Posted on 07/16/2011 11:18:50 AM PDT by re_tail20
Senate and House sources tell me that virtually nothing is happening or is expected to come out of White House talks. When asked what dealmaking might be going on, a House aide replied, “Nothing real yet.” A Senate source with knowledge of the behind-the-scenes work told me that senators are “still talking about what would be added to the debt disapproval plan before it would be considered by the Senate.” As for the White House meetings he added, “They are now completely irrelevant.” I am further told that the modification of the McConnell deal involves putting in place a set of agreed cuts. Would this entice House Republicans? Maybe. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) doesn’t rule it out, saying of the McConnell plan that the House he “didn’t want to give up on spending cuts.” But if the McConnell plan included spending cuts? Well, then we might get somewhere.
Two options are possible. In the first a commission styled on the base closing commission, made up of congressmen and senators, would identify cuts and the House and Senate could stage an up or down vote. The number of such commissioners and the timing of the votes are under discussion. The second option is to graft on top of that a set of cuts ($1.5 trillion or so) identified in the Biden meetings.
Several other bits of data confirm that a deal, if one is to be made, won’t be one over which Obama presides. The verbal assault by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virg.) isn’t designed to make a deal; it’s designed to find a fall guy and an excuse for the collapse of the White House talks.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Love the last paragraph:
“But notice the mention of “a few weeks” by Boehner. Apparently, the speaker of the House doesn’t think much of Obama’s insistence on a deal by Friday. In fact, nothing that Obama says these days seems to make a difference. The White House, in fact, is entirely irrelevant.”
Just REMEMBER.....EVERY Democrat, including the “O” voted AGAINST RAISING the DEBT level....in 2006!
I think Obama may be destroying himself. It’s a bit late for him to step aside for 2012, and I see at least some chance of a landslide defeat. History will not be kind — his failures are too big to hide.
I think Obama may be destroying himself. It’s a bit late for him to step aside for 2012, and I see at least some chance of a landslide defeat. History will not be kind — his failures are too big to hide.
Obama becomes a "lane duck" and a pariah among the Democrats...
Looks like they might still be trying to get to $2.5 T.
Obama is so transparent in not willing to do a shorter term deal for $1.5 T. This is what he got in such a tizzy about the other day when Cantor suggested it.
Reason is he does not want to debate cuts again because they are showing him up to be a tyrannical imbecile...he wants to push the whole discussion of cutting the deficit back to 2013.
Until House and Senate republicans start speaking the truth.. nothing will be gained..
If the Potus and democrats wanted to deal they would have a budget.. they don’t..
They(house) need to do what they do.. pass and submit a bill/budget to the Senate.. with cuts and everything..
Let the Senate absorb all the angst..
The Potus is just a loose cannon...
When I first read your comment my eyes read it as "lame dick". I need to get my eyes checked.
Boehner needs to leave the table. As long as he negotiates, Obama and Reid control public opinion by portraying Republicans as uncooperative. Boehner needs to pass a bill with only cuts and closed tax loopholes. Reid will be forced to take action in the Senate. Obama will be forced to cave or take responsibility.
I see Congress is rated about 10th (so far) on the list of ‘do nothing’ Congresses judge by how many new laws they pass. (A good thing)
Where is the talk of eliminating ‘czars’ and doing away with O’bummer care? And what, the ATF gets a free pass? A pointless war(s) continue unabated.
Seems like it would be easier to impeach the nut case and get on with our lives in an orderly fashion.
The Republicans are leaderless, no one coming forward to lead and state the obvious. Guess they are to worried about being re-elected and can’t see past that future.
Obama needs to be kept at the table. The longer he is kept in negotiations, the more frazzled his last nerve becomes. See what happened the other day? He couldn’t take it anymore. Keep him at the table and off the golf course. The main reason he goes to the golf course is for his own personal “recreation” that calms his nerve.
The problem is that neither Harry Reid or Obama wants to make a concrete proposal.
