Where's the Pressure on DEM's to Cough Up Spending Cuts?

 

IBDEditorials.com

Budget Policy: Republicans are being hounded mercilessly to abandon their no-tax pledge to get a deal on the fiscal cliff. So why aren't Democrats facing any pressure to compromise on entitlement spending?

Every Republican who happens to bump into a reporter these days is sure to be grilled on tax hikes.

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," to cite just one example, David Gregory pressed Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., repeatedly on the topic. And stories are now rife with claims that Republicans are "softening" on taxes.

True enough, House Speaker John Boehner has already conceded the point about the need for more "revenues," and several GOP senators and congressmen have publicly broken away from their no-new-tax pledge.

But while GOP leaders have been signaling a willingness to cut a deal — even if it means agreeing to some form of tax hike — Democrats are digging in against any meaningful changes to out-of-control entitlement programs.

House leader Nancy Pelosi says she'll resist any attempts to pare back Social Security or Medicare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared emphatically that "I am not going to be part of having Social Security as part of these talks."

And Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said over the weekend that Democrats had to "put everything on the table," then immediately took Social Security off the table, saying (falsely) that it's not contributing a dime to the debt.

Meanwhile, Obama refuses to put a leash on liberal groups who've pledged to fight against any entitlement changes. Union groups are already mounting a six-figure ad campaign to pressure key Democrats.

And, naturally, the same mainstream press that's pushing Republicans to abandon conservative principles has put no pressure whatsoever on Democrats to reject the big-spending, left-wing extremists in their party.

The topic never came up when ABC News talked to Pelosi over the prior weekend. David Gregory didn't ask Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a single question about spending cuts on "Meet the Press," although he talked a lot about tax hikes. George Stephanopoulos managed to eke out just one question on entitlement legislation amid a torrent on the GOP's tax pledge.

As anyone who's studied the federal budget knows, the problem isn't too little taxes. Even if we kept all the Bush tax cuts in place, federal revenues as a share of GDP will soon exceed historic averages.

The problem is entirely on the spending side, where entitlement programs, which now include ObamaCare, will push federal spending up to 24% of GDP and rising.

Which means it isn't the Republicans' tax pledge that should be the subject of public outrage; it's the Democrats' refusal to abandon their big-spending ways.