Don't Delay, Fix The Cliff!

A new story is suggesting that members of Congress from both parties are trying to delay the sequester until March. This is not the first time we have heard rumors about Congress trying to move the fiscal cliff, but it still is disappointing. According to Bloomberg:

Leaders in both chambers are discussing whether to propose a catch-all bill that would delay the automatic cuts, fund the government through March or later and temporarily extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts and other tax laws, said the House aide and industry officials, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity.

The measure would follow a short-term stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating after Oct. 1, the people said.

These stopgaps are only worth it--in addition to being paid for--if they allow time for a permanent deficit reduction deal to be struck. Simply delaying the cliff with no plan moving forward will create enormous uncertainty for the economy through the rest of 2012 and through 2013, and it will encourage deficit-financing or gimmicks.

Some might say that averting the cliff without offsets would avoid uncertainty, but it would not address our debt situation and would ultimately do more harm than good. In short, kicking the can or climbing the mountain of debt won't get the job done. Only a permanent fiscal plan will.

The full story from Bloomberg can be found here.