RoR: Forum

That quote of Charles Krauthammer's was made as the vote on the House Speaker's bill to cut spending, raise the debt ceiling and require the passage of a balanced budget amendment before the debt limit could be increased again was taken.

He mentioned that the House had passed Paul Ryan's budget, passed the Cap, Cut and Balance bill, tried to negotiate with the President, and now they passed this bill - proving that the House was doing their job, while the Senate is "the place that bills go to die." He called upon the Republicans to let everyone know that if the Senate won't pass this, it is time for them to pass a bill of their own. (And I assume he isn't counting that Reed bill with it's phony cuts).

Post 1

Friday, July 29, 2011 - 8:05pm

The senate had the Boehner Bill tabled within 45 minutes of being passed in the House. Unwilling to let the Senate to have an up and down vote on anything that has a balanced budget amendment attached.

Rep. Flake of Arizona (R) had an interesting comment. He suggested that Senator Reed will gut the shell of Boehner's bill, insert all of his bill inside it (phony cuts plus a large enough increase in the debt limit to carry past the next election (rather than let it dangle in the faces of Obama and about 20 Democratic senators who are up for election). Then that bill will be passed (but with no Balanced Budget Amendment) and sent back to the House. His suggestion was for the House to leave it exactly as it is received, attach that Balanced Budget Amendment and pass it - back to the Senate who are now forced into the position of voting for or against their own bill, plus the amendment. I like that.

Florida Rep. Connie Mack voted against the Boehner bill, even with the Balanced Budget amendment. He said it is because it is based upon the baseline that isn't really a baseline because it increases by about 7% each year. He is proposing something separate from the debt limit increase - it is deficit reduction and budget balancing proposal.

It is called the Mack Penny bill (H.R. 1848, the One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011) and lots of people have co-signed. It calls for starting with the 2011 baseline and then decreasing it each year by just 1% for 6 years. Then Setting an overall spending cap of 18 percent of gross domestic product in 2018. It would balance the federal budget beginning in FY 2019. It is based upon the Ryan budget�s tax policies and reduces overall spending by $7.5 trillion over 10 years.

The one percent spending cuts will be achieved one of two ways. The Congress and the President could work together to cut federal spending by one percent each year. If they are unable to reach a compromise, the bill triggers automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to ensure the one percent reduction is met. I'm hoping we will hear more on this.

Post 2

Saturday, July 30, 2011 - 11:30am

I heard that Rand Paul signed-on to the Penny bill. It'd be awesome if a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives got behind it and simply would not budge.

A 7% baseline budget doubles every 12 years or so. Medical costs in the United States double every 8 years or so. It's unsustainable.

Ed

Post 3

Saturday, July 30, 2011 - 12:20pm