Enough about Debt

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Debt Bill Signed, Ending Crisis and Fractious Battle,” is somewhat of an anticlimax given the titanic struggles that preceded it. As expected, the Senate passed the debt bill by a substantial margin, 74-26, and the President signed it, raising the debt ceiling a mere 12 hours before it was set to expire.

The new super-commission established by the legislation is commanded to find more than $1 trillion in additional cuts; otherwise, an automatic across-the-board spending cut will take place affecting legislative priorities important for each party: Medicare for the Democrats and Defense for the Republicans. And more vitriolic debate has already broken out about the commission. Republicans say it is not empowered to consider any tax revenue while Senate Leader Harry Reid vociferously contradicted that stand.

And amidst all this debate about the debt, the real concern of the American people, the issue that the Republicans ran on in 2010, is jobs. There are several steps the Congress can take to improve the job situation — if they hadn’t broken for summer recess until September 7th. These include trade pacts, an extension of the payroll tax reduction and improvement in the patent process to encourage entrepreneurs.

So when Congress gets back, enough about debt. Let’s finally move on to jobs.