The causes of the so-called fiscal cliff may be murky to many people, but what’s clear is the only way to back away from the cliff is compromise by our federal lawmakers.
Compromise, an agreement or settlement of a dispute reached by each side making concessions, hasn’t come easy in Congress.
But in this case, it must be accomplished to avoid the wide-ranging automatic series of deep spending cuts and large tax hikes that could kick the economy back into recession. To avoid the cliff, a deal must be reached just after the new year to stabilize the nation’s debt by finding $4 trillion in deficit reduction.
Each side — Democrats and Republicans — has their own ideas for resolving this near crisis. Republicans have pushed hard no tax raises and increased defensive spending while Democrats have pushed for no or little changes to entitlement programs such as Medicare.
It’s time for each side to give a little.
Last week, the White House delivered to Capitol Hill its opening proposal: $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and heightened presidential power to raise the national debt limit.
In exchange, the president would back $600 billion in spending cuts, including $350 billion from Medicare and other health programs. But he also wants $200 billion in new spending for jobless benefits, public works projects and aid for struggling homeowners. His proposal for raising the ceiling on government borrowing would make it virtually impossible for Congress to block him going forward.
Republicans said their response was laughter and disbelief. That’s certainly no way to work toward compromise.
Republicans must move away from their rigid stance on raising taxes. And we’re pleased that some of Minnesota’s Republican delegation have moved a little toward the center when they indicated they may consider closing tax loopholes that would raise additional tax revenue. And we urge Minnesota’s Democrats to seek a balanced deal that would generate more revenue while considering slight cuts to programs.
If ever there was a time for compromise, this is it.
