Honest Question: "Who do you think wrote the sequester bill?"

[CrusaderFrank]

Honest Question: "Who do you think wrote Obama's sequester bill?"

It was not Obama's bill. Obama suggested a way out. He did not send over a bill to the GOP House.

The Sequester was at Obama's insistence. He was presented an adult, sane, rational plan that he rejected

 

[edthecynic]

Honest Question: "Who do you think wrote Obama's sequester bill?"

It was not Obama's bill. Obama suggested a way out. He did not send over a bill to the GOP House.

Actually, if we are to believe the White House official who went on the talking heads show today the White House did propose the sequester, not Congress. Since this is the very same guy who told Woodward he would regret taking the position that it was the White House who started this "mess" in the first place, I think we can safely declare that you lost this argument.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTkn3bY6qmQ]WH Adviser Gene Sperling: We Did Put Forward The Framework Of Sequester - YouTube[/ame]

Sperling says 3 times that the sequester we have now of all spending cuts was the idea of the Republicans. It was Gregory who said it was Obama's.

GENE SPERLING: We know, everyone knows, that the president wanted an enforcement mechanism that included revenues on the most well-off. The speaker insisted, the Republicans insisted that if this be an enforcement mechanism, that it be on all spending cuts. Because we were forced to do that, it is true we suggested going back to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings mechanism.

GENE SPERLING: But I think it's most accurate that they [the Republicans] did propose an all-spending cut mechanism that would have this type of harmful impact on defense, and on education and research.

GENE SPERLING: I think the president was overall right in that the idea of an across-the-board, all-spending cut was the idea of Republicans. But, yes, we put forward the design of how to do that.

 

[Flopper]

Honest Question: "Who do you think wrote the sequester bill?"

Bills are written by Congress? I know others can help draft a bill, but doesn't the Congress have to write the final version? Who gets credit?

Oh, did you know this is a legal thing, a law, a Congressional mandate?

I don't think there was a sequester bill. The super committee, which was a joint Senate and House committee composed of both Republicans and Democrats created the sequester. It became part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, passed by both houses by a wide margin. The sequester had strong support because no one thought our lawmakers could be so inept as to allow this thing to happen.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

It was not Obama's bill. Obama suggested a way out. He did not send over a bill to the GOP House.

Actually, if we are to believe the White House official who went on the talking heads show today the White House did propose the sequester, not Congress. Since this is the very same guy who told Woodward he would regret taking the position that it was the White House who started this "mess" in the first place, I think we can safely declare that you lost this argument.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTkn3bY6qmQ"]WH Adviser Gene Sperling: We Did Put Forward The Framework Of Sequester - YouTube[/ame]

Sperling says 3 times that the sequester we have now of all spending cuts was the idea of the Republicans. It was Gregory who said it was Obama's.

GENE SPERLING: We know, everyone knows, that the president wanted an enforcement mechanism that included revenues on the most well-off. The speaker insisted, the Republicans insisted that if this be an enforcement mechanism, that it be on all spending cuts. Because we were forced to do that, it is true we suggested going back to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings mechanism.

GENE SPERLING: But I think it's most accurate that they [the Republicans] did propose an all-spending cut mechanism that would have this type of harmful impact on defense, and on education and research.

GENE SPERLING: I think the president was overall right in that the idea of an across-the-board, all-spending cut was the idea of Republicans. But, yes, we put forward the design of how to do that.

Sperling said.

Obama has always said he wanted a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, and has always insisted on including both spending cuts and tax hikes at a 3 to one ratio. Unless Obama is a Republican I can easily make the case you are lying.

 

[blackhawk]

Who signed the sequester bill into law?

 

[edthecynic]

Actually, if we are to believe the White House official who went on the talking heads show today the White House did propose the sequester, not Congress. Since this is the very same guy who told Woodward he would regret taking the position that it was the White House who started this "mess" in the first place, I think we can safely declare that you lost this argument.

WH Adviser Gene Sperling: We Did Put Forward The Framework Of Sequester - YouTube

Sperling says 3 times that the sequester we have now of all spending cuts was the idea of the Republicans. It was Gregory who said it was Obama's.

GENE SPERLING: We know, everyone knows, that the president wanted an enforcement mechanism that included revenues on the most well-off. The speaker insisted, the Republicans insisted that if this be an enforcement mechanism, that it be on all spending cuts. Because we were forced to do that, it is true we suggested going back to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings mechanism.

GENE SPERLING: But I think it's most accurate that they [the Republicans] did propose an all-spending cut mechanism that would have this type of harmful impact on defense, and on education and research.

GENE SPERLING: I think the president was overall right in that the idea of an across-the-board, all-spending cut was the idea of Republicans. But, yes, we put forward the design of how to do that.

Sperling said.

Obama has always said he wanted a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, and has always insisted on including both spending cuts and tax hikes at a 3 to one ratio. Unless Obama is a Republican I can easily make the case you are lying.

