The week for a budget deal

The week for a budget deal

This is the week when Republicans and Democrats in Washington have to get serious about reaching a compromise that will result in a budget for the rest of the year.

Both parties face challenges from within, as their constituencies demand more cuts in one area of the government or fewer in another.

Politics has become more volatile in recent years, reflecting uneasiness and fear, first over a plummeting economy and now one that is flat.

Every election victory, no matter how narrow it may be, is being billed as a mandate. As each side takes its turn in proclaiming and pursuing its perceived mandate, it risks alienating the people who have really been deciding elections — the independent voters in the middle.

Shared recognition

Democrats and Republicans alike — and in this area that particularly means veteran U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17th, Niles, and freshman Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6th, Poland — must recognize that keeping the government running is a serious business. And that neither side has all the answers.

The Republican-led House last month approved $61 billion in cuts, reductions that conservatives see as necessary. Senate Democrats say they’ve signed on to $30 billion in cuts, which they believe should put the two sides close to a compromise.

Both sides should see that if they reach a stalemate and allow the government to shut down, they risk undercutting the present tenuous level of consumer and investor confidence that is needed to avoid slipping into a double-dip recession.