Redstate...
John Boehner’s Line
in the Sand
Posted by Erick Erickson
Tuesday, May 10th
Last night, Speaker John Boehner addressed the Economic Club of New
York and drew a line in the sand in the debt ceiling fight. It was a
monumental game changer for the GOP and puts them back on offense.
Let me back up briefing and note that the Washington Post’s own left
leaning editorial board came out swinging on Sunday against the
Democrats’ opposition to the Republicans’ Medicare plans. Yes, *that*
Washington Post.
It is with that buttressing him that Speaker Boehner gave last night’s
speech. It was a doozy.
In it, he said,
Without significant spending cuts and reforms to reduce our debt, there
will be no debt limit increase. And the cuts should be greater than the
accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given.
We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions.
They should be actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or
debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future.
And with the exception of tax hikes — which will destroy jobs —
everything is on the table. That includes honest conversations about
how best to preserve Medicare, because we all know, with millions of
Baby Boomers beginning to retire, the status quo is unsustainable.
Now, we are talking about a Speaker who promised $100 billion, then $70
billion, then $35 billion, and got only $353 million in non-accounting
gimmick cuts. But this sounds like John Boehner has figured out that he
is going to have to lead from the right.
Assuming Boehner is serious here and wants to move forward without
typical Washington accounting gimmicks, this is a solid and bold move.
The Democrats have yet to offer up any real cuts in Washington’s
budget. Every cut the GOP comes up with gets attacked for killing old
people and kids.
It’s time for Barack Obama to get serious. With John Boehner drawing a
line in the sand at trillions of cuts, Mr. Obama better come up with
some solid suggestions
And if that was not enough, Jim DeMint is drawing a line in the sand
too. You want his support? You must hold the line on the budget. I hope
he applies this to incumbent Senators and not just challengers and
Presidential nominees.
Read it at Redstate
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