Call Speaker Boehner’s bluff

Opinion: May 24, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: John Boehner probably isn’t serious about his threats to hold up passage of a debt ceiling increase unless “trillions” are cut from the federal budget. Boehner pulled a similar gambit recently when the government lurched toward shutdown. The Republican House speaker needs to be seen talking tough to shore up support from the tea party wing of his party.

But Boehner might be playing with fire. A failure to raise the debt ceiling could have dire consequences, including increased inflation and interest rates and a swoon on Wall Street. He needs to quit playing and work out a real deal.

Boehner told the Economic Club of New York recently that he is demanding “actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future.”

There is fat in the federal budget that ought to be cut away. Congress should adopt tough budget rules and a long-term plan to bring down the federal deficit and pay off debt. But deep cuts too soon could harm the economy — and demanding such deep cuts by essentially holding the debt ceiling discussion hostage could put the recovery at risk.

Congress has some time to sort this out. The Treasury Department can make a series of moves to ward off the day of reckoning until early August. And Vice President Joe Biden is continuing to lead talks with congressional leaders, which Biden described as positive.

Boehner probably is bluffing, showing his tough side for the true believers in his party, before he cuts a deal. But brinkmanship sometimes leads to war. What’s needed is a deal that doesn’t cut too deep and a renewed focus on the real problem: entitlement spending. The nation’s long-term commitments to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are the biggest threats to the nation’s finances.