A special congressional committee created to try to curb the national debt abandoned its work and conceded failure Monday, the latest setback in a long effort by Washington to overcome ideological differences and stem the rising tide of red ink. In a joint statement issued hours before a midnight deadline, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the panel said that they were “deeply disappointed” by their inability to reach an agreement and that they hope for progress in the months ahead. The breakdown left the nation facing the prospect of automatic reductions to government agency budgets in January 2013.
The latest Congressional failure to agree on a plan for balancing the government’s books could yield a surprising result: a sharp reduction in annual federal deficits, larger than anything contemplated by the special panel that reached its fruitless finale on Monday. But the absence of an agreement also threatens to significantly slow growth in an already ailing economy by raising taxes on almost everyone while reducing government spending on almost everything.
Steward Health Care System, the for-profit medical organization that has purchased 10 Massachusetts hospitals in just over a year, plans to sell a number of its medical office buildings, lease the real estate back, and use the proceeds for its hospital operations. Steward, which is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, intends to use proceeds from the real estate sale in its hospital operations, spokesman Chris Murphy said.
Admitting gridlock was at hand, lawmakers on the so-called supercommittee cast blame and pointed fingers at one another Sunday as the panel’s leaders prepared to formally acknowledge their failure early this week, bracing for the reaction from financial markets. Using the weekly Sunday political news shows as their outlet, Republicans and Democrats on Congress's special deficit committee did not officially throw in the towel on their mandate of finding $1.2 trillion in savings before Thanksgiving. However, most of the lawmakers spoke of their efforts in the past tense and said it would take something akin to a miracle to reach a deal, which unofficially must be unveiled before midnight Monday to meet the panel's parliamentary rules.
Regardless of whether Congress's supercommittee meets its deadline for finding ways to reduce the federal deficit, budget and policy experts are braced for Washington to soon face the painful task of finding even more savings—and they anticipate that health spending, which makes up more than a fifth of the federal budget, will be a main target. Some health-care leaders are already laying the groundwork to redirect a debate they're expecting in 2013, after the 2012 election. They hope to prevent spending from simply being shifted from one part of the system to another. Jack Lewin, chief executive of the American College of Cardiology, argues that proposals to address the root causes of high health-care costs have been largely ignored in Washington.
The Supreme Court will rule next year on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform passed in 2010. But constitutionality notwithstanding, Republican opposition to the new law has been vigorous and consistent. In recent GOP presidential debates the candidates have been unanimous in condemning it, in particular objecting to the requirement that almost all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. On the surface, Republican and conservative opposition to the new requirement seems perfectly logical. There is a long history of conservative preference for limited government and individual responsibility. But scratching the surface of those principles reveals a murkier picture.