Eric Cantor claims there will be no more continuing resolutions on the budget
After the Congress agreed to the second continuing resolution which would allow the government to operate until April 8th I voiced my displeasure with the fact that Republicans seemed to have given in to the Democrats and were not going to come close to their promised budget cuts of $100 billion (which I don’t feel went far enough in the first place.) I also wrote that it was time for the Republicans to draw a line in the sand and stop passing short term continuing resolutions; the time is now for agreeing to a long term budget with the promised cuts.
While it is still true–and disappointing–that the Republicans are not even going to come close to fulfilling their promise to cut $100 billion from the budget, it looks as if they may finally be ready to draw that line in the sand. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, stating that “time is up” has vowed that there will be no more continuing resolutions. He is claiming that the House will push forward with a long term budget which includes over $60 billion in cuts.
It is good news that the Republicans may be digging in their heels here because we simply cannot expect the Congress to continue passing short term “solutions” to our fiscal crisis. The time to act is now and Democrats are practically daring the Republicans to shut down the government because they feel as if the Republicans–haunted by the repercussions of the last government shutdown–will blink and cave in to their will.
Even this measure does not go far enough and we know that when the final budget is passed it will contain less than half of the $100 billion budget cuts we were promised. While this is disappointing, it will be even more disappointing to see the Republicans blink because they fear political repercussions in 2012.
In my opinion the Republicans have already let us down on this issue because they already dropped the ball when the pressure was on them, but taking a small stand now will be a step in the right direction. I only hope they have the political courage to do so, I just don’t know if they do.
America's Watchtower 
I am losing faith anything serious will get done. Even if they should get agreement on the $60 billion, which they wont, it doesn’t even cover what was spent the day they passed the last CR, which was $72 billion. We are going backwards. At this point I would settle for spinning wheels.
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It is disheartening. You are right, the final budget will not even be close to the $60 billion (which wasn’t close to the promised $100 billion) and in the end I fear the Republicans will have lost the budget battle and we will continue to recklessly spend money we do not have until it is too late.
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Steve – Correct me if I am wrong here, but my understanding is that spending increased by $72B so if we cut the budget $60B we still have not ‘reduced’ the budget or deficit, right?
I keep reading about how we are cutting here and there, and I think that is the right direction, but spending is still increasing rapidly, so are we really do anything more than maintaining the current deficit and then some?
I just don’t get this cutting but increasing at the same time. If we are going to cut then why not freeze all speding increases as well so that the cuts really, truly are cuts?
Maybe I’m just having a bad brain day but it just is not computing in my brain.
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That’s a good point Dominique; it appears as if we are cutting spending from some areas but we are moving the money to other areas, so in the end we really aren’t controlling the spending at all.
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I’ve lost a good bit of faith as well. If they push this to the wall, they’d better be ready to see it through to the end, because everyone on the left will be firing with both barrels. If they blink, they might give Obama the 2012 election.
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Agreed! It is time for the Republicans to stop fooling around and make a stand right now!
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Short term resolutions only prolong the problem. Sadly, even $100 billion in cuts means very little.
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We are “just kicking the can down the road” to use a phrase that Obama liked to use when he was on the campaign trail. And by the way, didn’t he promise to stop kicking that can?
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Eric Cantor and political courage do not often share the same seat on the bus.
On a different note – imagine the difficulty of being a member of congress who desires to cut anything. They are faced with a wall of liberals who couple the concept of cutting spending with such flowery prose as “draconian” and “machiavellian”. No cut is good! Spend Spend Spend! Well, cutting the defense budget is good, but nothing else. Not want cent more you republicans, who desire to see children and old folks starving on the side of our pot-hole pocked streets amid the detritus and rubble of our failing cities, all because of your desires to cater to a corporate elite who want lower taxes.
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They are masters of manipulation, aren’t they? They tug at the heartstrings and portray Republicans as monsters and in the end it always seems to work. But we are reaching critical mass here and it is time for them to get serious for once on this issue.
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Didn’t the CBO find billions in duplicate programs just a few weeks ago? What’s the hold up? They could cut $60 billion right now without the government batting an eye.
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It is so damn frustrating! They are just ignoring the CBO report.
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Great article, Steve. I hope the Republicans can stick to their guns and prevent another continuing resolution from being passed. If it takes shutting the government down, then so be it. Having said that, Colin’s comment really strikes a chord with me. I suspect the pressures they are facing are enormous and are coming from all sides. I really do not envy them their jobs.
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Thanks Larry! The time to make a stand is now, we can no longer avoid this issue because the longer we avoid it the worse it becomes and the harder it will be to deal with it.
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The Republicans certainly need to stick to their guns on this issue. Even though the debt ceiling will probably have to be raised, they don’t have to give away the bank. Rolling over and playing dead is not going to help them make their case to the American people.
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