No Bloods, no Crips: Gang of Six
If you're ready to turn your back on American politics (or as one friend told me Tuesday, move to Central America) for its intensifying partisan rancor, take heart. The Gang of Six is working on it. It's true that Capitol Hill too often looks like kindergarten. Republicans call Capitol police to arrest Democrats. Democrats shut Republicans out of key debates. Neither side talks to the other.
Except... Idaho's own Sen. Mike Crapo is one of the self-described "Gang of Six" - all members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, three Democrats and three Republicans trying to come up with a bipartisan solution to the budget crisis. Four of those, including Sen. Crapo, served on President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, whose report last December proposed specifics for a sorely needed $3.9 trillion deficit reduction.
"We've been trying to come up with proposals that Congress could pass," Sen. Crapo told the Press editorial board on Monday. Unfortunately so far things haven't gone as well as the gang had hoped. As proposals have been suggested, push-backs have increased. Partisan attacks have escalated dramatically. As Sen. Crapo said, the path of fiscal austerity isn't popular.
Everyone in America has a stake in fiscal spending, regardless of party. Social Security (raising the age) and other entitlement cuts, tax increases and deduction decreases potentially affect every constituent. Everything is on the table as the gang grapple with sacred cows nobody who faces re-election wants to sell. It could happen. So-called "lame duck" congresses pulled together to pass landmark bipartisan legislation in the past. The national highway system, the social security system, and a mechanism for a balanced national budget for four years - all these occurred amid marked partisan wrangling between presidents and congresses on opposite sides of the fence.
Hang in there, Mike.
Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. E-mail sholehjo@hotmail.com