Updated 3:15 p.m. edt
Even as U.S. financial markets tank, GOP House Speaker John Boehner is steadfastly reversing course and rejecting President Obama's $4 trillion deal that would take a bigger chunk out of the federal debt than any other offer on the table.
"Our disagreements are not personal," Boehner said before heading into another debt negotiation sessions with all the leaders of Congress and Obama."We cannot allow our nation to default on our debt," he admitted.
But Boehner admitted he cannot find enough votes in his party to accept a deal. "The American people will not accept - and the House cannot pass - a bill that raises taxes on job creators," he said.
Meanwhile, insiders tell the Talk Radio New Service that some Republicans look at corporate tax loopholes as corporate welfare, but the prevailing wisdom in the GOP is that wiping those tax breaks out is tantamount to a tax hike.
“Nobody’s fond of loopholes,” a Boehner aide told Talk Radio News Service's Geoff Holtzman.
Apparently House GOP leader Eric Cantor disagrees.
"We don’t believe that we ought to be raising taxes right now on people in this recession and in this economy and they do," said Cantor, who quickly becoming the darling of the Tea Party.
The divide between Boehner and his chief deputy Cantor is surfacing, despite claims from both that it is all kumbaya in their party. Some suspect Cantor has designs on the Speaker's job sooner than later.
The Dow is down about 175 points right now. Some say it is only a taste of what is to come if their is not a compromise.
end update
---[
Updated 12 p.m. edt
President Obama urged Republicans to buck up and make the tough choices needed to cut the $14.3 trillion debt, or admit that they are just playing politics to placate the Tea Party and are not really interested in deficit reduction.
"I do not see a path to the deal if they do not budge," Obama told a news a conference, where he suggested it is time for the GOP to lose the "it's my way or the highway" approach over closing corprater tax loopholes and putting the tax squuze on the middle class.
Obama subtly challenged GOP House Speaker John Boehner to lead his party and take on the cut-frenzied Tea Party -- the way he has taken on the liberals in his party over social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"We have these high-minded pronouncements about how we've got to get control of the deficit and how we owe it to our children and our grandchildren.Well, let's step up.Let's do it.I'm prepared to do it," Obama said.
"I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing, if they mean what they say, that this is important," Obama added.
Obama firmly took off the table the GOP proposal for a short-term deal, saying he "will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension" as as an alternative.
"If we think it's hard now, imagine how these guys are going to be thinking six months from now in the middle of election season, when they're all up,"Obama said.
"It's not going to get easier, it's going to get harder.So we might as well do it now; pull off the Band-aid, eat our peas.Now's the time to do it.If not now, when? We keep on talking about this stuff, and, you know," he added.
The President also sought to clear up misinformation on the issue of tax increases.
"I want to be crystal clear.Nobody has talked about increasing taxes now; nobody has talked about increasing taxes next year. What we have talked about is that starting in 2013, that we have gotten rid of some of these egregious loopholes that are benefiting corporate jet owners or oil companies at a time where they're making billions of dollars of profits," Obama explained.
"What we have said is, as part of a broader package we should have revenues, and the best place to get those revenues are from folks like me, who have been extraordinarily fortunate, and that millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay a little bit more, going back to the Bush tax rates," Obama added.
end update
---[
Democrats remain hopeful that the GOP leadership will take a massive $4 trillion White House deal that will cut more deeply into the federal deficit than any other offer on the table.
Asked at last night's 75-minute White House meeting with the bipartsan leaders of the House and Senate whether a deal can be worked out in the next 10 days, President Obama responded,"We need to."
The congressional leaders will be back at the White House today for more talks a few hours after Obama assembles the White House press corps for a late-morning news conference.
"We came into this weekend with the prospect that we could achieve a grand bargain," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after last night's meeting. "We are still hopeful for a large bipartisan agreement, which means more stability for our economy, more growth and jobs, and more deficit reduction over a longer period of time."
But rank and file Republicans, led by the Tea Party Caucus, are holding the line against allowing corporate tax loopholes or any tax increases for the rich to be part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, before financial markets start going haywire when the U.S. starts defaulting on its debts payments.
