The country hit a debt milestone Monday, officially maxing out its credit cards with no deal in sight to end the insanity.
Congress has a lot of work to do.
During the next three months, federal lawmakers must come up with a bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling above its current $14.3 trillion level so the country does not default on its obligations.
That agreement must include elements that are odious to both sides — entitlement cuts that Democrats will object to, and revenue increases that Republicans will oppose.
The best hope for such a compromise lies with the so-called Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers who have considerable sway with their peers. News stories in recent weeks have raised suspicions that the group’s work has reached impasse. We hope this is not the case and urge its members to redouble their efforts.
Allowing the country to lurch into default is not an option. Neither is the current course of spending and revenue collection.
The group, which is working with Vice President Joe Biden, is keeping the details of its negotiations close to the vest so that individual pieces do not become political footballs before they are presented as part of a package.
The Gang of Six drew several of its members from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform — the panel chaired by former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff in the Clinton administration.
We hope the group of lawmakers also adopted some of the central recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission, further refining them to gain enough support in Congress.
As you may recall, that panel suggested changes that would cut nearly $4 trillion from projected deficits through 2020. It would establish ceilings for annual military and domestic program spending, increase payroll taxes on the affluent to make Social Security solvent, and gradually increase the age of full retirement from 67 to 69.
The panel recommended revamping the tax code, and eliminating or reducing $1 trillion in annual tax breaks popular among individuals and corporations. The panel’s well-researched recommendations are a good place to start. The job now is to get enough federal lawmakers on board with a compromise.
It won’t be easy.
Republicans are asking for deep spending cuts without revenue increases if they are to support increasing the debt limit.
In a speech last week to the Economic Club in New York, House Speaker John Boehner said negotiated spending reductions would have to exceed the amount of the increase in the debt ceiling, a number that is expected to be about $2 trillion.
Assuredly, some Democrats will take issue with some of the spending cuts, particularly as they are fully fleshed out.
But that’s how compromise goes — both sides find themselves unhappy with parts of the final result.
For the good of the country, members of Congress must spend the coming weeks staking out a piece of debt reduction common ground that’s big enough to share.
