There are certain times to compromise, and there are other times to draw a line in the sand.

When it comes to avoiding a government shutdown, congressional Republicans should be prepared to compromise. The paramount battle will be about the inclusion of entitlement reform in the 2012 budget, which is where conservatives must concentrate their energy and stand firm.

A fight about spending and government funding has been ongoing since Democrats failed to pass a budget last fall. Unwilling to vote for an embarrassingly large spending bill just weeks before a midterm election, liberal lawmakers were content to kick the can down the road. So here we are.

If an agreement is not hammered out by April 8, the government will shut down. Republicans seek approximately $60 billion in spending cuts over what’s left of the fiscal year, but they are meeting predictably fierce opposition from Democrats, as well as insatiable Tea Partiers. The former is averse to even the most miniscule fiscal adjustment, while the latter is intent on an immediate ideological victory and will not settle for such a small figure.

Unsurprisingly, the current budget battle has been completely politicized. Regardless of the final number in spending cuts, it will be a drop in the bucket, making little improvement to America’s dismal economic future. The argument about the 2011 budget has made for fun talking points, if little else.

On Wednesday, for example, a most alarming sound bite came courtesy of Rajiv Shah, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who made the curious claim that the Republican budget bill would kill 70,000 children. This is a classic case of the ‘Think of the Children!’ defense, and Shah believes cuts to international food and health assistance would lead to mass deaths across the globe.

In the face of such irresponsible demagoguing, establishment Republicans have two options.

The first is to waste valuable time, energy and political capital in arguments with people like Shah, explaining how today’s economic climate makes it unfeasible to fund every program that has been funded in the past. They could scold alarmists on the left who employ scare tactics to continue printing off more money for inefficient government programs. They could concoct an equally bogus figure about how many children in the United States would be harmed after their parents run out of money trying to pay off trillion dollar deficits.

Or Republicans could take the high road, compromise on these ridiculous short-term budget disputes and gear up for the main event: entitlement reform in 2012.

The GOP proposal for the 2012 budget will be officially unveiled Tuesday, and fortunately it will include broad structural reforms to massive entitlement programs that are bankrupting America. Medicare and Medicaid — often considered an untouchable ‘third rail’ of American politics — are tackled head-on.

If high-ranking officials in President Barack Obama’s administration have the gall to argue that small USAID cuts will result in 70,000 dead children, just watch how ferociously they will kick and scream once Medicare and Medicaid are on the table. Republicans must be prepared to dig in their heels. The 2012 spending bill is where Republicans can make their mark, where they can fulfill the expectations of November’s electorate.

Conservatives have been forced to take the lead because Obama has not. Nor has he signaled any intentions of doing so in the near future. Obama’s proposed 2012 budget does not reform the tax code, does not reform entitlements and does not balance the budget. It does, however, raise the national debt by $13 trillion and create $8.7 trillion in new spending over the next decade.

The most irresponsible budget proposal in recent memory has been countered by a sensible, desperately needed rebuttal. Republicans were elected to change the course of reckless Washington spending and to get a hold of gigantic, unsustainable entitlement programs. Winning this long-term budget showdown is tremendously more important than ensuring a few billion dollars more in cuts over the next six months.

With only the lower chamber of Congress in their control, Republicans must pick their battles wisely. Contributing to a government shutdown — over something so insignificant — is a bad place to start.

Jimmy Paul is a senior political science major. His column appears every Tuesday, and he can be reached at jdpaul01@syr.edu.

Published on April 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm