Skip to main content

Editorial Boards Support the Budget Deal

October 28, 2015
Blog Post
Editorial boards across the country have come out in strong support for the bipartisan budget agreement unveiled this week – because this deal represents real progress for hard-working families across the country.

New York Times Editorial:

Assuming Congress passes the deal, it will avoid a potentially devastating default on the government's debt by extending the debt-limit deadline from Nov. 3 until March 2017. It will also help to avert a government shutdown in December by providing federal financing through September 2017. It closes a hole in the Social Security disability fund that threatened severe benefit cutsand prevents an imminent steep increase in out-of-pocket costs for many Medicare beneficiaries.

By resolving those issues into 2017, the deal frees President Obama and congressional Democrats to focus on realrather than manufactured problems

The deal's modest $80 billion increase in discretionary spending over the next two years (not counting a $32 billion increase in emergency war spending) is evenly divided between defense and nondefense programs, including health care research and federal law enforcement. The reforms to the Social Security disability program are prudent and sustainable as opposed to the deep and unnecessary cuts that several congressional Republicans have called for recently.

USA TODAY Editorial:

…It keeps the government running. It pays the bills on time. It shores up the Social Security disability program. And it shows how democracy and divided government are supposed to work, with each side willing to compromise for the common good.

The deal's central focus — an $80 billion increase in spending on core government functions — also serves a useful purpose. Since 2011, when Republicans took control of the House and demanded smaller government, they have managed to push down spending on defense, transportation, research and other important programs even as spending on benefits has continued to rise.

The consequences have not been pretty. Medical research has been disrupted just as major genomic breakthroughs are on the horizon. The nation's highways are in major need of repairs and expansion. And the Pentagon has been hit hard at a dangerous moment in the world. The Air Force, for example, is the smallest it has been in its 68-year history and is flying planes that are, on average, 27 years old…

…The budget deal is best regarded as a modest step in the right direction, one that averts another painful and pointless game of debt-ceiling brinkmanship.

The Baltimore Sun Editorial:

Two years without the worry of a government shutdown is a significant improvement over the crisis-of-the-month governance Congress has offered in recent years.

Los Angeles Times Editorial:

…[The budget deal] will avert the risk of a shutdown until after the next president takes office, providing a welcome measure of stability at a time of increasing anxiety about the global economy.

The debt ceiling would be suspended until March 2017, the budget caps lifted for two fiscal years, disability benefits assured through 2022 and Medicare premium increases made less dramatic. Without these steps, Congress risks defaulting on debts, forcing a government shutdown and delivering a painful financial blow to vulnerable Americans. None of those outcomes should even be contemplatable, and yet Congress' record of dysfunction over the last four years makes them all real possibilities absent a deal

Washington Post Editorial:

The bipartisan budget deal achieves some important objectives.  First and foremost, the bill prevents a breach of the federal debt ceiling on Nov. 3, eliminating the threat of a default until March 2017.  This should boost business confidence and, possibly, job-creating investment.  Second, it takes the federal government out of the budgetary straitjacket known as sequestration for the next two years, enabling Congress and the president to spend according to actual priorities instead of blunt across-the-board limitations…Last, but not least, the deal is a small victory for governability, showing that Republicans and Democrats, both houses of Congress and the executive branch can still work together…

Bloomberg View Editorial:

Markets and voters who prefer a solvent U.S. government have cause to rejoice. The White House and a bipartisan group of leaders from both houses of Congress have reached a deal to avoid a default on the nation's debt, extend borrowing authority until a new president is in office in March 2017 and set spending levels for a two-year budget…The agreement would lift spending caps by $80 billion, evenly divided between defense and domestic discretionary programs.

… Under Boehner, the House has too often been home to brinkmanship that undermined the economy and extreme ideological posturing that upset efforts to reach national consensus.  The deal on the table is a responsible plan to avert default and fund the government - two basic obligations of legislators.  That a determined minority is willing to casually reject those obligations in the name of ideology says something about the strain of lunacy that has been allowed to grow in the Grand Old Party.

