As pundits from both sides of the aisle — and in-between — try to explain why Washington is broken and what it will take to fix it, Sen. Carl Levin explains it with a veteran insider’s perspective.
Regardless of what you think of Levin’s liberal politics, his speech yesterday at the Detroit Economic Club offered an incisive look at Capitol Hill gridlock.
Here are some key excerpts from the speech:
“There are policy proposals I could discuss with you today, plans I could articulate, legislation I’ve helped pass or that I’m fighting to pass. … But I think what has happened the last few months in Washington has soured just about everybody on hearing about who supports which bill for what reasons. People don’t want to hear about your position papers or your seven-point plans (and, yes, I do have a seven-point plan). They just want things fixed. And they are increasingly pessimistic about the likelihood that they will be fixed anytime soon.
“We have big legislative issues to deal with. But we face larger, more fundamental questions about how our government is functioning – or not. I want to tell you about the dilemma that I and other members of Congress face, and about what that dilemma means for our democratic system. It will not be a pretty picture. But I also want to point to some signs of hope. And I want to tell you how you can help us in Congress find our way out of the corner we are painted into.
“For me, the pattern of crisis after crisis has created a dilemma unique in all my years in the Senate. Yes, we have faced crises before. But when there were sharp, even angry disagreements about policy, just about everybody understood that, eventually, we would settle on a compromise – one in which each side would get some of what it wanted and, just as important, each would agree to give up some of what it had sought.
“That’s what Bob Dole and Pat Moynihan did to save Social Security in 1983. It’s what Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch did to establish S-CHIP, the insurance program that has provided health care for millions of kids.
“That’s what Bob Dole and Pat Moynihan did to save Social Security in 1983. It’s what Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch did to establish S-CHIP, the insurance program that has provided health care for millions of kids.
“But here is the corner I’m in today. The normal process of compromise, of give and take, is not available.
“The Republicans with whom my party shares power in Washington have made it clear that they are not open to compromise on one of the key issues we face – whether we will take a balanced approach to deficit reduction by restoring revenue, and not just by cutting spending. They have said proudly that they have no intention of giving an inch.
“They have drawn a line in the sand, and this summer, they were willing on one occasion to bring government to a halt, and on another occasion to endanger the full faith and credit of the United States, rather than compromise on the issue of additional revenue to reduce the deficit.
“The Republicans with whom my party shares power in Washington have made it clear that they are not open to compromise on one of the key issues we face – whether we will take a balanced approach to deficit reduction by restoring revenue, and not just by cutting spending. They have said proudly that they have no intention of giving an inch.
“They have drawn a line in the sand, and this summer, they were willing on one occasion to bring government to a halt, and on another occasion to endanger the full faith and credit of the United States, rather than compromise on the issue of additional revenue to reduce the deficit.
“… So here is my dilemma: I can, every time we hit a crisis point, cave in and capitulate to the demands of the (Republican) side, because otherwise the crisis of the moment will explode. Or, I can adopt the stance of the (Republican) side, one that has, so far, gotten them most of what they want. I can draw lines in the sand and never cross them, no matter the consequences – no matter that, in refusing to compromise, I would make it more likely that when the next crisis comes along, we don’t dodge financial disaster at the last moment as we have so far.
“I’m not alone in this dilemma. Many of my colleagues also wonder whether we must agree to policies that we believe damage the country in order to avoid repeated serious crises.
“Shortly after leaving office, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, one of our nation’s most respected public voices, said this:
‘Just at a time when this country needs more continuity, more bipartisanship, and more compromise to deal with our most serious problems, all the trends are pointing in the opposite direction.
‘Indeed, compromise has become a dirty word — too often synonymous with a lack of principles or selling out.
‘… At a time when our country faces deep economic and other challenges at home and a world that just keeps getting more complex and more dangerous, those who think that they alone have the right answers, those who demonize those who think differently, and those who refuse to listen and take other points of view into account — these leaders, in my view, are a danger to the American people and to the future of our republic.
‘… At a time when our country faces deep economic and other challenges at home and a world that just keeps getting more complex and more dangerous, those who think that they alone have the right answers, those who demonize those who think differently, and those who refuse to listen and take other points of view into account — these leaders, in my view, are a danger to the American people and to the future of our republic.
“’A danger to the American people and to the future of our Republic.’ That is how Secretary Gates described leaders who are unwilling to compromise. Those are strong words from a man not prone to overstatement. No, this is not just another political dispute we’re in. The inability to accomplish our most basic responsibilities without sparking a crisis raises the question of whether we in public office are up to the great challenges we face.”
