Kicking the can

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are fond of decrying Washington’s penchant for delaying action on politically sensitive issues. And then they later support legislation that does just that.

Earlier this year, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, “We all know what the problems are. Why don’t we just deal with them? No more kicking the can down the road, no more whistling past the graveyard. Now is the time to deal with the fiscal problems we have … ”

{mosads}In pressing for a debt-ceiling deal this summer, President Obama said, “Now, I’ve heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term, but then want to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem: our deficit.”

Yet congressional leaders and the president have kicked the can down the road again repeatedly. The bipartisan debt deal made some spending cuts, but did not tackle entitlement spending or taxes. Lawmakers and Obama tasked a so-called supercommittee to try to come up with the answers on questions that have been looming for years. 

Standard & Poor’s, a leading credit-rating agency, was unimpressed and promptly downgraded the nation’s credit rating. Amazingly, some Republicans and Democrats asked: How could they?

This week, Democrats and Republicans struck a short-term deal that averted a government shutdown while postponing the tougher decisions for later this fall. Both sides patted themselves on the back and left town.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, kept its distance from the spending dispute that was settled Monday night.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters earlier this week that “this is a basic function of Congress. They ought to be able to handle this basic responsibility … It should not be so difficult.”

Indeed, lawmakers were chagrined that it took so long to strike an agreement. The basic question of whether policymakers should offset the costs of dealing with natural disasters did not, however, get answered. When will the answer be clear? At a later date, of course. 

For decades, both parties have been guilty of the “I-will-gladly-pay-you-Tuesday-for-a-hamburger-today” approach. Politically sensitive decisions on many issues, including the Alternative Minimum Tax and Medicare’s flawed physician payment formula, are delayed. 

Instead, Congress puts a Band-Aid on them and vows to conduct major surgery later. When? Perhaps on Tuesday.