"If you draw out the entire scenario of default, yes, of course, you have all of that -- interest hikes, stock markets taking a huge hit and real nasty consequences, not just for the United States, but for the entire global economy, because the U.S. is such a big player and matters so much for other countries," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde told ABC's This Week" program.
But even the threat of hurting the Wall Street fat cats that line mostly GOP pockets (though the Democrats get their share too), or disrupting the volatile global financial markets has not been enough to get the GOP to back off its refusal to tap revenue streams to take a bite out of the deficit.
"We have got to be able to deliver on this promise, that we are going to get more cuts that what we raise in terms of the debt ceiling, and make sure that gets done with no tax increases," House GOP leader Eric Cantor said right before the meeting."
Brad Dayspring, Cantor's spokesman, admitted late last night on Twitter that "tax increases that Dems are insisting upon cannot pass the House." It appeared to confirm Democrats complaints that the GOP leadership was being rolled by its rank and file.
So in an about-face, Republicans are insisting that they want to take a smaller debt reduction framework that cuts around $2.5 trillion that they claim Vice President Biden had offered in his negotiations.
However, Republicans, led by Cantor, walked away from those talks and now seem to be retreating to them in an effort to protect corporate tax loopholes and keep the wealthiest Americans from paying more in taxes.
Democrats scoffed at the pull back, with Senate Democratic Policy spokesman Brian Fallon questioning on Twitter if the Biden deal was so good, "Then why did Cantor quit?"
The proposed cuts in funding come as thousands of government jobs are already being lost, forcing some communities and states to consider raising taxes to pay for basic services.
The taxpayers have watched the federal debt skyrocket under the last two Presidents. The national debt was $5.73 trillion when ex-President George W. Bush took office, but when he left, it was $10.7 trillion, ballooning by $4.97 trillion, according to fact-checking service PolitiFact.
The federal debt now stands at $14.3 trillion under Obama, a result of the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts, a massive stimulus plan, the loss of middle class revenue, and the two wars that cost so much during the Bush administration.
Showing posts with label budget showdown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget showdown. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Boehner Admits He'll Bag Big Budget Deal to Protect Corporations & Rich
House Speaker John Boehner vowed tonight to protect corporate tax loopholes and the rich even if it means foregoing a massive $4 trillion deficit reduction deal that would take a significant chunk out of the $14.3 trillion national debt.
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes," (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure."
Foremost, the White House has said it wants to eliminate tax breaks for hugely profitable industries, rejecting the GOP philosophy of putting the burden of revenue-raising on the middle class.
Some in the administration readily admit that President Obama's decision to extend tax breaks for the rich last year has failed to create jobs, but instead inspired the GOP to seek more boodle for the corporations and the rich, the chief financiers of their party -- even amid a fiscal crisis that is killing Main Street Americans.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer argues that the majority of Americans want the wealthiest Americans and special interests to stop squeezing every extra penny out of the Middle Class to subsidize their opulent lifestyles.
"The President believes that solving our fiscal problems is an economic imperative. But in order to do that, we cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts," Pfeiffer said in a statement issued this evening.
"Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington," he added.
Boehner issued the statement on eve of crucial debt celling talks tomorrow at the White House. Obama hopes the Speaker will rethink his play and take a deal that will cut deeply into the federal deficit.
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes," (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure."
Foremost, the White House has said it wants to eliminate tax breaks for hugely profitable industries, rejecting the GOP philosophy of putting the burden of revenue-raising on the middle class.
Some in the administration readily admit that President Obama's decision to extend tax breaks for the rich last year has failed to create jobs, but instead inspired the GOP to seek more boodle for the corporations and the rich, the chief financiers of their party -- even amid a fiscal crisis that is killing Main Street Americans.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer argues that the majority of Americans want the wealthiest Americans and special interests to stop squeezing every extra penny out of the Middle Class to subsidize their opulent lifestyles.
"The President believes that solving our fiscal problems is an economic imperative. But in order to do that, we cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts," Pfeiffer said in a statement issued this evening.
"Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington," he added.
