Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
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The reconciliation process limits debate to 20 hours and bypasses the filibuster altogether. It was instituted to ensure that minority obstruction couldnt block important business like passing a budget or reducing the deficit.
The Senate could put raising taxes to a vote under this process, but as I said Harry Reid doesn't have the votes. You really think if he did they wouldn't have done this already? Please, there's nothing either side wouldn't do to embarass the other if they could find a way and had the necessary votes.
C'mon now you guys, you know very well that democratic senators from the farm belt voted against stopping the ethanol subsidies, as well as the repub senators did. Same for the other special interests, it's not like the dems will all vote to raise taxes or strrip tax subsidies and loopholes. What we have here is yet another example of the pot calling the kettle black, this time the dems are doing it.
Will he include himself on that list?
When they were asked a question about meeting a timetable for entitlement reform, for Social Security and Medicare, Obama said he'd like to act within two years, but certainly by the end of his term. McCain, laughing with a snort, said, "I'll answer the question.'' But he didn't offer any more specificity, only to say that he would appoint a commission to find a solution.
Obama vs. McCain: Scripted and improv: The Swamp
President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare "bargain" with the American people, saying that the nation's long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs.
That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a "fiscal responsibility summit" before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the issues of entitlement reform and long-term budget deficits soon after it jump-starts job growth and the stock market.
"What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further," he said. "We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else's."
Obama Pledges Reform of Social Security, Medicare Programs
Why do idiot hacks only remember things they like about people they like, and things they hate about people they hate?