The first Mr. Bush won his candidacy for the presidency of the United States with the famed line:

“Read my lips. No new taxes.”

George Bush, Sr. broke his promise because the United States needed more revenue to pay for its expenditures at home and abroad. Republicans have traditionally been reluctant to increase taxes and Democrats have traditionally been portrayed as loathe to cut social programs and Education. The roles being played in the current congress aren’t so different, but the fiscal crisis in our nation is significantly worse.

President Obama has stated that he is in agreement with The Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of Senators who have recommended specific ways to reduce the deficit through both revenue-generating measures and budget cuts. The deficit reductions proposed by The Gang of Six amount to close to $4 Trillion.

The House proposals don’t seem as clear-cut as the proposals by The Gang of Six. Instead of specific recommendations to reduce the deficit, the House bill instead limits spending and requires a Balanced Budget Amendment. House Republicans are openly opposing any new taxes.

Any budget bills or amendments are going to be the most serious decisions with the weightiest consequences of this particular session and the issues surrounding the budget are much more complex than much of the media is making them out to be. It seems to me that at first glance, the House’s solution will just create more problems in the future without solving anything. While I haven’t looked at the specific recommendations of The Gang of Six specifically, the fact that a bipartisan solution is on the table is a significant step forward.

Taxes are not going to be a popular decision, especially with an election in the future, but I predict that squabbling about the budget and cutting programs will not be popular choices either. One portion of The Gang of Six’s proposal calls for the elimination of the CLASS portion of the health care reform law passed in 2009. The plan, noticeably, also asks to keep “a strong national defense” for the United States. Additionally, The Gang of Six’s proposal calls for “a separate track for social security.” It is unclear from what I read what The Gang of Six’s proposal for Social Security actually is or whether it involves the privatization of Social Security funds.

From the Forbes blog:

Reform Social Security on a separate track, isolated from deficit reduction – any savings from the program must go towards solvency.

Whatever path congress chooses to take on the budget and the debt ceiling, the process is sure to be extremely painful.