Boehner issued the statement on eve of crucial debt celling talks tomorrow at the White House. Obama hopes the Speaker will rethink his play and take a deal that will cut deeply into the federal deficit.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Obama Works Court of Public Opinion On Debt Fight
Updated 2:45 p.m. edt
It appears the White House heard Sen. Bernie Sanders' plea for applying some shared sacrifice in the contentious debate over deficit reduction.
President Obama is urging Congress to take a balanced approach in trying to reduce the national debt, saying cuts in spending need to be offset by revenue created by eliminating tax loopholes for profitable corporations.
"I don't think that's real radical," Obama said at a White House news conference today. "I think the majority of Americans agree with that."
Unrelenting Republicans have said they refuse to give an inch on the tax breaks for big business, instead demanding that programs -- many of which benefit middle class Americans -- should be cut to reduce the $14.3 trillion national debt.
But laying down his marker in the showdown with the GOP, Obama argued that without removing tax breaks for hedge fund owners, oil and gas companies or corporate jets it may mean taking scholarships away from college students, cutting back on medical research and curtailing health care for the elderly.
"If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things in order to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we're not willing to come to the table and get a deal done,' or, 'We're so concerned about protecting oil and gas subsidies for oil companies that are making money hand over fist, that's the reason we're not going to come to a deal,'" Obama said.
"I don't think that's a sustainable position," he added.
Obama went so far as to suggest that if lawmakers cannot reach a deal on the debt limit then they should cancel their vacation and finish the job. The hard deadline for raising the ceiling on the federal debt is Aug. 2, otherwise the government will begin to default on some of its loans, likely causing chaos in the financial markets.
"They're in one week. They're out one week. And then they're saying, 'Obama's got to step in,'" Obama said. "You need to be here. I've been here. I've been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis and -- you stay here. Let's get it done."
Asked about closing the tax loopholes for corporate America as part of a deficit reduction package, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) responded that the federal tax code should be changed.
"And by the way, tax expenditures are not loopholes. They've been put in there, in many respects, you know, for very good reasons, and we've got to be very, very careful in what we do there," Hatch said.
---[
It is back to the bully pulpit today for President Obama, who will try to one-up Republicans in their face-off over lifting the federal debt limit before an early August deadline.
Obama and the Democrats are insisting that slashing the federal budget to the tune of at least $1 trillion is not enough to begin to corral the more than $14.3 trillion debt.
Obama wants to open a revenue stream, preferably by closing tax loopholes for hugely profitable corporations like the oil and gas industries that are banking billions in profits while Americans get squeezed at the gas pump.
Another cost-cutting idea being floated is raising the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67. There also has been discussion of making the super-rich pay for their own health care costs.
Stubborn GOP lawmakers say tax increases of any kind are a non-starter, but Obama will try to make his case at a White House news conference later this morning.
It appears the White House heard Sen. Bernie Sanders' plea for applying some shared sacrifice in the contentious debate over deficit reduction.
President Obama is urging Congress to take a balanced approach in trying to reduce the national debt, saying cuts in spending need to be offset by revenue created by eliminating tax loopholes for profitable corporations.
"I don't think that's real radical," Obama said at a White House news conference today. "I think the majority of Americans agree with that."
Unrelenting Republicans have said they refuse to give an inch on the tax breaks for big business, instead demanding that programs -- many of which benefit middle class Americans -- should be cut to reduce the $14.3 trillion national debt.
But laying down his marker in the showdown with the GOP, Obama argued that without removing tax breaks for hedge fund owners, oil and gas companies or corporate jets it may mean taking scholarships away from college students, cutting back on medical research and curtailing health care for the elderly.
"If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things in order to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we're not willing to come to the table and get a deal done,' or, 'We're so concerned about protecting oil and gas subsidies for oil companies that are making money hand over fist, that's the reason we're not going to come to a deal,'" Obama said.
"I don't think that's a sustainable position," he added.
Obama went so far as to suggest that if lawmakers cannot reach a deal on the debt limit then they should cancel their vacation and finish the job. The hard deadline for raising the ceiling on the federal debt is Aug. 2, otherwise the government will begin to default on some of its loans, likely causing chaos in the financial markets.
"They're in one week. They're out one week. And then they're saying, 'Obama's got to step in,'" Obama said. "You need to be here. I've been here. I've been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis and -- you stay here. Let's get it done."