Sperling said no such thing! Sperling said Obama has already given the GOP a deficit reduction 3 to 1 ratio of cuts to revenue and is now offering an additional 2 to 1 ratio of cuts to revenue.


GENE SPERLING:
Now, you're right, you know, the president has a plan. This is a summary; it's on the White House website. But, you know, the speaker understands this. And what I think is most important to understand is that this really does reflect compromise. We've already cut the deficit by $2.5 trillion; $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of revenue. Now the president puts an offer to Speaker Boehner on the table in December; even though the speaker walked away from the negotiations, he's kept that offer on. And this offer has $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue.

The Sequester - The Presidents Plan | The White House

 

[peach174]

No two ways of getting around what Gene Said;
We put forth the design"
The WH put forth the design of the sequester.
Both parties are to blame but the design of the sequester came from the the administration.
So we were right when we said it came from this administration.

 

[Ame®icano]

President Obama signed the bill shortly after it was passed by the Senate.[14] In doing so, the president said, "Is this the deal I would have preferred? No. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year."

Of course not, he wanted tax increase without spending cuts.
As crackhead calls it "balanced approach".

 

[Dante]

Honest Question: "Who do you think wrote the sequester bill?"

Bills are written by Congress? I know others can help draft a bill, but doesn't the Congress have to write the final version? Who gets credit?

Oh, did you know this is a legal thing, a law, a Congressional mandate?

I don't think there was a sequester bill. The super committee, which was a joint Senate and House committee composed of both Republicans and Democrats created the sequester. It became part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, passed by both houses by a wide margin. The sequester had strong support because no one thought our lawmakers could be so inept as to allow this thing to happen.

It sequester bill is the Budget Control Act of 2011. Budget Control Act of 2011 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All attempts as a bill failed " to gain enough general political or specific Congressional support to move into law, as the midnight August 2, 2011, deadline for an unprecedented U.S. sovereign default drew nearer and nearer.[14]"

"The solution ostensibly came from White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, who, on July 12, 2011, proposed a compulsory trigger that would go into effect if another agreement was not made on tax increases and/or budget cuts equal to or greater than the the debt ceiling increase by a future date. In fact, the "sequester" was originally proposed by Georgia Republican Congressman Jack Kingston in a November 29, 2010 interview with The Wall Street Journal"
""At the heart of his reform plan is restoring the process of automatic spending cuts that prevailed in the late 1980s under the name Gramm-Rudman. In the 1980s deficits were the budget cut trigger, but Mr. Kingston would apply it to spending levels. If Appropriators exceed the spending targets set early in the fiscal year under the Budget Act, automatic 'sequesters,' or across the board program cuts, would be imposed. When this process was in place in the 1980s, the deficit as a share of GDP fell to below 3% from 6%. Mr. Kingston says his goal is to reduce spending over time to 18% of GDP, down from 24% to 25% today.""

 

[Dante]

In fact, the "sequester" was originally proposed by Georgia Republican Congressman Jack Kingston in a November 29, 2010 interview with The Wall Street Journal

Who signed the sequester bill into law?

Presidential signature

President Obama signed the bill shortly after it was passed by the Senate.[14] In doing so, the president said, "Is this the deal I would have preferred? No. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year."

Budget Control Act of 2011 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Woodward summarizes the thoughts of the Obama team: "There would be no chance the Republicans would want to pull the trigger and allow the sequester to force massive cuts to Defense." Democrats, meanwhile, didn’t want to see their favorite domestic programs cut.

As the negotiations proceeded, Republicans seemed to think the same thing.

"Boehner told the House Republican leadership and other key members not to worry about the sequester … ‘Guys, this would be devastating to Defense,’ he said. ‘This would be devastating, from their perspective, on their domestic priorities. This is never going to happen,’" Woodward wrote.

PolitiFact | Barack Obama says Congress owns sequestration cuts

 

[Ame®icano]

Cmon Dante, you can't just snip the part that serve your purpose.

From your link: "But it was Obama’s negotiating team that came up with the idea for defense cuts in 2011, though they were intended to prod Congress to come up with a better deal for reining in the deficit, not as an effort to make those cuts reality."

 

[Skull Pilot]

Obama just can't deal with the fact that his little scheme failed.

He was using the sequester as a political ploy and it failed. Why else would he shift from the Armageddon predictions to his current talking points?

 

[Ame®icano]

Scaring tactics and blame game didn't work this time.

What I would like to know is, what is cut so far,how bad it is and for whom?

 

[Dante]

Scaring tactics and blame game didn't work this time.

What I would like to know is, what is cut so far,how bad it is and for whom?

The GOP sponsored, and voted for the sequester bill agreeing it would be devastating it went into effect.

It was Obama’s idea, but Republicans agreed to it and provided key support.

The most detailed account on this point is in The Price of Politics, a book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward about the 2011 debt ceiling standoff. His reporting shows the White House developed the idea and presented it to Democratic leadership on July 28 and to Boehner’s team on July 30.

