Gridlock should not poison well for necessary hard choices

WASHINGTON -- The Concord Coalition said today that sharply rising short-term deficits and long-term projections that are even worse demonstrate an urgent need for bipartisan action to confront the nation's precarious fiscal situation. As members of Congress and presidential candidates react to today's release of the President's FY 2009 budget, Concord urged them to focus refrain from starkly partisan responses that reject each others' priorities, rule out compromise and make solutions all the more difficult to achieve.

"Any realistic interpretation of the budget numbers shows that our fiscal outlook is deteriorating, with or without a stimulus bill, and that large deficits are not going away any time soon. Indeed, the challenge will be to keep them from exploding beyond the $400 billion range forecast for the next two years," said Robert L. Bixby, Executive Director of The Concord Coalition.

"It is understandable that Democrats and Republicans will have different priorities, but most of them share a common goal of restoring budget balance within a reasonable period and a recognition that long-term fiscal policy is unsustainable. They also share a responsibility to do something about it. Both sides must recognize that they cannot achieve these goals with proposals that only appeal to narrow partisan interests. Given that the current administration will end before fiscal year 2009 is over, there is very little chance that Congress will act on the major proposals in this budget. Yet even if the budget as a whole is ‘dead on arrival,' Congress should be careful not to categorically reject all of the individual elements. The next administration and the next Congress will need the flexibility to find solutions through bipartisan negotiations. Taking options off the table, by either party, is a recipe for continued gridlock,” Bixby said.

What do you think about another year of gridlock in Washington? During this important election year, gridlock should evaporate into results. Right?