Asked about closing the tax loopholes for corporate America as part of a deficit reduction package, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) responded that the federal tax code should be changed.
"And by the way, tax expenditures are not loopholes. They've been put in there, in many respects, you know, for very good reasons, and we've got to be very, very careful in what we do there," Hatch said.
---[
It is back to the bully pulpit today for President Obama, who will try to one-up Republicans in their face-off over lifting the federal debt limit before an early August deadline.
Obama and the Democrats are insisting that slashing the federal budget to the tune of at least $1 trillion is not enough to begin to corral the more than $14.3 trillion debt.
Obama wants to open a revenue stream, preferably by closing tax loopholes for hugely profitable corporations like the oil and gas industries that are banking billions in profits while Americans get squeezed at the gas pump.
Another cost-cutting idea being floated is raising the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67. There also has been discussion of making the super-rich pay for their own health care costs.
Stubborn GOP lawmakers say tax increases of any kind are a non-starter, but Obama will try to make his case at a White House news conference later this morning.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Will Obama Embrace Shared Sacrifice or Just Sacrifice Values?
Updated 6 p.m. est
Angry GOP reaction to President Obama's shared sacrifice agenda was fast and furious today, with Republicans slamming him over his refusal to allow Medicare to become a voucher program and his vow to tax the richest Americans at pre-Bush levels.
"What we heard today was a political broadside from our campaigner-in-chief," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin lawmaker who authored the plan that would further cut taxes for the rich and force seniors off Medicare and into a voucher program. "Exploiting people's emotions of fear, envy, anxiety — it's not hope. It's not change. It's partisanship. We don't need partisanship."
"I don't know about my colleagues, but I asked myself, 'And I missed lunch for this?'" added House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Several likely GOP candidates for President alsao weighed in.
"President Obama's proposals are too little, too late. Instead of supporting spending cuts that lead to real deficit reduction and true reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the president dug deep into his liberal playbook for 'solutions' highlighted by higher taxes," said ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"Today's speech was nothing more than window dressing," former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in a statement.
end update
---[
Updated 2:30 p.m. est
It was much ado about something.
President Obama rolled out a plan today that calls for $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years by cutting spending and raising taxes on the richest Americans who for the past decade were given a free ride thanks to the Bush-era tax cuts.
"The most fortunate among us can afford pay a little more," Obama said, vowing not to extend the $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for a second time.
"There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill," Obama said in a speech at George Washington University.
"Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy," Obama said of the GOP plan.
"Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1 percent saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m President," Obama said.
The shared sacrifice agenda embraced by Obama comes as Congress must raise the debt ceiling -- the amount the federal government is allowed to borrow. The debt ceiling currently sits at $14.294 trillion.
Obama wants to cut $3 in spending for every $1 in new taxes, but he rejected a House GOP scheme to privatize Medicare for seniors by forcing them to go on a voucher program that will make their pals in the insurance industry richer, but will not make elder Americans any healthier.
"I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations," Obama said. "That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security."
end update
---[
There is a slim chance that today's budget speech by President Obama will be much ado about nothing.
There is case to be made Obama would be foolish to get too specific today in the face of a base that wonders how much he we sell them out to get re-elected, along with the angry Tea Party opposition, who blame him for the economic hard times over the corporate greed and Wall Street shenanigans that brought the country to the brink of being broke (not to mention they still think he was born in Kenya).
Obama does not have to go out on a limb today since he has already cut the deal that kept the government open. The fact that Republicans are urging him to be specific should be a red flag for the palace guard at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The President has already made bad on one campaign promise -- to let the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich expire -- and he does not need to add to that list. The GOP would love to box Obama in again and get him to do another flip-flop on a major agenda item.
The Republicans, with the help of many in the corporate media, have framed the budget narrative around three so-called taboos: cutting social security and Medicare, no tax cuts for the rich and no tampering with the Pentagon's budget. The GOP wants Obama to cut the entitlement programs that Americans paid into their whole working lives, but to keep his hands off tax cuts for the rich and the Department of Defense purse strings.