Both sides saw it as a way to force further negotiations later, according to Woodward. The Obama team thought there was "no chance" Republicans would allow defense cuts to happen, while Boehner said Democrats would cave to save domestic programs. Woodward quotes Boehner predicting the sequester "is never going to happen."

Republicans have repeatedly said the sequester was Obama’s idea, but they supported it early on and provided the votes needed to put it into law.

---

Woodward summarizes the thoughts of the Obama team: "There would be no chance the Republicans would want to pull the trigger and allow the sequester to force massive cuts to Defense." Democrats, meanwhile, didn’t want to see their favorite domestic programs cut.

As the negotiations proceeded, Republicans seemed to think the same thing.

"Boehner told the House Republican leadership and other key members not to worry about the sequester … ‘Guys, this would be devastating to Defense,’ he said. ‘This would be devastating, from their perspective, on their domestic priorities. This is never going to happen,’" Woodward wrote.

PolitiFact | PolitiFact's guide to sequestration PolitiFact | Barack Obama says Congress owns sequestration cuts

 

[Dante]

Cmon Dante, you can't just snip the part that serve your purpose.

From your link: "But it was Obama’s negotiating team that came up with the idea for defense cuts in 2011, though they were intended to prod Congress to come up with a better deal for reining in the deficit, not as an effort to make those cuts reality."

come up with the idea. so what? Obamacare was Obama's idea too. Didn't see the GOP going for that.



"Boehner told the House Republican leadership and other key members not to worry about the sequester … ‘Guys, this would be devastating to Defense,’ he said. ‘This would be devastating, from their perspective, on their domestic priorities. This is never going to happen,’"

 

[Old Rocks]

The sequester bill was the brainchild of the administration, as reported by Woodward. That it was written by Congressional staffers doesn't get the administration off the hook, which was the point of Woodward's editorial piece. Now the administration and minions are attacking him as senile and such? Big overplay of hand, and the price is becoming apparent.

2014 will tell.

 

[Old Rocks]

PolitiFact | PolitiFact's guide to sequestration


Both the White House and Congress, Democrats and Republicans, signed off on the agreement leading to the sequester.

Here’s the background: In the summer of 2011, Obama and Congress were in a high-stakes stand-off over the debt limit. House Republicans insisted on spending cuts before increasing the debt limit. This was a notable change from the past, when members of Congress from both parties would pass debt ceiling increases with relatively little fuss.

Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner tried unsuccessfully to reach a "grand bargain" to put the federal budget on more stable footing. When that failed, they arrived at the much less ambitious Budget Control Act of 2011.

That law included about $1.2 trillion in future budget cuts, but it also directed Congress to find another $1.2 trillion via a bipartisan "supercommittee." As further incentive, the law had a threat: If a supercommittee couldn’t agree on a package, or if Congress voted down the supercomittee proposal, a sequester would automatically go into effect, putting in place nearly across-the-board budget cuts, with half coming from defense.

Both Obama and Boehner supported the plan and urged Congress to pass it, which it did, with bipartisan majorities. The supercommittee deadlocked, though, so it never proposed new cuts. Hence the sequester.

Whose idea was it?

It was Obama’s idea, but Republicans agreed to it and provided key support.


And at present, the majority of Americans are blaming the GOP for their intransiegence on new taxes. And intranseigence that is increasingly unpopular, given information like this;

Wealth Inequality Video Goes Viral ? Is the Distribution of Wealth What You Would Expect? - Barrow, GA Patch

 

[Flopper]

Scaring tactics and blame game didn't work this time.

What I would like to know is, what is cut so far,how bad it is and for whom?

From a political standpoint, the sequester will help the Democrats. Economists estimate the economic impact on the economy will be a reduction in GDP of .5% to 1%. There is no doubt that this will mean job losses, as much as 750,000 as well as many cuts in government services that directly effects the public. When election time roles around, do you think the public is going vote for the party that says 85 billion in cuts is not enough? We need more. I think not.

 

[IlarMeilyr]

It's not really even 85 billion. Making sense of the clashing sequester numbers - NBC Politics

But even if it was a full 85 billion, do you REALLY believe that the withholding of THAT piddling amount of "spending" would reduce the GDP .5% to 1%?

Damn. We must be more addicted to spending what we do not have and cannot afford than I had even feared.

 

[Flopper]

It's not really even 85 billion. Making sense of the clashing sequester numbers - NBC Politics

But even if it was a full 85 billion, do you REALLY believe that the withholding of THAT piddling amount of "spending" would reduce the GDP .5% to 1%?

Damn. We must be more addicted to spending what we do not have and cannot afford than I had even feared.

I believe the effect on the economy will not be that bad, because in budget talks a compromise will be reached. For the Republicans to continue pushing more cost cuts, would be political suicide. As job cuts, contract cancellation, and cuts to funds to state and local government hit the media, Republican poll numbers will fall like rock.