President Obama has not yet signed the $2.4 trillion debt hike into law, but already conservatives are plotting how best to maximize their gains and minimize their losses from the debt deal. As House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told Sean Hannity last night, “This bill brings discretionary spending next year lower than it is this year. That’s never happened before.” That is a concrete victory for limited-government conservatives, but a qualified one. The real drivers of our spending problem, the big three entitlement programs, are left completely untouched by the first round of cuts.
And there is little chance that the “Super Congress” committee of 12 created by the bill will produce any meaningful entitlement reform. Democrats have already made their entitlement priorities clear: Social Security and Medicaid are off the table completely and only cuts to Medicare providers are possible. These “reforms” will only drive up the cost of health care for non-government dependent Americans as health care providers continue to make up for government price controls by shifting costs to private payers. And then there is the very real possibility that the Super Congress could recommend tax hikes as well.
