As federal lawmakers return to work this week for their lame-duck session, one thing is certain: The usual gridlock cannot be tolerated.
Initial comments from Republican and Democratic leaders give rise to hope of compromise, particularly on the need to cut a deal to avoid across-the-board budget cuts.
But these conciliatory words have to turn into deals and votes.
Last week, on the day after President Barack Obama’s re-election, we implored the president to use all of the tools at his command to broker compromise among members of a sharply divided Congress.
Yet the president is not the only one who should be held accountable for reaching consensus.
We would expect him to deliver votes from congressional Democrats. But the Republican-held House also must be willing to accept a deal that isn’t everything its members want.
We hope that recent comments by House Speaker John Boehner indicate that compromise is possible — something that had been anathema in the nation’s capital in recent years.
“Nowadays, people think the word ‘compromise’ means you’re a wimp, I guess,” Alan Simpson, the plain-spoken former GOP senator from Wyoming, said in a recent interview. “If you can’t learn to compromise an issue without compromising yourself, you surely should never be in the legislature. And you should really never get married either.”
Simpson’s remarks are particularly pertinent given his leadership role in creating the so-called Simpson-Bowles $4 trillion deficit reduction plan, which was a bipartisan blueprint to reduce debt through equitably distributed spending cuts and revenue increases.
It was fair proposal that included something to alienate everyone. Of course, it went nowhere — defeated by a happenstance coalition of liberals and a bloc of conservatives, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.
And here we are, two years later, with a bruising presidential election behind us, an event that seemingly changed everything and nothing.
Republicans retained control of the House. Democrats held the Senate and White House. Those are the same battle lines that have reliably produced stalemate. Yet, an intimidating to-do list looms.
Democrats have to consider entitlement reform. And the GOP must understand the need to moderate if only for self-preservation. The party has lost its way with Latinos, young voters and women, who disproportionately voted for Obama.
To that end, we were glad to see Boehner say he’d be willing to consider revenue increases as part of a debt deal “under the right conditions.” That’s a start.
We hope the speaker’s words are indicative of a broader willingness to cooperate and put the good of the nation above allegiance to intransigent politics.
