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In Washington, members of the budget conference committee are considering several options that could increase spending by up to an additional $100 billion.

What’s standing in their way is sequestration: the automatic spending cut mechanism President Obama signed into law with the Budget Control Act (BCA). Sequestration enforces spending caps on the discretionary budget, which includes those domestic programs that brought you the infamous IRS Star Trek parody video and the $325,000 RoboSquirrel. The reductions disproportionately fall on defense, and lawmakers should do a better job of prioritizing this core constitutional function while staying within the agreed-upon spending levels.

According to news sources, some budget conference members are considering a compromise deal to bust the sequestration spending caps by up to $100 billion. In an attempt to find offsetting mandatory spending cuts and revenues to entice both sides into such a deal, lawmakers are reportedly considering an increase in “user fees.” This is simply a disguised tax increase.

Raising these fees to cover the cost of providing services is one thing. Increasing them to pay for more spending is just another Washington gimmick. Using gimmicks like this one to get around necessary spending reductions is a destructive habit that has helped fuel the now $17.2 trillion national debt.

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