A pox on the cowards in Washington
Monday, November 28, 2011
A pox on the cowards in Washington
By: Brian Tucker, Crain's Cleveland
Business
So far, only Steve LaTourette is inspiring any confidence among
Northeast Ohio's congressional delegation as citizens fumed last
week over the latest fiasco to come out of the nation's
capital.
Members of Congress couldn't bring themselves to jettison their
petty partisan squabbles and deal with the budget mess we're in, so
they created the so-called "super committee" of 12 members to
fashion a compromise. Their task was to work a deal that would make
sense to both sides of the aisle.
Hovering like the sword of Damocles was the threat that if the
committee couldn't reach a deficit-reduction deal, then harsh,
non-strategic, across-the-board cuts of $1.3 trillion would begin
in 2013. This was the chance for lawmakers to do real good - to
ignore the shrill cries from their extremist wings and mix tax
increases with sensible entitlement cuts.
But, no, they couldn't do it. Even Ohio's U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a
respected member of the committee and a former U.S. trade
representative, wouldn't be part of a compromise plan. Political
analysts immediately began to suspect his heretofore attractiveness
as a candidate on the national stage, and that's probably not
unfair.
What was unfair was for the larger body to abdicate its
responsibility and push this tough work to these 12 members. What's
also unfair is that the American people, suffering through what is
for most the worst economic times they've faced, get nothing from
their elected representatives. Nothing but the same, tired blame
game.
The Democrats chide the Republicans for their insistence on no tax
increases as part of a deficit reduction plan. The Republicans
attack the Dems for refusing to cut expensive entitlement programs.
Nobody cares about the middle ground, that spot on which most of
their countrymen reside.
As the deadline neared, Rep. LaTourette, who represents much of
Greater Cleveland's eastern suburbs as well as Ashtabula County,
declared that he no longer would abide by lobbyist Grover
Norquist's now-infamous "no new tax" pledge that Rep. LaTourette
signed years ago.
Anyone with half a brain knows that we can't cut this enormous
budget deficit without a combination of taxes or revenue
enhancements, as well as entitlement program reductions. That's the
pledge we should demand from all of them, starting now.
So write or call the offices of Marcia Fudge, Dennis Kucinich,
Betty Sutton, Marcy Kaptur and Jim Renacci and demand that they
start acting like responsible adults who care more about their
constituents than they do for their powerful Washington positions.
Right now, none of them - except for Rep. LaTourette - has had the
courage to say that it's time to compromise and do what's
right.
If they don't make that promise, they all should be removed from
office at the next earliest election. The American people are sick
and tired of their selfishness and slavish allegiance to party
ideologues.