NextGen is impossible to defend – Deficit and benefits few

Stephen M. Alvania, FAA research manager for developing multiple advanced ATC automation systems, Lead aviation staff for a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, 9-30-11, [“Can NextGen Survive the Tea Party?,” http://ats-c.com/ats/ats-c_blog/post/2011/09/30/Can-NextGen-survive-the-Tea-Party.aspx] E. Liu

Ben Bain[Senior Editor at Federal Computer Week]/NextGen funding battle heats up/Oct 1, 2007

Politics DA 2AC

Air Transport World, 2-3-11, [“DOT Secretary LaHood reaffirms Obama's NextGen commitment,” Aaron Karp, http://atwonline.com/international-aviation-regulation/news/dot-secretary-lahood-reaffirms-obamas-nextgen-commitment-0202] E. Liu

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the nation's 2012 fiscal year starting Oct. 1, to be delivered to Congress later this month, will "give very clear guidance" to lawmakers and the airline industry that implementing the satellite-based NextGen ATC system remains a "high priority" for the administration. Amid talk of spending cuts on Capitol Hill and questions raised in late December by the Dept. of Transportation's inspector general about FAA's ability to deliver on NextGen (ATW Daily News, Dec. 24, 2010), LaHood emphasized Wednesday that modernizing ATC is "a very important priority for President Obama." Though Obama did not mention NextGen when speaking about infrastructure development in his recent State of the Union address to Congress, LaHood insisted the ATC upgrade is included in "the investments we need today" being pushed by the president.
3. Democrats want NextGen and Republicans only dislike current implementation schedules

The Hill, 11

The Hill, 10-5-11, [“Dems battle GOP over cuts to new FAA air traffic control system,” Keith Laing, http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/185771-faas-nextgen-future-funding-debated] E. Liu

MatthewDickinson, professor of political science at Middlebury College and taught previously at Harvard University where he worked under the supervision of presidential scholar Richard Neustadt, 5/26/2009, Presidential Power: A NonPartisan Analysis of Presidential Politics, “Sotomayor, Obama and Presidential Power,” http://blogs.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2009/05/26/sotamayor-obama-and-presidential-power/, JMP)

As for Sotomayor, from here the path toward almost certain confirmation goes as follows: the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to hold hearings sometime this summer (this involves both written depositions and of course open hearings), which should lead to formal Senate approval before Congress adjourns for its summer recess in early August. So Sotomayor will likely take her seat in time for the start of the new Court session on October 5. (I talk briefly about the likely politics of the nomination process below). What is of more interest to me, however, is what her selection reveals about the basis of presidential power. Political scientists, like baseball writers evaluating hitters, have devised numerous means of measuring a president’s influence in Congress. I will devote a separate post to discussing these, but in brief, they often center on the creation of legislative “box scores” designed to measure how many times a president’s preferred piece of legislation, or nominee to the executive branch or the courts, is approved by Congress. That is, how many pieces of legislation that the president supports actually pass Congress? How often do members of Congress vote with the president’s preferences? How often is a president’s policy position supported by roll call outcomes? These measures, however, are a misleading gauge of presidential power – they are a better indicator of congressional power. This is because howmembers of Congress vote on a nominee or legislative item is rarely influenced by anything a president does. Although journalists (and political scientists) often focus on the legislative “endgame” to gauge presidential influence – will the President swing enough votes to get his preferred legislation enacted? – this mistakes an outcome with actual evidence of presidential influence. Once we control for other factors – a member of Congress’ ideological and partisan leanings, the political leanings of her constituency, whether she’s up for reelection or not –we can usually predict how she will vote without needing to know much of anything about what the president wants. (I am ignoring the importance of a president’s veto power for the moment.)
5. A logical policymaker could pass the plan and the bill
6. Winners win – Difficult votes cause Obama to regain capital

Singer, JD candidate at Berkeley, 09

Jonathan Singer, JD candidate at Berkeley and editor of MyDD, 3-3-2009, http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/3/3/191825/0428

Peter Hart gets at a key point. Some believe that political capital is finite, that it can be used up. To an extent that's true. But it's important to note, too, that political capital can be regenerated -- and, specifically, that when a President expends a great deal of capital on a measure that was difficult to enact and then succeeds, he can build up more capital. Indeed, that appears to be what is happening with Barack Obama, who went to the mat to pass the stimulus package out of the gate, got it passed despite near-unanimous opposition of the Republicans on Capitol Hill, and is being rewarded by the American public as a result. Take a look at the numbers. President Obama now has a 68 percent favorable rating in the NBC-WSJ poll, his highest ever showing in the survey. Nearly half of those surveyed (47 percent) view him very positively. Obama's Democratic Party earns a respectable 49 percent favorable rating. The Republican Party, however, is in the toilet, with its worst ever showing in the history of the NBC-WSJ poll, 26 percent favorable. On the question of blame for the partisanship in Washington, 56 percent place the onus on the Bush administration and another 41 percent place it on Congressional Republicans. Yet just 24 percent blame Congressional Democrats, and a mere 11 percent blame the Obama administration. So at this point, with President Obama seemingly benefiting from his ambitious actions and the Republicans sinking further and further as a result of their knee-jerked opposition to that agenda, there appears to be no reason not to push forward on anything from universal healthcare to energy reform to ending the war in Iraq.

