If you were already pessimistic about the congressional supercommittee’s chances of actually accomplishing anything, we have nothing to offer that will in any way cheer you up.
What we have instead is the threat from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to quit if the committee even considers cutting more defense spending. That’s right. He’s ready to go home before he even gets started. He has said he told Republican leaders, “I’m off the committee” if the military budget is placed on the table.
“We’re not going there,” said Kyl, noting that the August debt deal included a 10-year, $350 billion Pentagon budget cut. “Defense has given enough already.”
Threatening to quit on the first day of the Gang of 12’s work is probably not the best sign that a committee, composed of six Democrats and six Republicans, will be able to forge a compromise. Maybe Kyl should just quit now and get ahead of the game.
The supercommittee is tasked with finding a minimum of $1.2 trillion in savings — through either cuts or enhanced revenues — over the next 10 years and then delivering a bill by Thanksgiving.
In Washington time, that is beyond hyperspeed. If a bill is not delivered on time and then passed and then signed by the president, there are triggers that will include a further $600 billion cut in military spending.
Making matters even tougher, President Obama wants the committee to find another $450 billion to pay for his jobs bill. None of this will be easy. Of course, the various triggers employed by the bill aren’t meant to make things easy. They’re meant to force the members’ collective hand.
Still, Kyl is already asking not only that the committee lay off defense, but that Congress waive the defense trigger altogether. Removing triggers would make a difficult job nearly impossible.
We recommend that Kyl might want to talk to Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman, a fellow Republican and military veteran about possible defense cuts.
In a column written for The Denver Post, Coffman offered a three- point strategy for reduced spending. First, he recommends changing moving from a nation-building model, as seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, to one of counterinsurgency. He further recommends bringing home the 79,000 troops we still have in Europe, who are there as an expensive Cold War remnant. And lastly, he suggests expanding the National Guard and military reserves. We believe there is merit in each of these suggestions.
But Kyl says he is in no mood to listen or to compromise. Meanwhile, all six Republicans on the committee have signed Grover Norquist’s pledge to not raise taxes of any kind. And it remains to be seen whether the Democrats on the committee would seriously consider entitlement reform.
President Obama set an upbeat tone in his jobs speech before Congress. He demanded immediate action on jobs, which recent history suggests may be slightly too optimistic. But at least he didn’t threaten to quit if he didn’t get his way.