"We need to consider all three legs of the stool when we're dealing with the deficit. And that's entitlements, tax expenditures and defense spending," spokesman Jay Carney admitted without saying much more about the President's speech.
Hmmmm? Might that be a signal that Obama will embrace shared sacrifice rather than trying to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class.
The Republicans are not taking any chances, already chanting their no-tax mantra ahead of the President's address.
"Tomorrow, I will make clear to the President: Americans don’t want their taxes raised, they want Washington to get its fiscal house in order," House GOP leader Eric Cantor Tweeted on the eve of the President's speech.
Cantor, like his boss, GOP House Speaker John Boehner, still needs to placate their scorched-earth constituents in the Tea Party.
"Tea Partiers simply do not understand how democracy works. And they compound their ignorance with arrogance," Steve and Cokie Roberts write in their synicated newspaper column.
"In the 2012 election, the Tea Party could be the best thing that ever happened to Barack Obama. In early primary states like Iowa and South Carolina, party activists could force Republican candidates to make outlandish promises that play well at Tea Party rallies but cripple the GOP's nominee in the fall election," they added.
To make the point that there are real deep cuts in the compromise, Boehner has said there are "no blue smoke and mirrors" in the budget, but National Journal throws a wrench in that statement, showing many of the cuts are indeed slight of hand.
But, make no mistake there are cuts in the deal that kept the government from shutting down. From home heating programs to high-speed rail, Rolling Stone lists 10 programs that take a hit in the budget compromise.
The big business lobby also prevailed in wiping out a model health insurance voucher program as part of the budget deal, The New York Times reports.
Despite the blood money that is thrown around in the nation-building wars of revenge that Obama inherited from Ex-President George W. Bush, the budget deal guts funding for that foreign aid. "The actual cuts in FY 2011 and anticipated reductions [in] FY 2012 come as international responsibilities for the Department of State and USAID are actually expanding in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Egypt," ex-State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an email to The Huffington Post.
Angry GOP reaction to President Obama's shared sacrifice agenda was fast and furious today, with Republicans slamming him over his refusal to allow Medicare to become a voucher program and his vow to tax the richest Americans at pre-Bush levels.
"What we heard today was a political broadside from our campaigner-in-chief," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin lawmaker who authored the plan that would further cut taxes for the rich and force seniors off Medicare and into a voucher program. "Exploiting people's emotions of fear, envy, anxiety — it's not hope. It's not change. It's partisanship. We don't need partisanship."
"I don't know about my colleagues, but I asked myself, 'And I missed lunch for this?'" added House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Several likely GOP candidates for President alsao weighed in.
"President Obama's proposals are too little, too late. Instead of supporting spending cuts that lead to real deficit reduction and true reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the president dug deep into his liberal playbook for 'solutions' highlighted by higher taxes," said ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"Today's speech was nothing more than window dressing," former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in a statement.
end update
---[
Updated 2:30 p.m. est
It was much ado about something.
President Obama rolled out a plan today that calls for $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years by cutting spending and raising taxes on the richest Americans who for the past decade were given a free ride thanks to the Bush-era tax cuts.
"The most fortunate among us can afford pay a little more," Obama said, vowing not to extend the $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for a second time.
"There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill," Obama said in a speech at George Washington University.
"Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy," Obama said of the GOP plan.
"Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1 percent saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m President," Obama said.
The shared sacrifice agenda embraced by Obama comes as Congress must raise the debt ceiling -- the amount the federal government is allowed to borrow. The debt ceiling currently sits at $14.294 trillion.
Obama wants to cut $3 in spending for every $1 in new taxes, but he rejected a House GOP scheme to privatize Medicare for seniors by forcing them to go on a voucher program that will make their pals in the insurance industry richer, but will not make elder Americans any healthier.
"I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations," Obama said. "That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security."
end update
---[
There is a slim chance that today's budget speech by President Obama will be much ado about nothing.
There is case to be made Obama would be foolish to get too specific today in the face of a base that wonders how much he we sell them out to get re-elected, along with the angry Tea Party opposition, who blame him for the economic hard times over the corporate greed and Wall Street shenanigans that brought the country to the brink of being broke (not to mention they still think he was born in Kenya).
