Deficit politics

House Democrats have a spring in their step, and not without reason.

More than five months since their historic losses in the midterm elections, Democrats in the lower chamber have posted good fundraising numbers. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee in the first three months of the year. It is rare for the minority party to accomplish such a feat, though the GOP campaign arm has a nearly 2-to-1 cash-on-hand advantage.

{mosads}Democrats, still shaking off the punch of the last election, believe that the House Republican budget for fiscal 2012 will help them raise more money and pick up seats next year. So throughout the April recess, Democrats will hammer away at Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) new blueprint.

Ryan has acknowledged that he has handed Democrats political ammunition, but also argues that people want honest answers to the nation’s dismal fiscal outlook.

Along those lines, Democrats, including President Obama, initially misread the political winds by calling for a spending freeze. As the House GOP upped the political ante by calling for $61 billion in cuts for fiscal 2011, Democrats quickly pivoted.

While they called the Republican plan “extreme,” Democratic leaders endorsed billions in cuts. That nimbleness served the Democrats well in spending negotiations over the last month.

Democrats have also shifted their position on raising the nation’s debt ceiling. Obama and dozens of congressional Democrats earlier this year called for Congress to pass a “clean” increase to the debt limit.

House and Senate Republicans, however, have said that is a nonstarter.

In the last Congress, not one Republican voted for a clean increase, but the legislation cleared the Democratic-led House and Senate.

This year, Republicans are demanding major reforms to entitlement spending, which are outlined in Ryan’s plan.

Democrats have said Ryan’s proposal would end “Medicare as we know it.” That is true. The program would undergo major changes, though, only for people 54 years of age and younger. Beneficiaries who are enrolled in Medicare now would not be affected by Ryan’s plan at all.

But sensing a huge political opportunity, Democrats are now playing on the fears of seniors. It should be noted that Republicans did the same last year when they lambasted Medicare cuts in Obama’s healthcare overhaul.

The party with the most leverage usually wins during bipartisan negotiations on legislation, and the debt ceiling will be no exception. 

The attacks on the Ryan plan will test the GOP’s resolve, especially when they’re coming from Obama’s bully pulpit. 

Like their Democratic counterparts, Republicans will need to display some flexibility in the weeks ahead. If they don’t, Democrats will seize the upper hand.