We live in interesting times. We’re in a time of budget deficit panic, while at the same time cutting taxes. In fact, one party will not even consider increasing revenues through taxation. So, it’s budget cutting fever. Slate‘s Dave Weigel talked with Chris Coons and reported that he seemed to be open to the idea of cuts to entitlements.
“The framework that was laid out by the deficit commission, while I don’t agree with everything they did, shows the direction I think we need to go in terms of scope,” said Coons. “If we simply look at the 12 percent of the budget that’s non-discretionary spending, we’re never going to get there. I think we need to be doing the large work.”
He had been bristling to ask OMB Director Jack Lew a question.
“Why do you think 3 percent of GDP is a sustainable deficit?” asked Coons. “Don’t we need to get to a balanced budget, in order to get to the point where we’re tackling the debt?”
I don’t disagree with anything in that statement by Chris Coons. The budget Republicans seemed to be obsessed with is very small with regards to the overall budget. The cuts they are proposing will do very little to tackle deficit. The major expenditures are entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Defense Budget. If we are really, really serious about the budget, we have to address these.
Maybe it’s an assumption on Weigel’s part that Senator Coons is addressing just entitlements. When the article came out, I and others started tweeting to Chris Coons. I addressed three main points: 1) “shared sacrifice” means the rich need to sacrifice 2) the main problem in entitlement spending is Medicare and the rising cost of healthcare in general and 3) Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. Chris Coons responded that he agreed with all three points – though it won’t hurt for everyone to contact him and make sure he’s protecting Social Security.