Obama does not have to go out on a limb today since he has already cut the deal that kept the government open. The fact that Republicans are urging him to be specific should be a red flag for the palace guard at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The President has already made bad on one campaign promise -- to let the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich expire -- and he does not need to add to that list. The GOP would love to box Obama in again and get him to do another flip-flop on a major agenda item.
The Republicans, with the help of many in the corporate media, have framed the budget narrative around three so-called taboos: cutting social security and Medicare, no tax cuts for the rich and no tampering with the Pentagon's budget. The GOP wants Obama to cut the entitlement programs that Americans paid into their whole working lives, but to keep his hands off tax cuts for the rich and the Department of Defense purse strings.
"We need to consider all three legs of the stool when we're dealing with the deficit. And that's entitlements, tax expenditures and defense spending," spokesman Jay Carney admitted without saying much more about the President's speech.
Hmmmm? Might that be a signal that Obama will embrace shared sacrifice rather than trying to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class.
The Republicans are not taking any chances, already chanting their no-tax mantra ahead of the President's address.
"Tomorrow, I will make clear to the President: Americans don’t want their taxes raised, they want Washington to get its fiscal house in order," House GOP leader Eric Cantor Tweeted on the eve of the President's speech.
Cantor, like his boss, GOP House Speaker John Boehner, still needs to placate their scorched-earth constituents in the Tea Party.
"Tea Partiers simply do not understand how democracy works. And they compound their ignorance with arrogance," Steve and Cokie Roberts write in their synicated newspaper column.
"In the 2012 election, the Tea Party could be the best thing that ever happened to Barack Obama. In early primary states like Iowa and South Carolina, party activists could force Republican candidates to make outlandish promises that play well at Tea Party rallies but cripple the GOP's nominee in the fall election," they added.
To make the point that there are real deep cuts in the compromise, Boehner has said there are "no blue smoke and mirrors" in the budget, but National Journal throws a wrench in that statement, showing many of the cuts are indeed slight of hand.
But, make no mistake there are cuts in the deal that kept the government from shutting down. From home heating programs to high-speed rail, Rolling Stone lists 10 programs that take a hit in the budget compromise.
The big business lobby also prevailed in wiping out a model health insurance voucher program as part of the budget deal, The New York Times reports.
Despite the blood money that is thrown around in the nation-building wars of revenge that Obama inherited from Ex-President George W. Bush, the budget deal guts funding for that foreign aid. "The actual cuts in FY 2011 and anticipated reductions [in] FY 2012 come as international responsibilities for the Department of State and USAID are actually expanding in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Egypt," ex-State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an email to The Huffington Post.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Federal Budget Showdown Hits Critical Mass
Updated 10:45 p.m. edt
The angry founder of Tea Party Nation threatened tonight to run a primary challenger against Speaker John Boehner if he agrees to a budget deal with Democrats that averts the shutdown of the federal government. (Dana Bash of CNN just reported there is a deal.)
Sarah Palin was none too happy either.
"GOP: don't retreat! The country is going broke. We can't AFFORD cowboy poetry & subsidizing abortion," Palin Tweeted this evening (Washington time).
"If we can't fight to defund this nonsense now when we have the chance, do you think we'll win the big fight on entitlement reform later on?" she said in a separate Tweet.
The threats of running a candidate against Boehner came from Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips came as the Speaker of the House huddled behind closed doors tonight with the GOP rank and file to sell them on a framework for an agreement. The White House was also reviewing the framework.
According to National Journal, citing multiple GOP and Democratic sources, "The outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a “bridge” continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating while the deal is written in bill form."
Word of a deal apparently set off Phillips.
"Boehner is selling us out tonight. We will primary Boehner next year," Phillips said on his @teapartnation Twitter feed.
He also lashed out at President Obama and the Democrats.
"Obama and the party of treason think abortionists are more important than our military and their pay," Phillips Tweeted.
end update
---[
Updated 1:30 p.m. edt
Republicans and Democrats are speaking two different languages today.
Democrats say the sticking point is a GOP cut for funding for 3 million women who get their primary care from Planned Parenthood. The GOP seems to be saying that issue has been resolved.
"Republicans want to shut down the government because they want to make it harder for women to obtain the health services they need," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said today on the Senate floor.
