Now is the Time to Start Governing and Stop Politicking

Now is the Time to Start Governing and Stop Politicking

Now that Congress and the president have narrowly dodged the latest crisis, we must demand an end to the political gamesmanship and a return to governing.

The agreement to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling is not to be considered a victory for anyone. The 16-day government shutdown cost the economy $24 billion and will slow economic growth, according to an analysis by Standard & Poor’s. That equates to real people who saw their paychecks cut and their businesses hurt.

The deal reached Wednesday would finance the government only through Jan. 15 and lift the debt ceiling through Feb. 7. So we are merely headed toward another crisis in a matter of weeks unless Congress and the president get serious about negotiating a long-term budget deal.

With so little time until the next crisis, it is time to govern, not to continue to play politics. All sides should rediscover the art of Statesmanship that requires true compromise and negotiation, because that’s what any agreement will require.

The country has long-term priorities that aren’t getting addressed as we lurch from one manufactured crisis to the next. These few are acknowledged to be critical to our long-term success:

·        We need to reduce our debt long-term, but that’s not a quick fix; it will take sustained, focused attention.

·        We need to clean up the tax code, another long-term, complicated project.

·        Congress needs to monitor Obamacare, not wield it as a political weapon, but to ensure its goals are being met.

·        Social Security and Medicare need change to sustain those programs for future generations and our immigration laws need reforming.

Can we even imagine that these problems will get the smart, serious attention they demand in the current environment?

To his credit, House Speaker John Boehner, finally allowed a vote on the Senate deal to resolve the crisis even though a majority of House Republicans opposed it. But a majority of the full House supported it, and maybe that’s a model for future long-term deals.

Too many in both houses were playing to win, not to win for the country.  It became making the other guy look like the enemy in preparations for 2014.  That looks too much like brinksmanship politics. We can imagine how the stock market would have reacted if no debt ceiling deal had been reached. That represents people’s retirement savings and college accounts that would have been damaged, as well a potential impact on jobs.

What goals did they want to see achieved by letting the debt ceiling pass and keeping the government crippled?  For the few that voted "no", they had a valid point (albeit using the wrong strategy). They voted no because the bill “doesn’t address our nation’s long-term spending problem.” That’s true. But there is time to do that.  And the time is now.