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Government by crisis

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    Why does it seem that nothing happens in Washington until dire emergencies force backroom deals?

  • Duration 6:59
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The framers of the constitution designed assistant to do the bidding of the public through consider debate informed by popular sentiment.

Why then does it seem that these days nothing happens in Washington until a dire emergency forces of backroom deal.

And a late night vote on a measure that nobody threat.

As good a place to start is ending September 2008.

History is in the making -- to be some kind of rescue in.

And like bell will ring the markets -- open and after that it is anybody's guess the collapse of the mortgage market threatened to melt down America's entire financial system.

If they didn't.

Paulson insisted.

America could be hit by a second Great Depression.

To help the American people.

Is the goal of this plan.

With the stock market -- Paulson god -- so called TARP money.

Eventually TARP was used in all sorts of ways few had envisioned including.

To bailout the auto companies.

Meantime Barack Obama had defeated John McCain in the race to succeed George W.

Bush.

During the transition Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel mapped out a governing strategy.

-- never want a serious crisis to go to -- -- I mean -- that it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.

Do you remember when Rahm Emanuel said back in 2008 never let a crisis or I would absolutely everything would you heard that.

And we -- cynical.

At the time future senator Ron Johnson ran a plastics company in Wisconsin.

And of course that's exactly what you they didn't let a crisis go to waste.

When the -- murder.

You don't check party labels.

Everybody to grab a holds his first month -- office President Obama invoked the economic crisis.

To ram through an 800 billion dollar stimulus bill.

But there was a growing fear among some voters that America couldn't afford this -- a trillion here a trillion their attitude in Washington.

House Republicans heard them.

Not a single one voted for the bill to -- it was a lesson for the GOP in the era of Obama says Georgia congressman Republican Tom price.

That was a big moment that you it was the unity that was expressed.

During -- -- -- knock off and on stimulus bill is the same kind of unity that absolutely must be corralled.

And embraced.

Because we remain the minority party missed you could stop it.

A statement.

Wasn't that nothing happened I would suggest that the unity on the stimulus bill resulted in the to a in part 2010 elections wide we gained control house in 2010.

That was the enthusiasm of the base of people that supports Tea Party.

Yeah.

And the Tea Party was just -- angered by President Bush's TARP is president Obama's stimulus.

It's.

But what really turned it into a massive political force was the push to an -- Obama care.

Make no mistake there.

The cost of our health care is a threat -- -- -- The economic crisis supplied some of the urgency for this to.

It's a ticking time bomb for the federal but but the Tea Party couldn't derailed a massive health care legislation view it even -- What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and then you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill Democrats did pass the bill -- it took a rare.

Last minute parliamentary tactic to do it.

-- -- you see here.

With the help of the Tea Party Republicans took back the house in 2010.

That didn't allow the GOP if passed their own policies only to block those of the president.

But on one issue the ability to just say -- Gave house Republicans enormous leverage to force spending cuts if they were willing to go to the proverbial -- That issue was the debt ceiling which needed to be raised by August of 2011 or the government would lose its ability to borrow to cover -- spending.

That was the pinch -- that was the nexus for getting real spending reductions that's that that was that that the Genesis of of the sequester.

Nobody knows exactly what would happen if congress actually refuses to raise the debt ceiling.

But few -- it would be a drastic step that could quickly leave the US unable to fund its obligations.

Perhaps even default on the debt.

I cannot believe the -- congress would end up being.

Bad irresponsible.

House Republicans held firm.

So then everybody got together to construct a sort of political Rube Goldberg machine designed to kick the problem down the road -- if you could follow this.

First they raise the debt ceiling to cover part of the cost congress would cut over 900 billion dollars and spend.

Spread out over a decade of course.

Then lawmakers created a joint bipartisan super committee.

Its job to propose at least one point two trillion dollars in deficit reduction.

That proposal could not be debated or -- it just got one vote yes for now got that.

Now if this plan failed sequestration.

A name for the threat of a hacksaw approach to spending reduction that was supposed to -- both sides equally.

Democrats would pay cuts -- non defense programs.

Republicans wouldn't stand cuts to the military.

The theory war -- these cuts would be so bad there was no -- congress would ever allow them to happen.

But after months of deliberations the super committee couldn't come to any agreement in simply gave up.

So much for theory.

Now sequestration was to go into effect on January 1 2013.

As it happens that was the same time the so called bush tax cuts were set to expire.

Together it was a super crisis.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave it a name.

Under current law on January 1 when he thirteen this can be a massive fiscal cliff.

Large spending cuts and tax increases.

Fiscal cliff was a classic example what happens is you just to keep on putting these things off and then another election coming up.

But the 2012 election settled nothing the voters reelected President Obama but they also let Republicans keep control of the house.

Like it or not a divided nation had just given government by crisis in his second term.

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