Constitutional Conservatives Must Not Support McConnell Cut, Run and Hide Plan

July 15, 2011 JBanking & Financial Services

The Founders drafted a Constitution that insisted on the separation of powers for a reason. They were inherently distrustful of unified power. That’s why we have both federal and state governments. It’s also why we have a Legislature vested with the power to make laws and an Executive to implement them. This week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell threatened that structure. He wants to allow President Obama to raise the debt ceiling whenever he wants, unless two-thirds of Congress objects. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress “the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States,” not the President.

The voters did not send a single conservative to Washington D.C. in the 2010 Midterm Election so they could surrender more of Congress’s Constitutional power to enable the President to continue to borrow and spend to his heart’s desire.

The structure of McConnell’s “Cut, Run and Hide” approach will also require the President to propose spending cuts alongside his unilateral debt ceiling increases. We know what he’s going to propose. He’ll misleadingly call raising taxes “reducing spending in the tax code;” he’ll call tweaking the cost of living adjustment formula “putting Social Security on a sustainable path;” and he’ll call bureaucratic control of payments to doctors and hospitals “reforming our broken Medicare system without effecting beneficiaries.”

DC’s green eyeshade crowd will grant the President’s cuts big numbers, making it look like he wants to save billions, but in the end nothing will be cut. We’ve seen all these tricks before and it’s why our federal budget is in the bad shape that it is.

The only real solution to the nation’s fiscal woes currently being discussed in Washington is the Cut, Cap and Balance plan. It reduces our deficit next year, places statutory caps on spending and sends a strong Balanced Budget Amendment to the states for ratification.

Threatening the separation of powers because you’re not willing to make tough decisions and support the Cut, Cap and Balance plan is not acceptable. McConnell’s gimmicks and Obama’s faux spending cuts just don’t make the grade anymore. As the President himself said, “Enough is enough.”

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