Republicans Should Not Retreat In The Budget War

I  heard Dick Morris talking about shutting down the government on Hannity, last night. He says it’s a “stupid, false choice” to either accept the compromise in the Senate, or shut down the entire government. He says Republicans should only shut down the parts we don’t like:

…the Republicans should refuse to accept less than $61 billion in cuts and — if the Senate and Obama refuse — should target for shutdown a handful of specific and highly unpopular programs and agencies. Why shut down the entire government? Zero fund the State Department or Agency for International Development, thereby suspending all foreign aid. Zero fund the Bonds for America program where the feds pick up the local debt service payments for states and cities. Zero fund the Highway construction program. Any combination of some of these cuts can easily generate $61 billion in cuts (less the $10 billion already cut).

On the Laura Ingraham Show, today, Laura advocated a complete shutdown of non-essential services. She notes that would be a good way to find out which jobs should be cut. Those folks can find work in Obama’s “recovering” economy.

Doug Ross agrees that that’s the way to go:

The problem is two-fold for Democrats.

Most Americans, who realize the government has a disastrous spending problem, support a shutdown of non-essential services.

Second, the longer taxpayers realize a shutdown actually benefits them — and has no visible impact on their lives — the worse a public relations problem it becomes for the Pelosi Party.

It ain’t 1995, Mr. Speaker. In the spirit of bipartisanship, let the Democrats shut the government down.

Meanwhile, Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis reports:

Treasury Secretary Geithner is not happy the Republicans have held the debt ceiling hostage to budget negotiations. In response, Geithner has embarked on a fear mongering campaign via a Debt Limit Letter to Congress promising financial Armageddon if the debt ceiling is not raised.

Mish’s advice to Republicans?  Come up with a polite way of saying, “Go to hell”:

If Geithner really believes what he is spouting, Republican ought to take advantage. They can do so far more politely than I suggested.

A politically correct “polite” response would be along these lines:

Dear Treasury Secretary Geithner

In the vital interest of preserving the US dollar and to restore fiscal sanity to the United States of America, we intend to reduce the budget deficit within 10 years.

In the interim, we will not increase the debt limit unless and until the President and Congressional Democrats are willing to cooperate.

In return for raising the debt limit, Congress must pass and the the president must sign legislation that will…

1. Scrap Davis Bacon and all prevailing wage laws.
2. Pass national right-to-work laws
3. Reduce the budget deficit by $5 trillion in 8 years
4. Balance the budget in 10 years

Given the unmistakable sincerity in your assessment of the damages that may occur should Congress fail to increase the debt ceiling, we anticipate equal sincerity in your willingness to work with Republicans to balance the budget in 10 years so that Congress will not have to go through these maddening debt-ceiling exercises in years to come.

We await your reply and look forward to working with the Obama administration towards solving our budget crisis.

“Yes We Can” work together.

Here’s Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity”:

CBS News reports:

Ryan today is rolling out a polished presentation of his plan, which he calls the “Path to Prosperity.” (Read it below.) With explanations on opinion pages and on YouTube, the GOP is readying for the political attacks that will surely follow as they attempt to revamp popular and vast health care systems.

Ryan’s budget proposal aims to slash $6 trillion from the budget over the next 10 years. It would in part accomplish that by changing Medicaid — which serves low-income families — from a government-run insurance program to a system of block grants distributed to states.

Medicare, a government-run health care program for those over 65, would essentially turn into a “premium support” program — the government would essentially provide vouchers for health care, but the funds would go directly to the insurer rather than the consumer. The government would give private health insurers a set amount of money to cover senior citizens. The change to Medicare would go into effect in 2022 under the plan.

It’s a risky proposal politically, given Medicare’s overwhelming popularity, but Ryan and the GOP are prepared to argue the changes are necessary.

“This is a plan not only to pay off our debt over time, but to get the budget under control to keep the government going,” Ryan said on the CBS’ “The Early Show” today. Ryan said his Medicare plan is modeled after the government insurance program offered to congressmen.

 

GOP Budget FY2012

UPDATES:

Geoff at AoSHQ: Ryan’s Plan: Necessary But Not Sufficient:

Paul Ryan released his new deficit-cutting budget plan today, saving almost $6 trillion over the next 10 years, which is very nice. Really. The National Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a similar plan last December, saving almost $2 trillion by 2020, and it too was nice.

Really.

Despite my tone, I am a big fan of these plans, and earnestly hope that at least most of their features will be implemented. But lest we violate the guiding maxim of the estimable Winston Wolfe, let’s remind ourselves of exactly how bad things are, so that we understand just what these plans can and can’t do for us.

See Geoff’s chart and analysis  at link

Ace: Breaking: White House Calls Boehner To Reject CR

On FoxNews. The White House just called to say it was going to play the government shutdown card, despite an offer on the table to keep the government going for another week.

Of course, this newest one-week budget contained $12 billion in cuts (and would have funded Defense throughout the year, and defunded Planned Parenthood).

So, the Democrats are going to shut down the government.

I say shut her down and let the chips fall where they may.

The Blaze: Paul Ryan Explains $6.2 Trillion Budget Cuts to Glenn as Gov’t Shutdown Looms

Gateway Pundit: Speaker Boehner: No Deal at White House Meeting – Press Conference at 2:00 PM

Linked by Michelle Malkin, thanks.

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