USA Today published a column written by John Boehner yesterday wherein he calls for spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, and he left a few things out.
The Congressional Budget Office tells us that the federal government will spend $640 billion more than it takes in this year. Over the next 10 years, CBO estimates we will borrow and spend $6.3 trillion more. [...]
While President Obama now insists he will not negotiate on including deficit-reduction measures with a debt-limit increase, that was certainly not always his position. The president worked with Republicans on a large deficit-reduction deal tied to the debt limit in the summer of 2011.
While the eventual result — the Budget Control Act — has flaws (especially the “sequester” that President Obama developed and insisted upon), it has actually reduced federal spending for the first time in decades.
What he does not say is that while the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tells us that the government will spend $640 billion more than it takes in this year, that’s dramatically lower than it was when President Obama took office. It’s approximately 50 percent less. The budget deficit in fiscal 2010, the first “Obama budget,” was $1.29 trillion. The budget deficit in fiscal 2009 was $1.4 trillion.
And it was actually John Boehner who sold sequestration to his caucus. Boehner sold baked-in tax hikes and across-the-board cuts to defense spending to his caucus.
He sold them straight down the river because he didn’t really have another choice. It was either that or default.
He wasn’t willing to push the button then and I don’t think he’ll be willing to now. And if there is any difference this time, it’s because a significant portion of his caucus has a hardon for repealing Obamacare by any means necessary.