Kendall Stanley: Compromise is possible

The debt limit fiasco did show that compromise, however fleeting and in the end disappointing, is still possible in Washington, D.C.

President Biden got what he wanted — a raising of the debt limit not just now but for the next two years and avoiding any rollback of the programs he has pushed through Congress. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy got a small cut in spending and the ability to force those getting some federal benefits to get a job.

Both men could walk away claiming bipartisanship and compromise which is something long lacking in Congress.

None of that is to say all representatives and senators are happy with the end result. There were plenty of votes against the compromise. A great many members knew, however, that failure to raise the debt limit was untenable.

But if this crisis was avoided, much work remains in the future.

First off the issue will come up again in two years. What will we have learned in that time?

Second, how about getting back to a regular budget process rather than just approving continuing resolutions so spending can continue.

Kicking the can down the road isn’t governing. We know in two years the debt limit issue will rear its ugly head – why not fix the system before that happens?

Oh wait, this is Washington where solving issues like the debt ceiling limit turns into a blustering circus of who can bring us as close to the brink as possible before casting a yes vote.

Since we can pretty much be assured that chaos over the debt will be coming our way, how about fixing the issue once and for all.

Like eliminating it for starters.

Only Denmark along with the U.S. has a debt ceiling limit. If basically all the other countries in the world can get by without one, why can’t we?

It’s not in the Constitution — although the 14th Amendment says we must pay our bills. Some were looking toward that if we came close to default but fortunately didn’t have to use it. Why? It would have turned into a constitutional mess headed directly to the Supreme Court.

We’ve got two years folks to make the debt ceiling work in a rational way, eliminate it or find some other way to make sure we don’t go over a financial cliff.

Experience counts

Forget Joe Biden’s slip over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy, he’s not the doddering old guy that many perceive or believe.

Taking his years of experience in Congress and the vice president’s office, Old Joe made a little concession here, a little concession there and with an aim to get the debt limit raised he got the compromise he needed.

Kevin McCarthy made plenty of claims that the Republicans were the winners in the effort to raise the limit, but many analysts and some members of McCarthy’s caucus are more than willing to make the case McCarthy got rolled by Biden.

Lesson to be learned here? Never underestimate an old guy who has been around the block a few times.

Finally, sanity?

As reported in The New York Times, “Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies.

“The decision by state officials very likely means the beginning of the end to the explosive development that has made the Phoenix area the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country.”

You can find gold in Arizona, but the real gold is water — where to get it, how to share it, wondering if there will continue to be enough.

There are several areas of the state where groundwater is being depleted — and regeneration of the water in those aquifers isn’t as fast as the water withdrawals.

For once the state appears to be ready to say STOP, enough is enough. In the long run that sounds like a very good thing.

— Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: Compromise is possible