Ryan Streeter
John Thune said today on the Senate floor, "Inaction is not an option, and advocating against this proposal is no different than advocating for higher taxes." Mitt Romney made news today by siding with the Republican opponents of the bill in a USA Today op-ed and enjoying some coverage as a result on the networks.
Just about everyone on the right agrees that:
- a 2-year extension of the current rates will not create robust growth on its own, but it's better than tax rates going up,
- it would be better to pay for the unemployment benefits extension by cutting somewhere else,
- the stimulative effect of the payroll deduction is dubious at best, but putting money in the pockets of workers is good for the workers,
- and real economic growth is only going to come through a more radical set of reforms than anything we can achieve in this tax deal.
It's certainly understandable that political leaders and candidates would lay down markers on what a more ideal policy would be. But it would be best for the GOP to agree to the deal, say it's imperfect, go home, and start planning for that radical set of reforms - as I have argued previously here. Our poll of influential conservatives basically agrees as well.
What they shouldn't do - and which Romney does today - is use unhelpful logic about the price tag. It doesn't cost money to extend the tax rates. As Jonah Goldberg points out today, spending in excess of revenue is what costs money. What we really need is for Congress to somehow commit itself to a serious deficit reduction plan in 2011, driven in large part by a cost-cutting austerity program in vast portions of the government.
But I'm afraid I can already see how this will play out: candidate Romney accusing candidate Thune in TV ads of having "voted to grow the deficit by $1 trillion." I pray that doesn't happen. We are going to need some serious policy arguments among grown-ups in the GOP next year, even as they jockey toward the primaries.
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