Don't Compromise With Bad Ideas

Debt: With "debtageddon" just two weeks away, the Democrats' strategy is clear. Offer no concrete spending cuts, say no to all GOP ideas, and insist on higher taxes as part of any deal. Is that what's meant by "compromise"?

As the phony Aug. 2 deadline ticks down, the House was expected to pass the Republicans' "cut, cap and balance" plan Tuesday night and send it to the Senate for a possible vote.

That plan, it seems to us, has the greatest virtues of the three plans that have been put forward — all of them by Republicans, by the way.

For one, the proposed "cut, cap and balance" law does exactly what its name implies: In exchange for giving President Obama an increase in the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, it cuts $111 billion from this year's budget, caps federal spending at 18% of gross domestic product (down from 25% now) and would require as a matter of constitutional obligation a balanced budget.

For another, it would work. It would shrink government. And it would eliminate the budget deficits that have already pushed our nation's indebtedness to more than 100% of GDP — a level at which, according to economists Carmen Reinhardt and Ken Rogoff, economic growth begins to slow dramatically and our ability to pay our national debt becomes seriously impaired.

Clearly, this bill is the Democrats' worst nightmare.

It would cut spending and the size of government, which are America's real problems. It would finally put the welfare state on a leash, and a tight one at that, requiring long-term entitlement cuts and the end of frivolous, wasteful government programs and subsidies.

And it does so without ruinous tax hikes.

This is why Obama and liberal Democrats in Congress hate the plan so. It weakens their hold on power — and over our lives. Because of this, Obama has made it clear: He'll veto it if it passes the Senate.

What's the alternative? Obama is touting a supposed "bipartisan" plan cooked up by the "Gang of Six" senators. He says it's "broadly consistent" with what he wants.

That plan, hatched by three Democrats and three Republicans, would lop $3.7 trillion off the deficit over a decade. But it does so by hiking taxes by $1.2 trillion.

"We don't have any more time to posture," said Obama on Tuesday.

No time to posture? That's funny, since the budget he put forward earlier this year was considered even by Democrats to be a bad joke. It cut nothing, altered no priorities and merely extended the fiscal irresponsibility of $1 trillion annual deficits indefinitely.

As for Congress, it's been 812 days since it last passed a budget, which, by law, it must do every year. Even though Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress and the presidency for two years, they refused to.

Now we face financial disaster, and it seems Obama and the Democrats, seeking "compromise," will back a tax-hike plan that won't cut spending much or reduce government's role in our lives.

Raise taxes by more than $1 trillion on our suffering economy? A terrible idea. Republicans should say no to this sure-fire job killer and stick to their guns.

This is the Democrats' crisis. Let them be the ones to compromise.