On debt commission, don’t trust partisan wolf in bipartisan sheep’s clothing

After three weeks of paralysis, the House finally has a new Speaker.

In a speech from the floor after being elected with unanimous Republican support, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struck a practical, even affable tone, as he laid out his vision for the House.

But we shouldn’t mistake tone for substance. And while we hope the Speaker opens the door to bipartisan compromise and agreement — a necessity in divided government — he doesn’t exactly have a sterling record of bipartisanship.

In fact, Mr. Johnson has been a near constant roadblock to bipartisan accomplishment during his tenure in the House of Representatives. He voted against the effort to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6. He voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law. He voted against the bipartisan renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. And, just a few weeks ago, he voted against a bipartisan compromise to keep the government open through Nov. 17 and avert a costly, needless shutdown.

Given this illustrious partisan history, it was curious to me, as I heard Speaker Johnson deliver his opening monologue, that he kept calling for bipartisan compromise — especially as it relates to slashing government spending.

Indeed, he said one of the top priorities of his speakership would be to “immediately” establish a bipartisan fiscal commission to address the national debt — calling the debt the “greatest threat to our national security.” His assessment received tepid applause in a room full of leaders watching China, Russia, and Iran flex their muscles on the global stage and threaten American security interests.

According to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve, Americans have a net worth of about $154.3 trillion. Of that total wealth, 69 percent — or about $106.5 trillion — is concentrated among the top 10 percent of the wealthiest individuals in the nation, with about $48.5 trillion in the hands of the top 1 percent, and around $20 trillion reserved for the top one-tenth of one percent.

Our national debt as of this writing is about $33.7 trillion. That means the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans could write a check to wipe out the entire national debt today and still be left with $14.8 trillion — or about $4.4 million per person. That would leave each individual with four times the average wealth of an American household today. 

Indeed, it’s not a matter of America being broke. We are the wealthiest nation on the face of the earth. And there are popular, commonsense policies that Congress could take up to attack the debt right now, without waiting on a commission.

For instance, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, raising or eliminating the Social Security cap on taxable wages could eliminate up to 90 percent of the Social Security solvency gap.  According to the same report, including forms of income that are not currently subject to Social Security taxes could eliminate the other 10 percent.

A glance at the net worth of the wealthiest Americans demonstrates the affordability of this idea. Enacting this policy would also eliminate nearly the entire budget deficit by fully funding the largest single budget line item.

It wouldn’t eliminate the debt, but it would put us on much sounder financial footing. And in protecting and funding Social Security, we would also continue to keep our national promise to the most vulnerable Americans, ensuring they can live a life of dignity. 

Of course, the entire purpose of a bipartisan fiscal commission is to short-circuit ideas like raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to fund Social Security for future generations. Indeed, the history of bipartisan fiscal commissions is one of what Paul Krugman has called “compromise between the center-right and the hard-right.” And Speaker Johnson and the House GOP are banking on this being the case.

A new bipartisan commission will merely repeat that same dynamic. If it follows the history of the Simpson-Bowles farce under President Obama, it will go something like this.

The commission will spend millions of taxpayer dollars and propose modest revenue increases and massive spending cuts. The same group of obstructionist conservatives who demanded greater austerity than proposed by the bipartisan commission in 2011 will do so again, scuttling any hope of compromise, while forcing Democrats to take unpopular positions on deep spending cuts to valued programs like Social Security and Medicare.

The truth is a bipartisan debt commission is just a partisan wolf in bipartisan sheep’s clothing. In the end, Democrats should take a page out of Mike Johnson’s book. On slashing government spending through a bipartisan fiscal commission, stand on your core principles and reject bipartisanship.

Everett Kelley is national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, which is the nation’s largest federal employee union, representing 750,000 federal and D.C. government employees.