OK – Now What?

As everyone well knows, last week, Congress passed a short-term deal to raise the debt ceiling until about February 7 and fund the government through January 15. Reaction, predictably, has been mixed. Those on the extreme ends of their parties are either declaring victory or complete failure while the American public overwhelmingly looks on now thinking, now what?

Because while Republicans' main focus will be preserving the $967 billion discretionary spending level set for fiscal 2014 under the 2011 Budget Control Act, and Democrats will likely to push for $1.058 trillion in fiscal 2014 spending as called for in their budget resolution, the reality is that neither is the answer.

So what is, now that a formal budget committee has been formed between the Senate and House, led by Patty Murray (D-WA) and Paul Ryan (R-WI), respectively?

For one, it is taking these next two months incredibly serious and working with a sense of urgency. But more specifically, it is compromise in the broadest sense of the word – it is Republicans putting revenues on the table and Democrats giving in on entitlement reform. Wholly, it is the halting, or at least pausing, of extreme partisanship and base pandering that is driving us apart and our country into the ground.   We are so much more when we work together.

When Senator Murray says she is “looking forward to the big challenge that bridging the significant differences between the House and Senate budgets presents,” she must mean it. When Represantive Ryan says “he [wants] to get a budget agreement that gets spending under control, and get a dent on the debt and enacts pro-growth policies to create jobs,” the onus is completely on him to do so and rally the support of his caucus to make it a reality.

Digging deeper, it is the repeal and replacement of reckless sequester cuts that were never supposed to happen and do nothing to control the long-term drivers of our national debt – our entitlement programs. Therefore it is obligation of leaders to reform these programs, so that our rapidly aging population is not left helpless and their children and grandchildren are not digging themselves out from day one from a debt equal to GDP output and a subsequently struggling economy.

The time is now for action. People, including me, have said that countless times. But with the shameless shutdown ended and the ceiling raised, now more than any time in 12 months, leaders can lead. The President can get serious about the entitlement reforms he discusses but fails to ever put forward. Republicans can adjust the size and scope of the Department of Defense to meet today’s demands. And Democrats in Congress can make the most of their close line to the Executive Branch and do what is best not for any particular group, but for us all.

Because we are who matters. We elect them and must demand more. Complacency is simply not an option for the remainder of 2013.