Senate Dems Answer House GOP on Spending Cuts, Reid Predicts Bills Will Fail

Fox News ^ | 3/4/2011 | Trish Turner

[tobyhill]

In the face of Republican calls for Democrats to offer a plan of their own for funding the federal government, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a $1.1 trillion bill which imposes $6.5 billion in new spending cuts -- and then promptly declared both it and the rival House GOP proposal dead on arrival.

"Not to spoil the surprise, but we all know how it will turn out. We know neither will reach the president's desk as read," Reid predicted Friday, as he set the Senate up for a Tuesday vote on the House-passed bill to fund the government for the remaining seven months of the federal fiscal year.

"We'll end up back at square one without consensus, without a budget for the rest of this fiscal year, and without assurances that we can keep the country running," Reid said. "So, once these votes are behind us, and everyone's voice is heard, I hope each senator and member of Congress will find renewed motivation to do what we needed to do since the beginning, come together, negotiate in good faith."

As he also sought a vote on the new Democratic alternative, Reid repeatedly called the House GOP legislation "mean-spirited" and "political," describing the legislative process there as "a mad rush to see who could do the most sensational amendment." The GOP proposal, which passed the House, would have cut $61 billion from 2010 spending levels, while the Democrats' plan calls for $6.5 billion in new cuts, in addition to a $4 billion reduction agreed to in a bipartisan stopgap bill signed Wednesday by the president.

[hal ogen]

Remember how large a trillion is. It take 32,000 YEARs to count to a trillion seconds. These fools are “arguing” over a few billion. Bastards.

[PapaBear3625]

Six billion, or even 60 billion, will do NOTHING to defer the oncoming collapse. They need a minimum of 600 billion this year.

This would mean ABOLISHING entire departments, permanently laying off the employees, and selling the buildings. To survive, we need to ELIMINATE the entirety of Johnson's "Great Society" legacy, just to start with. We need to eliminate the totality of the Dept of Education, Health and Human Services, the EPA, and a whole bunch more (and yes I know that these agencies were not started by Johnson).

The Dems will NEVER do this. They will prefer to hold on until the whole country crashes down.