The Trust Issue, Again

One of the big lessons the Facing Up partners have drawn from our opinion research is that one of the key elements in the budget debate is trust -- the public's trust that the government is going to spend its money wisely. Right now that trust isn't there and you can't act on the nation's fiscal problems without it. So as the budget back-and-forth continues, there were two statements today that struck me:

• There was a joint statement calling on Congress to stick with PAYGO rules from the Concord Coalition (a Facing Up partner), along with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, CED and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Congress is doing pretty well so far, the statement said, but they worry that fixing the alternative minimum tax may be too great a temptation.
• A group I hadn't head of before, ReadtheBill.org, came out with a report arguing against big omnibus spending bills on the grounds that they're so huge, and passed so late in the game, that nobody in Congress has a chance to actually read them.

And both of these go to the trust question. If the government can't stick to its self-imposed rules -- or if the public believes the government doesn't actually understand its own spending policies -- you can forget about the public signing on to some of the changes being discussed in Washington. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to actually bring the public into this discussion for a change...