Monday, March 02, 2009

Politics and the Obama Budget

I was thinking about the immediate opposition Obama's 2010 budget has run into--various farm state Reps and Senators stating their disagreement. I'd been going on the assumption the opponents would be able to prevail, particularly because of the 60-vote "rule", but maybe not.

My vague memory is Pres. Reagan got his way in 1981 basically by putting everything into one package, so it was an up-or-down vote. Vote for the package and you took credit for his tax cuts. Vote against, and you were protecting special interests, opposing tax cuts, and going against a balanced budget. (Not that Reagan's package really was balanced, but they had Stockman's magic asterisk and the Laffer curve so their supporters could make the claim.)

The method was something called budget reconciliation. Also see this.

And that could change the terms of the debate--now the farm state Dems can wrap themselves in support of a popular President, saying they've done their best to preserve the farm bill, etc. etc. And Obama can get some Republicans in support as well.

It should be an interesting spring for those with an irrationally robust interest in politics.

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