The RP: Supercommittee Members Should Not Take Politics-Free Week

While the RP is enjoying his week-long vacation from all things politics, there’s one group that he strongly believes should stay immersed in politics: the supercommittee designated to tackle the country’s debt problems.

In an op-ed for The Hill magazine, the RP lays out his argument:

Washington dysfunction and hyper-partisan politics have crippled Congress’s ability to meet the major challenges of our day. You need only to look at the S&P’s justification for our recent debt downgrade as case in point. As such, the 12 members of the “supercommittee” must forgo their annual August respite, come back to the table and begin the hard work to stave off what could potentially be a financial and budgetary catastrophe.

The financial unrest and subsequent Wall Street roller coaster created when intransigent Republicans and Democrats failed the American people was a preview of what we can expect if the supercommittee fails to reach consensus on a debt reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion, triggering abrupt and irresponsible across the board cuts to federal programs.

Economic decisions of this magnitude will require sacrifice from both sides. With divisive partisan politics in Washington at an all-time high and compromise viewed as a four-letter word, it is going to take time and sincere bipartisan cooperation for the members of the committee to put everything on the table and make the tough but necessary choices to restore our fiscal sanity.

To read the RP’s entire op-ed in The Hill magazine, click here.