COMMENTARY | As Republicans and Democrats go back to work on a debt compromise, there is less than a month before critical mass is reached. The debt ceiling for the United States needs to be raised by August 2 or the United States will default on its loans.
Members of the GOP are holding conferences with top Democrats and the White House to hammer out a proposal to reduce the national debt. Otherwise, the Republican-led House of Representatives may not raise the maximum amount of debt the United States can borrow.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated his stance by saying there will be no tax raises on working Americans or job creators. Yet his partner in House leaderships, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said just a day earlier Republicans would be open to a tax increase , but only if they are cut somewhere else.
Which is it? Either there are more tax increases or their might be. It's just a small sliver of difference between what both men said during the negotiations, but it presents a wide difference in bargaining tactics. It also exposes a rift in the GOP.
Boehner must please the conservative base and the tea party when he says no new taxes. Cantor seems to be a little more pragmatic and deals with more centrist and mainstream Republicans who believe a more rounded approach is necessary to solve the budget crisis.
There are no easy answers. President Barack Obama even went so far as to say cuts in Social Security and Medicare may be an option when previously he hadn't. Both sides are supposedly still far apart on the issue. They are all agreeing to disagree even though they already agree. Leaders all come to the consensus that the national debt needs to be solved. Their dispute comes in how they should go about reducing the debt and creating jobs.
Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform warned the president and the House leadership that tough choices would have to be made. Cuts will have to come from everywhere, regardless if taxes are raised. The commission suggested raising excise and use taxes on things like gasoline to help bring in more revenue while making cuts at the same time.
Eventually both parties are going to have to realize the combination of more taxes and less spending will bring the United States into fiscal responsibility faster than severe cuts with no tax increases.
William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
