Political degrees of difficulty.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.
• Position: STATE OF THE NATION

WHENEVER THERE IS a change of party control in Congress or the White House, there is the claim that "we will do things differently." The new leadership promises to address problems the old guard had allowed to languish or fester. There may be some degree of accomplishment, but much is left undone. As the 112th Congress begins its job, a guide may be in order to judge its effectiveness. In competitive diving, judges score each dive by the degree of difficulty. This method could be useful in politics as well. On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most difficult and one the easiest, we can evaluate how close this Congress actually comes to "doing things differently."

We will go from easiest to most difficult:

Rein in the defense budget. Few items in the budget have oscillated so wildly. Defense spending was close to $80,000,000,000 during World War II, and then dipped to 13,000,000,000 after the war. This trend continued, although less dramatically, with spending soaring during the Korean and the Vietnam wars and shrinking afterwards. We also saw the budget shrivel after the Cold War and rise again with the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now it seems to be on another downward trajectory. The cuts primarily will come through troop reductions, not weapons cancellation--a common approach.

Cut income taxes. Taxes have been cut significantly cut during the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Bush, and Obama administrations. If the president suggests it, Congress is more than willing to comply.

Slash foreign aid. This is a microscopic part of the budget but, since WWII, it has had no major constituency behind it. Without a strong presidential endorsement, Congress will reduce the Administration's request. Truman's support for the Marshall Plan and George W. Bush's program to reduce HIV/AIDs and malaria in Africa were examples of Congress actually increasing foreign aid. Otherwise, the program can be an orphan. In the effort to reduce these initiatives, few dollars are saved, but no major domestic interest group is likely to object.

Grant the president authority to use military force. When presidents ask for such authority in response to a crisis, Congress will comply. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower requested such authority during the Formosan Crisis of 1955, and it was granted with few dissenting votes, as was the case with Pres. Lyndon Johnson's request for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, and Pres. Bush's request for the War on...