I'm kind of playing with the title a little. It's just that much of the very serious media has been making it sound like this deal doesn't do enough. Not enough deficit reduction whine the Very Serious People (VSP). Even in this Politico report you get a little of the editorializing Kevin Drum complained about from the Washington Post yesterday in what was supposed to be a straight new story.
"The framework amounts to a modest deal that averts another government shutdown, replaces the sequester and provides a level of certainty on spending that hasn't been seen in Washington for several years. But it doesn't raise the debt ceiling, which Congress must address sometime next spring. And it’s far from a grand bargain that overhauls entitlement programs or the tax code — an approach the negotiators refused to entertain for fear of getting bogged down.
"The bipartisan package includes $63 billion of “sequester relief,” $85 billion of total savings, and $23 billion in net deficit reduction. The agreement would set the discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2014 at $1.012 trillion, and $1.014 trillion in FY 2015.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/budget-deal-update-patty-murray-paul-ryan-100960.html#ixzz2n8dPhLYQ
No one seems to realize that we've already had a lot of deficit reduction-in fact, way too much-while the economy runs at a much slower speed than optimum. It's also a big deal in that there isn't any major entitlement cuts. Mostly I think it's a very big deal in a big way that there is no Grand Bargain. What we want is not to reduce the deficit but the sequester. This was done-though here I would agree: it's just a first step.
"The framework amounts to a modest deal that averts another government shutdown, replaces the sequester and provides a level of certainty on spending that hasn't been seen in Washington for several years. But it doesn't raise the debt ceiling, which Congress must address sometime next spring. And it’s far from a grand bargain that overhauls entitlement programs or the tax code — an approach the negotiators refused to entertain for fear of getting bogged down.
"The bipartisan package includes $63 billion of “sequester relief,” $85 billion of total savings, and $23 billion in net deficit reduction. The agreement would set the discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2014 at $1.012 trillion, and $1.014 trillion in FY 2015.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/budget-deal-update-patty-murray-paul-ryan-100960.html#ixzz2n8dPhLYQ
Yet this 'modest deal' is big in a number of ways. One way is that Paul Ryan is actually a chief architect of the deal. He hasn't had many of these in his time in the House. Last year during the election one amazing )factoid emerged that he had only 2 bills actually become law during his entire tenure. Talk about overrated!
I also think that it's big that there was 'only $23 billion dollars' in deficit reduction. More than anything it's big because Congress doesnt pass budgets these days and we're going to actually have one this time rather than yet another Continuing Resolution (CR). As Krugman says it's amazing how the narrative of a fiscal debt crisis never goes away.
"Murray and Ryan, however, stood side-by-side to hail the deal as progress, not perfection. They both repeatedly said it was just a “first step.” And both lawmakers said far more work needs to be done to revamp the U.S. government’s fiscal outlook, while still urging their colleagues to back this agreement."
No one seems to realize that we've already had a lot of deficit reduction-in fact, way too much-while the economy runs at a much slower speed than optimum. It's also a big deal in that there isn't any major entitlement cuts. Mostly I think it's a very big deal in a big way that there is no Grand Bargain. What we want is not to reduce the deficit but the sequester. This was done-though here I would agree: it's just a first step.
"The deal announced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) would raise establish spending at $1.012 trillion in 2014 and $1.014 in 2015 -- up from the $967 billion required by the across-the-board sequester cuts. It provides for about $63 billion in sequester relief, divided equally among defense and non-defense programs."
Yes that's very disappointing that UI benefits aren't extended in the deal. However, I do think that it's important to cut the sequester-so important that yes I might accept having to wait to fight for UI-not that this won't be something of a fiscal drag as well. Still just stopping the momentum of the sequester is worth a lot.
Jared Bernstein fully recognizes the travesty of not extending UI and yet says that over all he's a 'little impressed.' I agree that this deal is a first step: towards having a functioning government again as well as mitigating the pan of the sequester.
Again, don't get me wrong, I'm as disappointed as anyone that the GOP is again doing this to UI benefits-though I'm not surprised. They seem to believe in the Hippocratic Oath in reverse-first do much harm. If they give up one harmful thing you have to give them another. Still, this is big as it gets us back to a government behaving a little more functionally and normally. Maybe the saying is true: it gets better.
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