The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

Related Photos

  • cartoon 6-10

    cartoon 6-10

June 9, 2010

Our View: Spending bill short on fiscal discipline

The Free Press

MANKATO — The public concern about the rising federal deficit was apparently not paramount last week as the U.S. House of Representatives approved expanding the deficit by $54 billion.

The House passed a $114 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits and continue some tax breaks for businesses. To their credit, the House scaled back the original spending in the bill from $192 billion and the deficit increase from an initial $134 billion.

The budget watchdog group Concord Coalition said it was mostly the more conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats who demanded the bill’s cost be lower and more of it be offset by cuts other places. Part of the offset in cost came from closing corporate and investment tax loopholes.

While it’s difficult to argue against extending unemployment benefits and business tax cuts in a recession, this kind of “extender” spending is usually subject to the PAYGO rules of Congress. Those rules call for any new spending be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases elsewhere in the budget so as not to increase the federal deficit. Those rules appear to have been only partially applied.

Minnesota Democrats Tim Walz, Collin Peterson, James Oberstar and Keith Ellison voted in favor of the bill, while all Republican members of the state’s Congressional delegation voted against. Part of the problem with this bill was that it also included the so-called “doc fix” to correct deficiencies in Medicare payments to doctors that Congress has been trying to fix.

Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby notes that some of the reductions in spending from the first proposal related to timing shifts rather than policy changes. Unemployment benefits were extended for a shorter period of time for a “savings” of $8 billion. Bixby notes another provision on Medicare payments to doctors sunsetted after 19 months, thereby “saving” $40 billion.

Concord also criticized the move noting that Congress routinely calls these bills “extenders,” making one think they will expire in one year. But, as has been the practice, Congress routinely passes these extenders year after year.

Fortunately, the  Senate will be taking up the bill and have a chance to make it completely deficit neutral. That may be an unlikely prospect given the politics of the moment. Nobody wants to be against extending unemployment benefits. And apparently some unions issued some not so subtle threats to members if they voted against the spending and unemployment benefits.

But House and Senate members should heed the call, more and more, that people do not want Congress to expand the federal deficit. Congress has got to start making tough choices, sometimes very tough. Congress must begin to address the structural deficit issue.

In the long run, we’ll all be more prosperous if we can impose fiscal discipline on our spending and keep our budget balanced.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • Timing still legislative problem One can appreciate the deliberative, legislative process in Minnesota. We can respect the hours and hours of time legislators put in debating important issues. But time management seems to be an issue whatever party reins. This year is no different.

    May 22, 2013

  • Legislature: Vows kept, mistakes made

    There will be plenty for Gov. Mark Dayton and the DFL legislative majority to crow about this week after the conclusion of the session Monday night.

    May 21, 2013

  • Our View: Lakes reveal chemical abundance Even if your mother may not have had scientific data at her fingertips, she obviously knew what she was talking about when she said don't drink lake water. A new study makes that advice more important than ever and raises concerns about how we treat

    May 20, 2013

  • Press 'shield law' is a bad idea Press 'shield law' is a bad idea The Obama administration announced last week that it is throwing its support behind the press shield law that has been stalled in Congress since time immemorial. Critics insist that the administration, suddenly mired

    May 19, 2013

  • mfp thumbgraphic Shelter for homeless right start To Mankato civic leaders for, once again, stepping up to address a growing demand for shelter by homeless women. The needs appears to be dramatic and continuing even though the Theresa House, Welcome Inn shelters and the CADA House program for domest

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • Our View: SEC should act on ratings conflicts Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and

    May 17, 2013

  • Time runs short for Legislature Focus, Minnesota legislators, as you have many details left So much for the theory that one party controlling Minnesota's House, Senate and governor's chair would mean fast work in St. Paul. Exactly one week from the end of the 2013 regular session a

    May 16, 2013

  • records' seizure harms free press This has not been a good week for President Obama. First it was learned that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative organizations with special scrutiny, the practice of which the White House said it was unaware. Then news surfaced th

    May 16, 2013

  • Investigate IRS action on groups The revelation that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative groups has drawn criticism from both parties. But the Wall Street Journal this week revealed that the scrutiny went beyond groups that had "tea party" or "patriot" in their n

    May 15, 2013

  • Military needs new approach in assault cases Just when you thought the sexual assault problems in the military couldn't get worse, two events emerged last week to prove you wrong. The chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention branch was arrested on suspicion of drunkenly groping a woman

    May 14, 2013