Op-Ed: Debt battle cries

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (LIN) - In the wake of the debt ceiling compromise between President Barack Obama and Congress, let’s go back and visit some of the terms and phrases that we hope not to hear again for a long time.

“Kick the can down the road”

-- Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. shortly after he introduced the House’s 2012 budget plan in April, transforming the phrase “kicking the can down the road,” into a rallying call for Republicans to illustrate Democratic spending ways.

“Compromise has become a dirty word” and "three ring circus"

-- Championed by President Barack Obama, “compromise has become a dirty word,” became Obama’s way of describing debt negotiations that seemed to have stalled leading towards the Aug. 2 deadline..

-- In a July 25 speech , Obama said " compromise has become a dirty word" and debt negotiations have become a “ three ring circus." 

-- Obama's senior advisor, David Plouffe, also descibed negotiations as a "three ring circus" in a Sunday talk show.

“Cut, cap and balance”

-- Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced his “cut, cap and balance” plan for raising the debt ceiling in mid-July. The plan, overwhelming supported by Republicans in the House of Representatives, was rejected in the Democratically-controlled Senate.

“Revenue enhancements”

-- The Democrats, cautious of using the word taxes and tax credits, called for “revenue enhancements” on the wealthy in any debt ceiling legislation.

-- The Financial Dictionary calls revenue enhancements as "an increase in revenues, especially by way of increased taxes. Revenue enhancement includes reducing taxpayer deductions and eliminating tax credits."

“I stuck my head out a mile”

-- Spoken on the House floor by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, “I stuck my head out a mile”  was in response to the fact that negotiations were going poorly towards the Aug. 2 debt ceiling deadline.

 “Trigger”

-- No, it’s not referring to a firearm.

-- In the days leading up to the final debt ceiling compromise, an enforcement mechanism was added to the plan that would “ trigger” $600 billion of additional spending cuts if a super committee tasked with finding $1.2 trillion cuts fails to do so by Thanksgiving.

“Grand Bargain”

-- A term used by the media to coin a potential agreement between Boehner and Obama that would amount to $4 trillion in cuts and $1 trillion in "revenue enhancements." Fortunately, it disappeared when Boehner decided the “ grand bargain” is too large a scale to talk spending cuts.