The Budget War is Far From Over

The budget battle that seemed to end Friday night with the agreement between  John Boehner, Harry Reid and Obama was certainly not the end of this year's budget fights.  All they did was create an agreement for the budget which will end September 30.  A new budget for next year still needs to be negotiated, and on top of that we're approaching the debt ceiling, and the fight over raising it is certain to be contentious.

And that's before they start talking about Rep. Paul Ryan's plan (from the Daily Caller):

Hold on to your MREs, the budget war is just getting started -- While a government shutdown was averted at the 11th hour--or 23rd hour, for those of you who bunkered up with six months' worth of MREs, fearful that society would collapse if the National Zoo did not open on Saturday--the war for America's fiscal future ain't over. One week after Rep. Paul Ryan took the first step, Pres. Obama will unveil his own deficit reduction plan on Wednesday. According to the WSJ, "Mr. Obama will propose cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and changes to Social Security, a discussion he has largely left to Democrats and Republicans in Congress. He also will call for tax increases for people making over $250,000 a year, a proposal contained in his 2012 budget, and changing parts of the tax code he thinks benefit the wealthy." The content of the proposal has taken Senate Democrats "off guard," which is code for WTF, O? Meanwhile, independent analysts have determined that Ryan's plan would eliminatenearly $3 trillion in tax deductions--"such as the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for charitable contributions and the exclusion for employer-provided health insurance"--even as it lowers the top personal and corporate tax rates to 25 percent. 

The reason we have the mortgage interest and charitable contribution deductions is because it's in society's benefit to promote home ownership and charitable giving.  I can't imagine a budget plan that could eliminate those two items and still be passed.  There would be bi-partisan opposition to ending those two deductions.

I understand what Ryan is trying to do - he understands that it's going to take some tough budget love to get our fiscal house in order.  However, I think these two parts of his plan will not be acceptable to the majority of members of Congress.  And we know Obama will never allow individual and corporate tax rates to be lowered.