An achievable solution to getting off the ‘cliff’

NEGOTIATIONS ON the “fiscal cliff” are not going well. Republicans have accepted the theoretical need for new revenue but presented an offer that Democrats can’t afford to accept. President Obama’s team countered with a similarly unacceptable proposal to Republicans. Perhaps this is the necessary maneuvering before the real event. But there are fewer than a dozen legislative days left in the 112th Congress. As a practical matter, a deal to avert the fiscal cliff will need to be in place before Christmas. That leaves remarkably little time for the posturing to stop and the real work of finding acceptable middle ground to begin.

Rather than point fingers and assess relative degrees of intransigence, we’d like to take this moment to note the possibility that agreement can still be accomplished. Republicans are willing to support new revenue; House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), in his negotiations last year with the White House, offered $800 billion. Mr. Obama is asking for $1.6 trillion with a down payment of about $1 trillion. It strikes us that there are reasonable, achievable meeting points between those two amounts. Likewise, as much as the matter of top tax rates appears to be a sticking point, the reality is that this issue, too, ought to be bridgeable. Mr. Obama has made clear that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy must be allowed to expire, but he has refrained from asserting that the top rates in effect during the Clinton administration must be restored. Neither 39.6 percent, the top rate under President Clinton, nor 35 percent, the top rate ushered in under President George W. Bush, are engraved in stone on the commandments of their respective parties. There is a mathematical solution that involves a blend of higher rates and curtailed deductions.

Washington Post Editorials

Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the editorial board. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don’t have any role in news coverage.

Read more

Latest Editorials

No justification from Justice

Editorial Board

No explanation for sweeping subpoenas of AP phone records.

Burma’s opportunities

President’s U.S. visit should celebrate progress, spur change.

Dancing on an ethical line

Editorial Board

HHS secretary shouldn’t solicit money for health-care reform.

It is legitimate for the president to hold out for as high a revenue target as possible. But that will also require him to proffer more in the way of entitlement reforms than many in his party will be happy to accept. This is an odd way in which the president’s interests align with those of Republicans. The best deal — best for the country and for its long-term fiscal future — is one that maximizes revenue increases and entitlement savings.

Mr. Obama, as his team points out, has already proffered about $340 billion in health-care savings as part of his budget submission, including such useful proposals as a premium surcharge for new Medicare beneficiaries who purchase first-dollar Medigap coverage, increasing premiums for higher-income seniors and instituting cost-sharing for home-health-care services.

During his negotiations with Mr. Boehner, the president also agreed to increase the eligibility age for Medicare beneficiaries from 65 to 67 and to change the way Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, as well as other programs, are calculated. If these offers are no longer on the table, Mr. Obama should explain why and come up with cost-saving alternatives.

At this point, neither side sees the other as bargaining in good faith — and both may be correct. But both parties and their leaders would do well to remember the stakes involved and the clear message from voters less than a month ago: that elected officials should quit the partisan bickering and work together to help solve the nation’s solvable problems.

Read more from Opinions

Robert J. Samuelson: The fiscal cliff deal we need

Ruth Marcus: Teetering over the fiscal cliff

George F. Will: A cliff of their own choosing

Dana Milbank: The bare truth about the fiscal cliff

The Post’s View: Mr. Obama’s time to lead on entitlements