The courage to cut

This year's insurgent class of freshmen Republican House members were elected in part based on their pledge to reduce federal spending by $100 billion.

The question is whether voters who embraced that pledge really mean it and will stand behind lawmakers who try.

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a member of the Republican leadership, calls it the "$64,000 question."

In an Associated Press-CNBC survey last November, shortly after Republicans scored large gains in the midterm elections, 87 percent of those polled said record federal deficits were likely to cause a major economic crisis over the next decade. Nearly as many -- 85 percent -- said the cost of financing the federal debt would cause problems for their children or grandchildren.

But only a tiny plurality -- 47 percent to 46 percent -- said spending cuts should be a higher priority than increasing federal spending on schools, health care and "alternative" energy development.

And in a CNN survey last month, those questioned said by an 81-18 margin it was more important to prevent significant cuts to Medicare than to reduce the deficit.

If voters think the federal government can be substantially slashed by taking nail clippers to the Teapot Museum and the Tea Taster's Board, it's possible elementary school math teachers are having even less success than we feared.

The trump card of the big spenders is to threaten a government shutdown.

Such "shutdowns" are largely for show, of course. When Speaker Newt Gingrich attempted to cut spending in 1995 -- back before the problem was nearly as serious as it is today -- President Bill Clinton cleverly closed national parks and monuments to tourists, using the "shutdown" to depict the Republicans as irresponsible radicals.

If Republicans are serious, they should quickly enact legislation declaring that, in the event Democrats threaten another "shutdown," the IRS is instructed to neither levy nor accept any tax payments for the period of time the government is "shut down," either then or retroactively.