While both parties talk a very good game about ways to save money in the budget, Democrats and Republicans often like to use what amount to "gimmicks" that make you think that money is being 'saved' - when in reality it might not really work out that way. That was on display in recent days in both the House and Senate.
For most of us, when we sit down at the kitchen table and talk about cutting our family spending, it happens in the near term. Now. Not in two or three years, but right away.
In the Congress, those budget savings often happen in what are described as the "out years" - often eight, nine or ten years down the road.
Or sometimes, the cuts really don't turn out to be cuts.
One example is "pension smoothing" - something that we heard about last week when Senate Democrats backed it as a way to pay for an extension of long-term jobless benefits.
Boiled down to its basics, "pension smoothing" is a way to bring in more money now from corporations, but you lose it later - after the 10 year budget window that Congress routinely uses to 'score' budget proposals.
In fact, it is seen by a gimmick by groups on the Republican side like the Heritage Foundation, and groups on the Democratic side like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
And it is a bipartisan gimmick.
In October of 2013, Republicans floated the idea of using 'pension smoothing' to raise money to offset a repeal of the Medical Device Tax in the Obama health law.
Both parties also used a provision of 'pension smoothing' in a major 2012 transportation bill.
Meanwhile, the battle over a provision in last year's budget agreement on military retirement pay showcased something different - a budget cut that neither side had the stomach to support.
The House voted Tuesday to repeal a change in a cost-of-living-adjustment formula made to military retirement pay for those who have already retired from the military, or who are currently serving in uniform. The Senate may follow suit this week.
It was not a total repeal, as the COLA change for retirement pay will be left in place for future servicemembers - those who join the military starting January 1, 2014 will see a slightly lower increase each year in their retirement pay - but that won't 'save' any money right now, because the reduction won't kick in until 2034 at the earliest.
To make up for the over $6 billion represented by the retirement pay change, the House bill included a one year extension of mandatory spending cuts in Medicare - in 2024.
As in ten years from now.
A few weeks ago, Senate Democrats floated that same plan as a way to offset the cost of the long term jobless benefits bill, but Republicans rejected it, claiming it was too far in the future to be considered a real proposal.
But on the other side of the Capitol, House Republicans included the 2024 change in their package to offset the cost of the military retirement pay change.
One day is up, one day is down.
If you listen to the words of the head of the Congressional Budget Office, it is very clear that something has to be done on the deficit and debt:
"The large budget deficits recorded in recent years have substantially increased federal debt, and the amount of debt relative to the size of the economy is now very high by historical standards. CBO estimates that federal debt held by the public will equal 74 percent of GDP at the end of this year and 79 percent in 2024 (the end of the current 10-year projection period). Such large and growing federal debt could have serious negative consequences, including restraining economic growth in the long term, giving policymakers less flexibility to respond to unexpected challenges, and eventually increasing the risk of a fiscal crisis (in which investors would demand high interest rates to buy the government’s debt)."
Reducing the federal deficit sounds so easy. But watching both parties over the years - they make it anything but easy.
And the past two weeks showed why.
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