Spending DA 2AC

AFP, 5-27-12, [“FACT CHECK: Obama off on thrifty spending claim,” Andrew Taylor, http://lubbockonline.com/election/election-general/2012-05-27/fact-check-obama-thrifty-spending-claim#.T-kW2JLm7fs] E. Liu

Spending DA 2AC

Rebecca M. Nelson, Analyst in International Trade and Finance, 2-29-12, [“Sovereign Debt in Advanced Economies: Overview and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service, www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41838.pdf] E. Liu

Economic growth also allows governments to lower the size of their debt relative to the size of their economy (GDP). It can also lead to lower levels of government spending and increase tax revenues, lowering the dollar value of sovereign debt as well. In the short run, economic stabilization is a necessary condition for sustained economic growth. Growth can be stimulated by pursuing expansionary fiscal and monetary policies or by pursuing structural reforms at the microeconomic level. Expansionary fiscal policies, however, lead to more debt, and “easy” monetary policies, such as lowering interest rates, may not be effective if firms and households are unwilling to borrow to increase investment and consumption. At the microeconomic level, growth can be supported by a number of structural reforms that can increase the competitiveness of industries in the economy. Examples include removing barriers to labor mobility, privatizing state-owned companies, and liberalizing trade policy. The IMF’s program for Greece, for example, includes structural reforms aimed at encouraging growth.
6. Short-term spending doesn’t affect debt outlook – Larger cycles and trends control fiscal adjustments

Auerbach, Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law at the University of California, Berkeley, 11

Alan J Auerbach, Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law at the University of California, Berkeley, 7-11, [“Long-Term Fiscal Sustainability in Major Economies,” www.bis.org/publ/work361.pdf] E. Liu

These short-term trajectories clearly are attention-getting. For some countries, such as Greece, there is little need to look beyond them to know that a large and immediate fiscal 2 adjustment is needed. But debt-GDP ratios alone typically do not tell us how long countries have before they must make fiscal adjustments or how large these adjustments need to be. Some countries, for example Italy and Japan, have maintained high debt-GDP ratios for some time. Also, for countries not necessarily facing any short-run crisis, these projections may provide an inadequate picture of underlying fiscal imbalances. This is because the factors contributing to short-term debt accumulation differ substantially from those that will affect debt accumulation over the longer term, after the next few years, factors that have little to do with the business cycle and the rate of economic recovery, and much more to do with demographic change and the associated changes in government spending and tax collections.
7. Political uncertainty collapses confidence and demand – Causes recession

Reuters 12

Reuters, 6-25-12, [“In Washington, uncertainty the only sure thing,” Andy Sullivan, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-washington-summit-preview-idUSBRE85L17520120625] E. Liu

(Reuters) - The tepid U.S. recovery is stalling for the third summer in a row, and Washington yet again is hurtling toward a showdown over taxes and spending that could push the economy back into recession. Sound familiar? To weary voters and investors, dysfunction in Washington is no longer news. The ongoing uncertainty on everything from taxes to transportation has undercut the economy as battle lines harden ahead of what is sure to be the most expensive presidential election in history. The Reuters Washington Summit next week, from June 25 to 27, will shed light on how the coming months could play out. In interviews at the Reuters office in Washington, key lawmakers, campaign officials, political operators and budget analysts will offer insight into their strategies for navigating the coming turbulence. The November 6 matchup between Democratic President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, could determine whether the United States chooses new stimulus programs or further spending cuts in the years ahead. The elections could determine which party controls Congress as well. But the elections are not the only question mark. Thousands of construction workers could be laid off if Congress does not resolve a highway funding bill by the end of the month. Student loan rates are also due to double on July 1 if Congress does not act, potentially draining more money out of the economy. More threatening is the "fiscal cliff" - automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that could drag the economy back into recession in January if Democrats and Republicans do not strike a deal on taxes and debt reduction. And the ugly debate over whether to raise the federal debt ceiling, which hammered consumer confidence last summer and prompted a first-ever downgrade of the U.S. government's debt rating, is likely to return early next year. "This uncertainty leads firms to cut back or defer hiring and investment decisions. It also drives consumers to put off buying new goods. As a result, uncertainty stalls both the corporate and consumer sector drivers of a recovery," wrote Steven J. Davis of the University of Chicago and Nick Bloom and Scott Baker of Stanford University. The trio's "policy uncertainty" index is creeping back up toward levels last seen after the August 2011 debt ceiling showdown.