Entitlement Reform? A Culture of Cowardice

Howard Rich

Townhall - Washington politicians have worked themselves into a fine lather lately debating spending cuts. Yet as familiar rhetorical jabs are exchanged over proposed reductions to things like NPR and the National Archives, the real spending debate is being ignored. I’m referring of course to the debate over “entitlements” – decades worth of multi-trillion dollar promises made by former Congresses that had no intention whatsoever of keeping any of them. Once a distant dilemma, entitlements are now the “wolf at the door,” a present, pernicious threat to the immediate fiscal health of our nation. Yet as this unprecedented wave of red ink crests over our country – dwarfing the debate over discretionary spending – politicians of both parties remain incapable of leveling with the public regarding the damage to come.

In fact entitlement reform isn’t even part of the budgetary conversation. Fiscal conservatives in the U.S. Senate have correctly criticized recent budget reductions proposed by the U.S. House as inadequate. “They’re talking about cutting $35 billion,” U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said last week. “We spend $35 billion in five days. We add $35 billion to the debt in nine days. It’s not enough and we will not avoid financial ruin in our country if we do not think more boldly.” On the other end of the political spectrum, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) accused House Republicans of inviting a government shutdown by proposing cuts that “would be devastating to our economy and send us back into a recession.” Read full column here: News New Mexico

Entitlement Reform? A Culture of Cowardice