Republicans Only Bought Time Until The Big Battle W/No Budget-No Pay Bill!

[JimofPennsylvan]

It is laudable what the House Republicans are trying to do with the No Budget/No Pay bill. It seems their trying to push the lifting of the debt ceiling decision out to May 18th hoping that the intervening sequester cuts, the need to pass a continuing resolution for this fiscal year by the end of March and withholding Congresspersons pay if their chamber doesn't agree to the concurrent budget resolution for 2014 will create enough leverage for the Democrats and the White House to be moved to cut federal spending enough so that the country gets the deficit under control. It's a great effort but I don't think it will succeed it's not enough leverage, the Republicans are rightly looking for a two to two and a half trillion dollar cut in federal spending over ten year deal you're asking the Democrats for big movement in their position and the reasons for them to make the movement don't lie. The Republican leadership especially but also the whole Republican conference in both chambers of Congress have a big big big big decision to make which is come May 19th do they want to turn the financial spigot of the nation down so as to reduce the nation's budget deficit and deal with the huge public outcry and anger that will result from cuts in federal spending or do they just want to largely maintain the status quo for the next four years. They need to make a firm and final decision here because they can't keep saying to the American People were going to stop this federal massive deficit spending with this policy issue or that policy issue and then relent and then back down because you lose credibility the American people are thinking to themselves would you Republicans stop with the rhetoric and bluster plus this continual drawing of lines in the sand and not following through with the promised consequences your breaking down your supporters you make the Americans inclined to support you is why bother it is all for naught. I personally think you should dial down the spigot come May 19th and not relent no matter what the pain that comes from the reduction in federal spending and no matter what the public blowback even if you have to endure this situation for the next four years, significantly reducing federal spending so as to get the budget deficit under control holds an importance that dwarfs any other interests that is involved in this issue. Really and truly the decision that lies before the Republicans is now or never through this President's second term. It isn't the end of the world if Republican leaders or their conference decide they don't want to do it, they can't risk the consequences because if the Republicans just hold the status quo come 2016 America will be dealing with a national debt of around $20 trillion dollars resulting in probably alone around a half a trillion dollars in just interest payments on the national debt per year and it will all be on the hands of the Democrats; it will put the Republicans in great shape to win the White House in 2016 although the welfare and well-being of the nation and our heritage will have suffered a devastating blow! Republicans have to make this decision though and if you decide to go to battle don't settle for a paltry settlement only settle for a deal that gets the deficit under control because if you enter into this track over the next four years where you continually bring things to the brink and then settle for a minor reward you'll hurt the economy besides creating hardship on those Americans that could be negatively affected by your brinkmanship and you won't be successful, one big war that is it! For some of the serious problems America has faced in its history Americans have had to have a big fight over them to solve the problems - right to unionize, civil rights for African-Americans and ending the Vietnam War to just name a few Republicans need to decide if this is one of them I am a right leaning independent and I absolutely think so the quality of life of future generations of Americans is at stake here!


Did many Americans catch the news conference this morning of the Democrat Senate leadership talking about the House Republican No budget/No Pay bill. What a bunch of smacked-asses with their gloating with their remarks that the White House won again, President Obama faced the Republicans down again, the Republicans now have set a precedent when we raise the debt ceiling we don't have to include any federal spending cuts in street language there is no curbs on using the nation's credit when we've maxed out the nation's credit cards just get another credit card and continue to go to town on it let our heirs worry about paying the bills. The one thing that I think the American people should find very disappointing is the plan the Senate Democrats have which they touted again at this news conference is that they plan to use closing some of the loopholes in the corporate tax code to reduce the deficit, they will be squandering a precious asset of the nation if they do this. We need to use closing these corporate tax loopholes to reduce the corporate tax rate so more corporations create jobs in America for our people prior to these past elections many members of both parties were on board with this plan. It is especially disappointing with Senator Durbin and Senator Schumer at this news conference grandstanding this plan and hiding behind the infamous Simpson-Bowles report for support for this plan. It is especially disappointing because these guys have a lot of experience and are really smart they no what a good and fair deal is for both parties they no that the nation desperately needs this lower corporate tax rate and using closing the corporate tax loopholes is the only means to achieve this goal and they are still supporting squandering this opportunity for the country. For the record, both these big shot Senators provided half-truths at this press-conference for they said the Simpson-Bowles report called for using some of the savings from closing tax loopholes to reduce the deficit; true, but Simpson-Bowles referred to the closing of tax loopholes in both the entire individual and corporate tax code which Democrats are rightly not even considering closing tax loopholes on middle income individual taxpayers and most importantly Simpson-Bowles emphatically called for using the savings from closing tax loopholes to reduce the corporate tax rate to a 23% to a 29% rate!

