penalty"
for two-income families and an expansion of the 10-percent tax bracket to
cover more middle-income taxpayers. Failing to adopt a budget resolution would make it harder to prevent lawmakers from adding pet spending projects. But the biggest issue for Republicans may simply be the embarrassment of not being able to pass a basic budget plan even though they control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

Perhaps they forgot that politics is the art of the possible. Nixon went to China, Clinton signed a welfare reform bill. These greedy Ba*****s can't compromise some? Sheer lunacy and fiscal irresponsibility. Reprehensible.

"It's optics," said one Republican aide. "The issue is, can the
Republicans do the most basic of things, which is to pass a budget?"

Amen.