I just got through watching the PBS News Hour with new eyes apparently because I simply could not believe what I was seeing. Featured today¹ was the new House plan to postpone debt ceiling debates for a few months while they cement a plan to fix our thirteen-digit deficits and our rapidly growing debt. Really, Republicans…you can solve this decades old problem in just 3 months? Seems to me y’all, Republicans or Demoncrats, couldn’t be resolved enough to allocate spending cuts that amount to a drop in the bucket not even a few weeks ago. What spectacular insight did you obtain Paul Ryan or John Boehner?

On top of this we have the Democratic cheering section gloating about their “victory”. Harry Reid was apparently enthused:¹ "I'm pleased that Speaker Boehner's House colleagues have decided to change course and pass a bill that defuses yet another fight over the debt ceiling." Chuck Schumer elaborates² “The president stared down the Republicans. They blinked because they realized they didn't have the leverage they thought they would.” This confirms that Schumer truly believes Republicans are just trying to rain on their party by trying to impart fiscal responsibility. Even if that is true (and admittedly there is some truth), shouldn’t all leaders be looking for solutions to our fiscal problems which will eventually turn into a real fiscal problem if we continue this?  All I see coming out of the Senate on this issue is hot air, and yes Democrats do have a majority there.

2013 is shaping up to be an interesting year full of hyper-partisan, political theater albeit void of substance even more than the last.

Gator_Rob

1 House Passes 'No Budget No Pay'http://news.yahoo.com/house-passes-no-budget-no-pay-191301982--abc-news-politics.html
2 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/house-debt-ceiling_n_2533597.html