turtleneck McConnell: Use the "Debt Ceiling Moment" for Entitlement Reform

Discussing what Republicans needed in order to raise the debt ceiling today, Mitch McConnell went a little further than John Boehner. Like Boehner, he said that the party wanted entitlement reform as part of a deal. He didn't get too specific, other than saying the deal would have to be reform, not studying reform.
"Not to be argumentative, but the things I'm talking about have been studied to death," said McConnell. "We don't need more hearings. All the options are on the table, thanks to the president's deficit reduction commission. It's a question of what you want to pick up and really do."

The main argument: If the president met Republicans and agreed to entitlement reform -- with no tax increases -- then both parties would be inured from political damage.
"I view this as a major opportunity for us to do something important for the country," said McConnell. "Think of Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan in 1983, when they fixed Social Security for a generation. Think of Bill Clinton and the Republicans on welfare reform in 1996. Think of Bill Clinton and the Republicans actually balancing the budget in the 1990s. Look, divided government, when neither party controls the government is the best time, the best time, and some would argue the only time, when you can do really big stuff. And if you do it on a bipartisan basis... I was running for the Senate the first time in 1984. This was the year after the bipartisan agreement between Reagan and O'Neill raised the retirement age for Social Security. I do not exagerrate when I say I was not asked about it a single solitary time. Not once in the course of a whole race. And the reason was that they did it together. When you do something together, the result is that it's not usable in the election. I think there's an understanding that if there's a grand bargain, none of it will be usable in next year's election."
http://www.slate.com/BLOGS/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/05/12/mcconnell-use-the-debt-ceiling-moment-for-entitlement-reform.aspx

That would be more fair and more popular with the American people.

are entitled to not pay taxes proportional to what everyone else has to pay. Where did they get the idea they were entitled to this?

Next, let's cut in half the military budget. There no bigger entitlement program in the history of the world than the Military budget.

Then I'm for raising SS benefits since retirees earned those benefits and the money they paid into the fund, belongs to them. Increasing SS benefits would help to stimulate the economy as retirees are likely to spend those raises. A sort of stimulus package, except that they EARNED it.

Then we should end the wars. No country is entitled to spend the trillions this country is spending on war when it is only serving to drain this economy. Another entitlement program that needs to go.

:hi:

hounded day and night by protesters. This POS has been stifling progress for decades.Shine the light!

mention of reform whatsoever. fuck these guys.

MUCH more pressure to raise the debt limit than the Dems are.

Remember the Republicans are a WHOLLY owned subsidary of Wall Street. The Dems are only partly owned. And Wall Street WANTS the debt ceiling raised.

The capitalists will MAKE them compromise before they'll let the debt limit not be raised. This is posturing on their part.

we TAKE OVER Washington, DC. Make this a LONG hot Summer for BOTH political parties until they get the message. END THE WARS! CUT DEFENSE SPENDING! TAX THE RICH! DON'T FUCK WITH SOCIAL SECURITY! And MEDICARE FOR ALL!