 

[hortysir]

3 1/2 years the Senate hasn't passed a budget because they don't want the American people to know what kind of shit-hole we're really in.
It's far easier to point and laugh at the Congress' budget and find fault with it than suggest one of their own.

Revenues are up, yea.
But we're still outspending our income and borrowing the difference year after year.....nevermind the interest on those loans

 

[Avatar4321]

You surprised? Both parties have been kicking this problem down the line for years, heck even decades.

It's time they start doing what is right instead of what is expedient.

 

[waltky]

It's a swing anna miss...

Obama Batting at the ‘Mendoza Line’ When It Comes to Budgeting
February 6, 2013 – House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says President Barack Obama has once again failed in his duty to present his budget plan before the deadline set by Congress. He’s met the deadline only once in the last five years.

“With our $1 trillion deficits, the one thing the American public expects is a budget,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “The Budget [and] Accounting Act of 1921 requires that the president submit a budget on the first Monday of February.” “He’s had five opportunities to do it, but he’s missed the deadline 4 of the 5 times,” McCarthy said. “If any of you are baseball fans, that’s batting a .200 average,” McCarthy said. “If you’re a big baseball fan, you know now he’s at the ‘Mendoza line.’” “The Mendoza line is about Mario Mendoza,” he explained. “It’s the line that you talk for a major league baseball player if they become incompetent.” “I think the American public expect more and expect accountability,” McCarthy said.

Mario Mendoza played nine seasons as a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers in the 1970s and 1980s boasting a career average of .215. He has since become a symbol for incompetent hitting, batting only .118 in his final season in 1982. This week, Obama again failed to meet the congressionally mandated first-Monday-in-February deadline to present a budget. Only once during his presidency has he submitted a budget on time, in 2010, when he offered a record $3.8 trillion proposal for fiscal year 2011.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the president is “shirking his duty” by not presenting a budget. "I’m disappointed the President has missed his deadline. But I’m not surprised,” he said in a statement on Monday. “We still don’t know when we’ll receive the president’s request.” "The House Budget Committee will do its job,” Ryan added. “We’ll write a budget—and submit it on time. In the past two years, we’ve offered our solutions to the country’s fiscal challenges. Now the President must do the same."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the focus should be on “substance over deadlines.” Obama has “put forward consistently budgets that achieve what the American people overwhelmingly support,” Carney said on Monday. On Tuesday, Obama told reporters, “both the House and the Senate are working towards budget proposals” that “I hope” include a mix of spending cuts and more taxes.

Source

See also:

Sequestration: Obama tax-and-spending plan already DOA on Hill
2/5/13 - President Barack Obama’s proposal to delay sequestration appeared dead on arrival in the House — even before he announced it.

"I'm flabbergasted," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told POLITICO ahead of the president’s speech. "Until he addresses the real problem, which is mandatory spending, he's just whistling in the wind." The president’s proposal to put off mandatory spending cuts and push for more revenue through tax reform was the latest salvo in the never-ending fiscal battles, and Republicans have little appetite for any more revenue increases after the year-end tax-rate compromise. The across-the-board sequester cuts, which would reduce Pentagon spending by $487 billion over the next decade, were originally scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 2, but were delayed to March 1. Obama insists that a new package of tax revenue and spending cuts is essential to the health of the economy, but this latest public relations offensive lacks the urgency of the New Year’s Eve fiscal cliff compromise — and congressional Republicans are no longer in a compromising mood on taxes.

House Speaker John Boehner slammed the plan before Obama even spoke, suggesting that new revenues should not be part of any deficit-reduction package, short-term or long-term. “We believe there is a better way to reduce the deficit, but Americans do not support sacrificing real spending cuts for more tax hikes,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement. Top Republicans in the House echoed Boehner’s sentiment after the president’s remarks Tuesday. “Tax reform should be about making the code simpler and fairer for American families and helping employers create more jobs. The president’s proposal is nothing more than another tax hike to pay for more Washington spending,” House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said in a statement. “That is not what America needs.”

Many Democrats have dug in against deeper spending cuts. “Congress has already cut discretionary spending — defense and non-defense — to levels that jeopardize economic growth as well as services and investments critical to families and communities,” said New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “We must prevent a single-minded focus on spending cuts from further weakening a still fragile economy.”

Speaking from the White House Briefing Room, Obama called for a short-term delay of sequestration, scheduled to begin in March 1, that would include unspecified spending cuts and new revenues through tax reform while a longer-term deficit-reduction package was hammered out in Congress. "There is no reason that the jobs of thousands of Americans who work in national security or education or clean energy, not to mention the growth of the entire economy, should be put in jeopardy because folks in Washington couldn't come together to eliminate a few special-interest tax loopholes or government programs that we agree need some reform," he said.

Read more: Sequestration: Obama tax-and-spending plan already DOA on Hill - Tim Mak and Darren Samuelsohn - POLITICO.com

 

[TheOldSchool]

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