It Always Comes Down To the 80-20 Rule

Andrew Samwick:

The line that jumped out at me was, "there is agreement in this chamber on about eighty percent of what needs to be done." If that is really the case, then why not pass the legislation that specified exactly that eighty percent? Everyone could declare victory and go home. What is in the other twenty percent that is essential to the President but on which there is not broad agreement in Congress?

Matt Ygelsias:

A lot of what’s in the 20 percent amounts to disagreement about how to pay for stuff in the 80 percent, so you can’t do the 80 percent without resolving the 20 percent.

The first 80% of most jobs takes 20% of the effort. The remaining 20% takes 80% of the effort. To say something is 80% there is to say that you've completed 1/5th of the job. Matt seems to recognize this. Andrew and the President do not.