Tampa Bay Times Editorial (Florida) – Congress should approve pragmatic budget deal

The deal that could be voted on by the House as early as today would provide a respite from manufactured crises and short-term patches that satisfy no one. It would bring more stability to federal funding, allow very modest increases in spending and take the nation's broader budget issues off the table until the next election, a new administration and a new Congress.

…It would solve raising the federal debt ceiling, which has to be done by Tuesday, and approving a new temporary spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, which has to be done by Dec. 11…Another key provision: For about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries it would eliminate large 2016 increases in Part B premiums and deductibles for doctors' visits and other outpatient care.

Miami Herald Editorial (Florida):

No shutdown, no default on U.S. government debt.  What's not to like about that?...

It lifts spending caps from established levels by about $80 billion in fiscal years 2016 and 2017, extends the debt ceiling until March 2017 and replenishes the ailing Social Security Disability Insurance fund.

Failure to reach a budget agreement to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government open would be a black eye for the [GOP] party and a disaster for the economy…

Brinksmanship is not a recipe for partisan success, nor does it help the country.

Journal Star Editorial (Illinois):

A compromise federal budget has emerged at a critical time — just days before Uncle Sam was to run out of money to pay the bills, with a looming leadership change on Capitol Hill — and a Congress that should recognize its blessings in dodging a bullet should approve it, perhaps as soon as today.

Nothing will satisfy the extreme House Freedom Caucus, but its members can be ignored here — perhaps a model for future deliberations — as this is about as close to a win-win for both sides and the American people as it gets in modern-day D.C.     

…Democrats get a lifting of the sequester cuts under the 2011 Budget Control Act, more dollars for programs here at home and protections for entitlements, specifically a guard against dramatic premium increases in Medicare and extended solvency for Social Security.

Brattleboro Reformer Editorial (Vermont):

The agreement reached by White House and congressional leadership is an old-fashioned compromise, the kind of agreement that used to be common in Washington until right-wing extremists decided they would sulk like children if they didn't get their way…

The agreement gets around the punishing budget cuts known as sequestration that have crippled the government for four years and avoids more brinksmanship over raising the debt ceiling that threatened to ruin the fragile economic recovery.

For now , the agreement is encouraging. The adults got together and reached a compromise. Just how government is supposed to work.

Spokesman Review Editorial (Washington):

…a small, but influential band of uncompromising conservatives want to torch government in the hopes that a much smaller version emerges from the ashes. They believe that paying the bills merely invites more spending. They'd never try that kind of budgeting at home, but they somehow believe it's a good idea for the government.

The best part of this two-year budget deal isn't the details. It's that this frightening shutdown strategy is held at bay until 2017. The business community will appreciate this respite from uncertainty, as will the military and recipients of crucial government services, such as Medicare and Social Security disability…

This deal heads off increases in Medicare Part B premiums and averts some defense cuts. It begins the process of reforming Social Security Disability Insurance, which was facing insolvency.

The Press Democrat Editorial (California):

The tentative agreement would prevent a cataclysmic default on the national debt as soon as Tuesday, provide for a ceasefire in the borrowing limit wars until after the 2016 election…

Particulars include an $80 billion spending increase — about 1 percent of the $4 trillion federal budget — spread over two fiscal years and divided equally between defense and nondefense spending…Finally, the accord would head off a sharp increase in Medicare premiums…

The Star Tribune Editorial (Minnesota):

….an agreement that would raise the debt ceiling — a reminder here that this simply allows the nation to pay for spending it has already approved and in some cases incurred — while also lifting the onerous sequestration cuts on military and discretionary spending.  Congress managed for many years to settle its budget differences without threatening both the credit standing of this nation and the millions who depend on regular payments.  We can and should return to that mode of negotiating.