They both simply want to reject any Republican proposal until their failure to actually engage in working out any plan, leads to “default” and a Federal shutdown;
with which they can then set about starting their 2012 election campaigns blaming the GOP for a “failure to compromise” when factually
neither Obama or Reid - the Executive branch or the Senate leader - have made any material budget plan proposal with any specificity that can be written and offered as legislation - other than Obama’s initial budget proposal which was DOA in the House and rejected in the Senate in a vote that obtained majorities of Democrats and Republicans in that rejection.
Since then, there has been nothing of substance that has been offered by either Reid or the White House that could be held up for debate and consideration in Congress - NOTHING.
The House has done it’s job - approving budget legislation with spending cuts. Reid has never brought it up for consideration in the Senate.
Obama and Reid have attempted to “negotiate” via public statements behind which have stood no concrete, detailed proposals.
THEY - Reid and Obama - seem to be actually pushing for and favoring default and shutdown.
Obama is maybe thinking that what is needed, for his agenda, is another crisis. So he and Reid hope to be sure they get one.
The problem is that with the state-media - ABC/CBS/CNN/MSNBC/NBC/NYSlimes/WaPo?LASlimes - operating on their side, they hope to create the crisis and then blame it on the GOP.
We have to try to beat them in both arenas. In Washington, D.C. and in the public consciousness, whether we get to ‘default’ or not.
Bill Clinton, with the help of Dick Morris, would have handled this differently. Just like welfare reform. Clinton would have let it go down at the last minute, and take credit for it with the help of his friends in the press. This guy has too much hubris and arrogance to be pragmatic.
The POTUS loose cannon reduce himself to the POTUS loose peashooter with his idiot time to eat your peas remark.
Not too late for him to renounce re-election. Johnson announced he would not run March 31, 1968, the year of the election.
I disagree that we should stay at the table. As long as we sit at the table, the Democrats and their bootlickers in the media portray Obama as the calm, cool, collected Commander in Chief.
If we pass a bill and send it to the Senate, we take control of the narrative. The Dems and their servants can whine about how unfair the bill is but they can’t win the debate about who took decisive action.
I disagree that we should stay at the table. As long as we sit at the table, the Democrats and their bootlickers in the media portray Obama as the calm, cool, collected Commander in Chief.
If we pass a bill and send it to the Senate, we take control of the narrative. The Dems and their servants can whine about how unfair the bill is but they can’t win the debate about who took decisive action.
Obama and Reid need a deal. They just want to be able to extract as much GOP culpability as possible - such as the GOP going along w a tax increase.
The House GOP is moving in a sequential manner and appropriate timing.
First, the $2.4 trillion bill - pass it and then send it over to Reid in the glare of public attention. McConnell will force one vote after another; otherwise all Senate business will shut down entirely. The last thing these vulnerable RATS want are multiple votes on all facets of the House package. This is the price the Senate RATS are paying for their failure to pass a budget.
Second, assuming that Reid can kill #1, at great political price to his caucus, the House will pass a second bill, such as the Krauthammer strategy. Again, time is getting closer to August 2, public attention is increasing on the Senate RATS. If this passes, Obama faces a terrible decision, but he likely has to sign the Krauthammer package.
Third, if Reid can kill both #1 and #2, the House invokes the Gingrich plan - the Social Security Protection Act of 2011 - a short-term proposal that keeps the government going for one month with all revenues targeted to debt service, military pay, and SS-Medicare; with corresponding cuts in discretionary spending and a comparable increase in the debt ceiling. This will demonstrate, at the last minute, having exhausted all options, that the GOP wants seniors to get their SS checks.
So all of 1-2-3 heading into August 2; before any contingency McConnell plan has to be contemplated. This 1-2-3 strategy will also protect conservative House members with their base.
The multi-faceted strategy will also accomplish everything possible to demonstrate to seniors that it is Obama and the RATS that are screwing with their SS checks.
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