It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane!...It’s Super Congress!

            This week the President of the United States and members of Congress proved, once again, why there will be no sequel to Profiles in Courage.  In the face of a financial crisis that has been building for decades, they did what football teams do when its 4th and long and they are stuck deep in their own territory.  They punted.

             For the past several decades, Republicans and Democrats alike have convinced the American people we can get something for nothing.  For example, American is now involved in three wars, in three different countries on the other side of the world.  We are rebuilding the nation of Afghanistan at a cost of 2 billion dollars a week.  We are providing free medical care to every American over the age of 65, plus a retirement program for the millions of us baby boomers who are now entering our sixties and have no intention of dying for the next 30 years.  And we are providing all these freebies at the same time that we have cut federal taxes to their lowest level in 50 years.

             And how have we done this?  Simple.  The Secretary of the Treasury keeps going to the Bank of China and borrowing money.  Despite the fact that the United States of America should have the credit rating of your basic deadbeat dad, China is more than happy to keep extending us credit.  Why?  Simple.  China will soon own Fort Knox, the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Disneyworld, Six Flags Over a Bankrupt Nation, Justin Timberlake, Wal-Mart, Facebook, Chick-fil-A, Jerry’s Snow Cones, and any other valuable business entity the Chinese don’t already own.

             But just as our Treasury Secretary was about to walk into the Bank of China, take out a 15th mortgage on Yellowstone National Park, and walk out with a new Chinese toaster and a wheelbarrow full of Yuan, he was stopped by the new power brokers in our Nation’s Capital.  No, not the President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, or the Senate Majority Leader.  Believe it or not, the new power brokers in Washington are a group of freshman congressmen.

              Once upon a time in America, the role of a freshman congressman was to keep his mouth shut, vote the party line, and patiently wait for decades to gain seniority.  They were expected to behave like the mother of a groom at a wedding: smile, keep their mouths shut, and wear beige.

             But these new “Tea Party” congressmen are an impertinent bunch, with no respect whatsoever for their elders.  When the President of the United States and the Speaker of the House agreed to send the Treasury Secretary back to the Bank of China, the Tea Party animals balked.  They said that even if the Bank of China was going to extend us more credit, they wouldn’t authorize it unless an agreement was reached to borrow less and spend less in the future.

               For several days there was a fierce debate on Capitol Hill as to how we could cut back on all our borrowing and spending.  The problem, however, was that the bills were still due, and unless we went back to the Bank of China and got some more Yuan, we wouldn’t be able to pay these bills we already have.  It’s like the old joke my father used to tell me when I was a boy: “Our furniture goes back to Louis XV…if we don’t pay him by the 14th!”

              Winston Churchill once said, “The American people can always be counted on to do the right thing, but only after they have exhausted every other available option.”  True to form, just as America’s furniture was about to go back to Louis XV, or more accurately to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Congress and the President came up with a bold new plan to authorize the Treasury Secretary to borrow more money.  Instead of cutting specific government programs or raising taxes, they created a brand new branch of the federal government…the Super Congress!

             Faster than a speeding lobbyist!  More powerful than a pointy-headed federal bureaucrat!  Able to leap the Washington Monument in a single bound!  It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  It’s Super Congress!   There are currently 100 members in the United States Senate and 435 members in the House of Representatives.  By my UT math, that’s 535 members of Congress.

             But these 535 leaders (and I use that term loosely) have now agreed to defer decisions on federal spending to a Super Congress consisting of just 12 members.  These 12 Super Congressmen will, at some point down the road, make the tough decisions that the other 523 members of Congress are not willing to make.

              It’s a great plan.  523 member of Congress will be able to run for re-election next year by telling the voters that they are for a balanced budget, against any tax increases, and against cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or any other entitlement programs.  And if the Federal debt keeps skyrocketing, taxes are increased, or social programs cut, it will not be the fault of your Congressman.   

            Blame it on the Super Congress!