None of the technical experts we talk to can figure out what any of these people think can be done. Unless the budget resolution provides for tax cuts, procedural rules make it practically impossible to bring them back later. On the current track, no one we know who is expert in legislative mechanics can see tax cuts at the end of the process. Almost a year ago, I reported a conversation I had with Felix Rohatyn, in which he observed that both major parties represented the bond market, with neither representing equities. The leaders of both parties seek security.
Nobody wants risk.
The handful of avid growth advocates in Congress are burning up the wires, trying to figure out procedural strategems that can save the tax cuts this year. This is why there is a general sense that Gingrich is flying blind, and Lott, like Bob Dole before him, is standing aside and watching it all happen. Of course not. The American people elected the 105th Congress to govern, despite the mistakes Newt made in the 104th. All it takes is a decision by the joint GOP leadership to break loose from the budget handcuffs it imposed on itself a decade ago.