But just a short while ago GOP House Speaker John Boehner was asked about the Planned Parenthood rider attached to a Republican bill, saying: "Almost all of the policy issues have been dealt with."
Polls and recent history show signs that most Americans are going to blame the Republicans if the government shuts down in the next 10+ hours, though President Obama is in the crosshairs of an angry electorate, as well. Jockeying for position, Boehner has tried to counter the impending blame game.
"We have no interest in shutting down they government... but we're not going to roll over and sell-out the American people," Boehner told reporters.
end update
---[
Updated 11:15 a.m. edt
It looks like the Tea Party-driven Republican Party is adamant that funding be cut for Planned Parenthood or else there is no deal on a budget.
Democrats charge Republicans want to tamper with women's health at the expense of paying the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. Armed Services and 800,000 other federal workers.
GOP Speaker John Boehner is spending the final hours before the government shuts down at midnight trying to make the case that Republicans are really just trying to cut the budget, but has yet to explain why he has drawn a line in the sand with Planned Parenthood funding.
Feeling the heat from the unpatriotic implications of the budget showdown, Boehner a short while ago tried to side-step screwing the Armed Forces by urging passage of a bill that would pay them but shut down the government. The maneuver appears to be going nowhere.
So is this thing really about cutting spending? Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says no, accusing the GOP of using deficit-reduction to impose a social agenda on Americans.
This is going to come down to the wire, but as of now it looks like the government is going to shut down at midnight.
End update
---[
With 24 hours left until the government shuts down, there are dire warnings that military pay and some tax refunds will not be able to be processed and 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed.
All the while members of Congress making about $173,000 a year will continued to get paid, even as some of their own staff are told to stay home, do not telecommute or answer mobile phones or Blackberry devices.
President Obama, who has been convening routine meetings with the congressional leaders, met again last night (Thursday) with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but no deal was agreed to. They will be at it again today, at least until the deadline is reached.
"What I’ve said to the Speaker and what I’ve said to Harry Reid is because the machinery of the shutdown is necessarily starting to move, I expect an answer in the morning. And my hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted, that a deal has been completed that has very meaningful cuts in a wide variety of categories, that helps us move in the direction of living within our means, but preserves our investments in things like education and innovation, research, that are going to be important for our long-term competitiveness," Obama said.
Military families in particular are shaking their heads over then impasse and threat to take paychecks away while loved ones fight in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
"They don't need more stress. They don't need to be worrying about nus back home," said Amy Tersigni, whose husband, Army Pvt. Kevin Tersigni, is serving in Iraq.
"They need to focus on finishing what they need to do and keeping themselves safe. So the financial stress doesn't need to happen," the mother of two, who will be broke by the end of the month, told CNN.
The blame game is complex.
Republicans blame the then-Democratic majority for failing to pass a budget last year. Democrats blame Senate Republicans for blocking Democrats from reaching the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster and pass a budget.
Some Democrats even blame Obama for failing to jump into the politically punishing budget battle in recent weeks.
Sen. Bernie Saunders (I-Vt.) says Democrats are culpable in this showdown for another reason: Once they allowed the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich to continue it opened up the opportunity for Republicans to go after the severe budget cuts to tackle the federal deficit. Saunders has said he cannot support deep budget cuts without some "shared sacrifice" with changes to the revenue stream, like wiping out tax loopholes for hugely profitable oil companies.
The angry founder of Tea Party Nation threatened tonight to run a primary challenger against Speaker John Boehner if he agrees to a budget deal with Democrats that averts the shutdown of the federal government. (Dana Bash of CNN just reported there is a deal.)
Sarah Palin was none too happy either.
"GOP: don't retreat! The country is going broke. We can't AFFORD cowboy poetry & subsidizing abortion," Palin Tweeted this evening (Washington time).
"If we can't fight to defund this nonsense now when we have the chance, do you think we'll win the big fight on entitlement reform later on?" she said in a separate Tweet.
The threats of running a candidate against Boehner came from Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips came as the Speaker of the House huddled behind closed doors tonight with the GOP rank and file to sell them on a framework for an agreement. The White House was also reviewing the framework.
