Well, that didn’t go so well. Just when it appeared that a bipartisan group of senators calling themselves the Common Sense Coalition would finally find a way to break the endless impasse over immigration, the whole effort collapsed in a shower of recriminations and finger-pointing. The enemy, it seems, had been met, and it was everyone else.
The implications of this impasse go far beyond the single contentious issue of immigration reform. There are other, even tougher, issues facing Congress that would require even more gutsiness to be successfully addressed. And if these other problems aren’t fixed, things could get worse real fast for all Americans, whether they’ve been here since the Mayflower landed or just landed their citizenship papers.
The real problem, unfortunately, is timid leadership and an unwillingness by everyone in Washington to tackle any of the really hard issues facing the country. President Trump helped get himself elected on a promise not to touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, even though these and other entitlement programs consume a huge share of the federal budget. Members of Congress are about as willing to take on these issues as they are to touch a live wire. And the media stokes fear in the electorate about any talk of entitlement reform, striking more terror in elected officials.
The result is that nothing gets done to rein in these programs, and federal deficits continue to climb. Over the next 10 years we’ll add up to $10 trillion to the national debt. Liberals who are quick to harp that this is all because of recent tax cuts fail to note that more than 80 percent of this increased debt will come because of out-of-control spending, not tax cuts. And conservatives who sunnily claim that we can somehow grow ourselves out of this fiscal mess fail to admit that there’s practically zero chance of the economy expanding fast enough to stem the rising tide of red ink.
So what to do? And when? Here’s what I predict: Nothing will get done, at least not in the short term. The upcoming midterm elections will keep Congress paralyzed with fear through the rest of this year. Then, after this election cycle, more of nothing will happen. Either Congress will be divided by a flip of the House from Republican to Democrat or the GOP will cling to power with a thinner House majority. Neither is a recipe for any profiles in courage.