Let's lead from the front Mr. President; forget the base, its the middle that elected you. Budget Discord Simmers Among Democrats - Some Liberal Groups, Lawmakers Worry About Cuts to Social Security, Other Entitlements
From The Wall Street Journal:
Cracks are showing in the Democratic coalition as the next round of budget talks gets under way, hurting the chances for progress toward a broad deal that changes the tax code and significantly narrows future deficits.
While Republicans are still smarting over nasty infighting they engaged in during the debt-ceiling fight and 16-day government shutdown, Democrats have stayed united. This helped them beat back Republican demands to undo or scale back President Barack Obama's 2010 health law as a condition for ending the showdown.
But with eyes now turning toward a newly formed budget committee, some liberal lawmakers and groups are worried that Democrats will negotiate cuts to Social Security benefits and other entitlement programs. The president's budget blueprint, which was released in April, proposed slowing the growth of Social Security spending by using a new measure of inflation—an idea that drew a rebuke from some lawmakers and liberal groups.
As part of the agreement that was reached Wednesday, members of the two parties will meet to try to hash out differences between the House and Senate budget plans passed earlier in the year. Leaders of the committee set to meet are Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees, respectively.
The main differences between the plans are over taxes and spending: The Senate Democratic proposal would raise close to $1 trillion in tax revenue over 10 years, while the GOP plan includes deep spending cuts. But lawmakers taking part in the effort may aim for something more ambitious: a budget accord that would both reshape the tax code and reduce long-term deficits. The committee faces a Dec. 13 deadline.
The president tried to lay the groundwork for a broader deficit-reduction deal by including chained CPI, the formula that would slow the growth of annual cost-of-living adjustments, in his budget proposal. In his $3.8 trillion budget blueprint, Mr. Obama also called for squeezing $370 billion from Medicare by raising some fees and premiums as well as making cuts to providers.
A senior administration official said the president stands by his budget as written and is willing to make changes to entitlements as part of a larger agreement that also includes new tax revenue.
Mr. Obama frustrated many Democrats during the summer 2011 budget standoff, when some in the president's party complained that he had acceded to Republican demands. That negotiation yielded the deal that put in place the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester.
Cracks are showing in the Democratic coalition as the next round of budget talks gets under way, hurting the chances for progress toward a broad deal that changes the tax code and significantly narrows future deficits.
While Republicans are still smarting over nasty infighting they engaged in during the debt-ceiling fight and 16-day government shutdown, Democrats have stayed united. This helped them beat back Republican demands to undo or scale back President Barack Obama's 2010 health law as a condition for ending the showdown.
But with eyes now turning toward a newly formed budget committee, some liberal lawmakers and groups are worried that Democrats will negotiate cuts to Social Security benefits and other entitlement programs. The president's budget blueprint, which was released in April, proposed slowing the growth of Social Security spending by using a new measure of inflation—an idea that drew a rebuke from some lawmakers and liberal groups.
As part of the agreement that was reached Wednesday, members of the two parties will meet to try to hash out differences between the House and Senate budget plans passed earlier in the year. Leaders of the committee set to meet are Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees, respectively.
The main differences between the plans are over taxes and spending: The Senate Democratic proposal would raise close to $1 trillion in tax revenue over 10 years, while the GOP plan includes deep spending cuts. But lawmakers taking part in the effort may aim for something more ambitious: a budget accord that would both reshape the tax code and reduce long-term deficits. The committee faces a Dec. 13 deadline.
The president tried to lay the groundwork for a broader deficit-reduction deal by including chained CPI, the formula that would slow the growth of annual cost-of-living adjustments, in his budget proposal. In his $3.8 trillion budget blueprint, Mr. Obama also called for squeezing $370 billion from Medicare by raising some fees and premiums as well as making cuts to providers.
A senior administration official said the president stands by his budget as written and is willing to make changes to entitlements as part of a larger agreement that also includes new tax revenue.
Mr. Obama frustrated many Democrats during the summer 2011 budget standoff, when some in the president's party complained that he had acceded to Republican demands. That negotiation yielded the deal that put in place the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 7:36 PM
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