According to National Journal, citing multiple GOP and Democratic sources, "The outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a “bridge” continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating while the deal is written in bill form."
Word of a deal apparently set off Phillips.
"Boehner is selling us out tonight. We will primary Boehner next year," Phillips said on his @teapartnation Twitter feed.
He also lashed out at President Obama and the Democrats.
"Obama and the party of treason think abortionists are more important than our military and their pay," Phillips Tweeted.
end update
---[
Updated 1:30 p.m. edt
Republicans and Democrats are speaking two different languages today.
Democrats say the sticking point is a GOP cut for funding for 3 million women who get their primary care from Planned Parenthood. The GOP seems to be saying that issue has been resolved.
"Republicans want to shut down the government because they want to make it harder for women to obtain the health services they need," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said today on the Senate floor.
But just a short while ago GOP House Speaker John Boehner was asked about the Planned Parenthood rider attached to a Republican bill, saying: "Almost all of the policy issues have been dealt with."
Polls and recent history show signs that most Americans are going to blame the Republicans if the government shuts down in the next 10+ hours, though President Obama is in the crosshairs of an angry electorate, as well. Jockeying for position, Boehner has tried to counter the impending blame game.
"We have no interest in shutting down they government... but we're not going to roll over and sell-out the American people," Boehner told reporters.
end update
---[
Updated 11:15 a.m. edt
It looks like the Tea Party-driven Republican Party is adamant that funding be cut for Planned Parenthood or else there is no deal on a budget.
Democrats charge Republicans want to tamper with women's health at the expense of paying the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. Armed Services and 800,000 other federal workers.
GOP Speaker John Boehner is spending the final hours before the government shuts down at midnight trying to make the case that Republicans are really just trying to cut the budget, but has yet to explain why he has drawn a line in the sand with Planned Parenthood funding.
Feeling the heat from the unpatriotic implications of the budget showdown, Boehner a short while ago tried to side-step screwing the Armed Forces by urging passage of a bill that would pay them but shut down the government. The maneuver appears to be going nowhere.
So is this thing really about cutting spending? Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says no, accusing the GOP of using deficit-reduction to impose a social agenda on Americans.
This is going to come down to the wire, but as of now it looks like the government is going to shut down at midnight.
End update
---[
With 24 hours left until the government shuts down, there are dire warnings that military pay and some tax refunds will not be able to be processed and 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed.
All the while members of Congress making about $173,000 a year will continued to get paid, even as some of their own staff are told to stay home, do not telecommute or answer mobile phones or Blackberry devices.
President Obama, who has been convening routine meetings with the congressional leaders, met again last night (Thursday) with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but no deal was agreed to. They will be at it again today, at least until the deadline is reached.
"What I’ve said to the Speaker and what I’ve said to Harry Reid is because the machinery of the shutdown is necessarily starting to move, I expect an answer in the morning. And my hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted, that a deal has been completed that has very meaningful cuts in a wide variety of categories, that helps us move in the direction of living within our means, but preserves our investments in things like education and innovation, research, that are going to be important for our long-term competitiveness," Obama said.
Military families in particular are shaking their heads over then impasse and threat to take paychecks away while loved ones fight in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
"They don't need more stress. They don't need to be worrying about nus back home," said Amy Tersigni, whose husband, Army Pvt. Kevin Tersigni, is serving in Iraq.
"They need to focus on finishing what they need to do and keeping themselves safe. So the financial stress doesn't need to happen," the mother of two, who will be broke by the end of the month, told CNN.
The blame game is complex.
Republicans blame the then-Democratic majority for failing to pass a budget last year. Democrats blame Senate Republicans for blocking Democrats from reaching the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster and pass a budget.
Some Democrats even blame Obama for failing to jump into the politically punishing budget battle in recent weeks.
Sen. Bernie Saunders (I-Vt.) says Democrats are culpable in this showdown for another reason: Once they allowed the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich to continue it opened up the opportunity for Republicans to go after the severe budget cuts to tackle the federal deficit. Saunders has said he cannot support deep budget cuts without some "shared sacrifice" with changes to the revenue stream, like wiping out tax loopholes for hugely profitable oil companies.
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