Tag Archives: house vote today

The debt ceiling budget deal: spending cuts with no tax hikes for the wealthy–at least for right now

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Here’s a fact sheet from the White House: “Bipartisan Debt Deal,” and Obama explaining the deal:

The President says the deal was not “what I would have preferred,”but said it will “allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest America.” Most importantly, it will ensure we don’t have to repeat the crisis in coming months… [via Think Progress].

Bob Cesca’s summary:

It’s difficult for me to write an “upside” post about the deal because I don’t think there’s an upside. Say it along with me now: spending cuts in a slow growth recovery are a terrible, ridiculous, utterly stupid thing to do. I understand the calculus that there had to be a deal or else we’d default. I get it. It’s better than a global economic crisis. But that doesn’t mean I have to accept a less harmful crisis that will surely ensue by this austerity.

[...] Social Security isn’t cut — yet. Medicaid isn’t cut — yet. But there are still massive spending cuts and no tax increases on the super rich. And it might not even pass.

And from Matt Yglesias:

Here’s the White House’s explanation of the budget deal. Long story short, a lot of spending cuts! The first tranche of cuts is balanced between defense and non-defense elements and will be implemented immediately. The second, larger tranche of cuts won’t happen until at least 2013 (the good news) and could take a variety of different specific forms depending on exactly what happens. In theory, taxes can be raised in lieu of cuts but in practice nothing about the composition of the committee makes that seem like a remotely plausible outcome.

And from Thomas Lane | TPM:

Even if the bill passes the Senate it still has to make its way through the House. Speaker John Boehner provided the GOP caucus with a power-point presentation to try to sell them on the plan. However, he faces a sizable conservative rump that is still unsatisfied, largely because of concerns about defense cuts and the now-downgraded (and ludicrous) Balanced Budget Amendment.

On the other side of the aisle, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has to hand her Democrats a plan that many regard as an utter capitulation to the Republicans. A progressive backlash is already underway. The bill has until Tuesday to clear both chambers and land on the President’s desk.

It ain’t over until it’s over and it’s far from over with this new deal.

Sidenote: if you’re a Lib / Prog / Dem who didn’t bother to vote in 2010, just STFU. Don’t even talk about the budget deal and what Obama ‘should have’ done.

Government shutdown: don’t ‘high five’ the 2011 spending cuts deal until after today’s vote

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UPDATE: Watch it on CSpan

There’s been a lot of teasing and laughter from the Left (TPMDC, DailyKos, The Guardian, etc.) over the actual numbers coming out of a recent CBO report on the spending cuts that were agreed to last Friday night — and the actual amounts of those cuts.

Well, in case anyone forgot, the House votes on it today and the Teaparty Republican members are starting to melt down…

(PBS) House Vote on Budget Compromise Looks to Be Rocky

The Wall Street Journal’s Naftali Bendavid has the numbers from the Congressional Budget Office:

“A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the 2011 spending deal struck by Republicans and Democrats late Friday would save only about $352 million this year, a small fraction of the $38.5 billion touted by negotiators on both sides.

These numbers make House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy’s job to get to 218 votes for passage on the House floor Thursday much more difficult. He’s also almost certain to need votes from Democrats to get the bill passed. Originally, House GOP leadership was looking to be able to do this with Republican votes alone.

The conservative National Review editorializes against the budget deal Thursday, calling it “strike one against the Speakership of John Boehner.” Read more…

John Boehner’s twitter stream this morning:

The stopgap CR that was voted on last Friday night keeps the government open only through tomorrow night.

Government shutdown: House to begin review of next short-term CR today at noon EST

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You’ll be able to watch on CSPAN (12:00 p.m. EST).

Will another CR be approved through April 8?  Here’s what I’ve found this morning:

Spending plan: Resistance to second stopgap spending deal rises in Congress: The tension surrounding the issue could derail efforts to keep the government operating past Friday, when the current funding measure expires and stops the flow of money to federal agencies. Conservative Republicans reject the temporary approach as insufficient, and some Democrats oppose another extension because the cuts are too deep.

Reid: GOP refusal to compromise could force government shutdown: In a floor statement [yesterday] (full transcript at the link), Reid accused Republicans of refusing to negotiate and said that if they don’t come to the table with some new ideas, they will be to blame for shutting down the federal government. Reid said that while Democrats have shown a willingness to compromise, Republicans have offered “no reasonable cuts” and have shown “no willingness to compromise and no sense of shared responsibility.” Reid said we cannot “keep funding this country a couple of weeks at a time” and “if no budget passes and we cannot keep this country running, it will be clear which side will bear that burden.”

Conservative groups say no to spending extension: A major national Tea Party organization is joining other conservative groups in calling for Republican lawmakers in Congress to vote against a three week extension to fund the federal government and prevent a government shutdown.

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