Budget deal restored art of compromise

For the first time in years, Americans saw our political system work the way it is supposed to: Both parties rediscovered the art of compromise.

The $400 billion budget deal Congress approved in the early morning Friday, just as the government was about to endure its second shutdown in three weeks, sets a spending framework for two years.

Highlights include $80 billion a year in increased military spending, $65 billion a year more for domestic programs, and $89 billion in relief for parts of the nation battered by hurricanes, wildfires and flooding last year. A detailed spending bill is expected next month.

The key to success for both Republican and Democratic leaders was a newfound willingness to embrace the most moderate voices in the other party over the most extreme elements in their own camps. The result was a budget deal that provides needed stability, along with some spending that is crucial, and some that is wasteful. The Democrats and the GOP disagree about which spending is which. The victory lay in their ability to work past that disagreement.

At this juncture, the nation simply cannot move forward without this type of political compromise. However, this deal’s lifting of broad spending caps adopted during showdowns between Democratic President Barack Obama and the GOP-controlled Congress, on top of the enormous tax cuts recently enacted, is a financial compromise the nation won’t be able to afford to keep making.

The trick now is for the leaders of both parties to find a path forward together that isn’t entirely greased with pork, because in the long run, the nation can’t afford such fiscal irresponsibility, and the economy won’t tolerate it, as the financial markets seemed to show last week.