I would be surprised if the White House elects to pass up an opportunity to re-fight the government funding battle, which they have claimed political victory for much of the past three years.
“I am very proud to stand here today with Chairman Ryan to say that we have broken through the partisanship and gridlock and reached a bipartisan budget compromise,” Murray said, calling the agreement “an important step in helping to heal some of the wounds here in Congress and show we can do something without another crisis around the corner.”Interesting choice of rhetoric by Senator Murray, at a time when the Health Insurance system of Americans is in danger, she is focused on "helping to heal some of the wounds here in Congress."
I guess I should be glad she only tended to "some of the wounds", leaving her time to do the business her constituents elected her to do.
For the details of the proposal, and perhaps more flourishes of meaningless rhetoric, click this link from the Washington Post.
28 comments:
I see no mention of the debt ceiling. Is there still another battle to be had over that, or was that raised/waived as part of this agreement? ( Last I heard it was suspended until February 17 )
Twitter has exploded with comments from conservatives angry about the budget deal. Conservatives, most of 'em seem to believe that a magic wand can be waved and they'll get the budget deal of their dreams. You can tell they are angry about this deal because they type in ALL CAPS just so you know.
My take: The Republicans are the minority party in the Senate. They cannot compel the majority to do anything. What the Ryan/Murray deal does is end the possibility of a government shutdown before the 2014 mid-term elections so the focus can be kept on ObamaCare.
It also restores cuts that were made to military spending by the sequester. It creates an actual budget, for the first time in three years. It limits discretionary spending. It also eliminates some egregiously wasteful spending.
This is probably the best deal the minority party can get, if it even passes through the Senate.
Most importantly for the Republicans, it clears the table of other issues before the mid-terms. The only way the Rs can have any real budgetary impact is to capture a voting majority in the Senate at the 2014 elections, and the Ryan proposal helps put the focus on that goal.
Haz - You got it.
My gut tells me Obama is not going to do what is expected.
You can tell they are angry about this deal because they type in ALL CAPS just so you know.
You could address the issue rather than taking a page from the lefty playbook and delegitimizing opposing viewpoints.
In reality Ryan fell for the Dem's oldest lie: we'll cut spending later. The the Dem's "compromise" is lower retirement funding for people who won't retire for 30 years. They're already working to re-establish funding to those retirements. It's always the same: more funding now for promises of cuts later. Unfortunately there's always one naive fool trying to earn his accomplisher badge who falls for it.
Marshall - Any deal with the corruptocrats is a bad deal. We all know it. Problem is, if the R's don't agree to whatever the party in power wants - then the Rs are excoriated in the press.
To answer my earlier question:
It is not expected to address the equally volatile issue of the nation's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling, which will need to be increased in the late winter or early spring and could by itself spark a conservative-led showdown.
reuters
Democrats choose funding their party conventions over funding medical research for kids.
And the Dems are fuming!
More fuming Democrats.
GOP Seeks To Block Obamacare Officials From Getting Pay Raises, Bonuses...
190,000 salary isn't enough. Elite democrat deserves more taxpayer money for her failed Obamacare rollout.
Haz may/may not be right about the budget, but the Demos are counting on the absence of a budget fight to push through AmnestyCare early next year.
And April is right about dealing with the Demos - anything with Patty Murray's name on it is worthless.
Less a deal than a sellout.
Of course it's a bad deal. The alternative is to fight a winless battle and give the press and the democrats what they want. The ability to distract from their own failures and blame the R party for being mean.
Ryan's cred is taking a beating here.
I concede that maybe he took one for the team to avoid media-storms over alleged Repub intransigence before the 2014 midterms.
But wtf is the big deal about saving 23 Billion over ten years? Especially when he had to agree to raise taxes and fees [and they were the sneaky hidden fees that really irk true conservatives]
In summary, he should be somewhat embarrassed to even hold a presser to announce that! It is a pittance.
Another disgraceful "more spending today for higher taxes and fake, never-to-be-realized, future cuts".
I'll leave it up to the politically savvier among you to hash out whether it's really a political necessity or not, but as an operating budget it's just another kick of the can down the road.
I don't usually think like this but there really should be only one objective right now and that's maximizing the ouster of Democrats from the government.
They have made it very clear that they cannot be trusted in what they say, promise, or even pass as law. They will violate any law, any standard, and tradition for the ends of spending more and controlling more. They are simply an existential danger to the republic.
Republicans should do whatever it takes to get Republicans in office. That's the game Dems have been playing and winning at, and once you lose that game all you can do is tilt at windmills, and hope they shoot themselves in the foot, which they did. Now is time to show competence, calm and steady communication of conservative principles. When called on the hypocrisy as with this bill, you simply state, that this is the best we can get until the election changes things.
As always, it's simply up to the voters to save themselves in the end
April Apple said...
Marshall - Any deal with the corruptocrats is a bad deal. We all know it. Problem is, if the R's don't agree to whatever the party in power wants - then the Rs are excoriated in the press.
The better deal was the current baseline with sequestration in place, which still removes the shutdown threat. Instead you gave Dems immediate relief in return for nothing.
Or more accurately, in return for Ryan being labelled "reasonable" for as long as the label is useful in attacking other Reps.
"House and Senate negotiators unveiled an $85 billion agreement late Tuesday to fund federal agencies through the fall of 2015.
In other words, it is NOT a Budget. Budgets run in fiscal year cycles, one at a time. This "compromise" is essentially another horse-shit corruption enhancing Continuing Resolution.
Apparently in the span of 5 years the primary function of Congress has been eliminated....by Congress itself, none the less, lead by the dimwit precious princess peacock in the White House.
As a former "Fed" I anxiously await the complete re-writing of Federal GAAP and GASB standards to accomodate the new regime.
The Republicans surrender...again.
Another failure by Republican leadership.
If they pass this deal with only Rhinos and Democrats than it is time to get new leaders in every slot.
The fact that the military will be cut is not a reason to stop the sequestration.
They can use some cuts.
I agree with Haz. It's a surrender until after 2014 when (hopefully) the Republicans can get things done in both chambers.
Obama may himself reject this deal or he thinks it's good enough to highlight his bi-partisan hackery because of their interminable do-something hyperbole. WE MUST DO SOMETHING OR BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. OH WOE IS US!!!
Methadras ...with all this whoop-de-do about the "deal" I'd not be very surprised if Obama did reject it and spin it as more Republican intransigence. He never misses an opportunity for publicity.
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