Rationalizing another failure

Opinion: May 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Dallas Morning News: Remember “The Big Chill,” that indulgent baby boomer flick of the early 1980s? One standout dialogue snippet, among many, was from Jeff Goldblum’s character: “I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They’re more important than sex.”

They take that to heart in Washington, where it’s always juicy rationalization time, especially last week: As the White House’s commission on reducing the federal debt was meeting for the first time, Congress was again failing to pass a road map for next year’s budget.

Congress had promised a budget resolution by April 15, which came and went. That leaves lawmakers without spending guidelines for the next fiscal year.

This resolution may not sound like a big deal, but it forces difficult decisions on lawmakers in the same way a house’s frame, once erected, guides its construction. “Without a budget resolution, Congress would have no framework for imposing tough choices on the budget,” as the Concord Coalition explains in a news release.

Wanted: limits

And Congress truly needs limits. The current federal deficit is about $1.3 trillion, the difference between the revenues flowing into the treasury and the amount that Congress is spending. The debt — the accumulation of deficits over time — is a stunning $13 trillion.

Those numbers won’t come down until Congress changes its ways, as we all must. That starts with baby steps, like simply passing a spending guideline. If we can’t do even that much, forget about ever turning the debt-deficit needle in the right direction.

And all we’ll have is juicy rationalizations.