Posted on 02/16/2013 5:38:32 AM PST by SkyPilot
epublican leaders in Congress predicted Wednesday that painful automatic spending cuts — the sequester, in Washington lingo — will hit at the end of the month, as scheduled. "I think the sequester’s gonna happen," Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of Senate Republican leadership, said at a Politico post-State-of-the-Union event. Indeed, Democrats and Republicans have made little or no progress on a compromise deficit reduction deal that would head off the across-the-board budget cuts, which would hit the Pentagon and social programs especially hard.
President Obama warned in his address that allowing the sequester to hit would be disastrous, and called for a "balanced" deal reducing the deficit with both new revenue and spending cuts. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the sequester is bad policy but House Republicans had already submitted their proposal to avert it, so it's up to the Democrat-controlled Senate to act now to avoid cuts designed to save $85 billion this year and $1.2 trillion over a decade. Should Americans brace for the worst, or is there still a chance for a compromise to head off the potentially damaging sequester?
Unless Obama changes his tune, Anneke E. Green argues at U.S. News & World Report, the sequester is going to happen, as long as Republicans don't lose their nerve. The president is warning "with a straight face" about the danger ahead, Green says, but "the impending spending cuts package was his idea from the start." During the 2011 debt talks, the White House praised the arrangement as a win-win, and Obama clearly "counted on Republicans in Congress to choose defense spending over fiscal restraint." Now he's "singing the sequestration blues," and it's his own fault.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
All I can say is that the sequester does happen than nobody in the White House nor Congress should get a paycheck. They really haven’t earned one in years. If they can’t get an official budget together, which is one of their main job responsibilities, than they should feel the pain like everyone else.
The Senate will never agree to act on it.
The Senate just passed their own version of a Sequestration alternative (the House passed two of their own last year).
Many Democrats were not happy with the Senate compromise, because it contained other spending cuts and they only wanted tax raises ("revenue") to offset Sequester.
If the Republicans refuse to consider the Senate alternative and offer another proposal, the Sequestration will kick in.
Republicans themselves are deeply divided. It looks like the Rand Paulites are winning. A majority of Republicans are now blaming Defense for the very cuts the Republicans agreed to (see Duncan Hunter R-CA going off during the House Armed Services Committee testimony this week).
If the GOP abandons the military, it will take them years to gain that goodwill back among the military, veterans, and many Conservative voters who back the military.
$100 billion out of a $3.7 trillion budget and that is considered painful. What is going to happen when interest rates inevitably go up? The spending will continue to increase regardless.
“We can get over that—there are millions that are either unnecessary or redundant. Line ‘em all up, and count every 5th one and fire him.”
The majority of these government employees represent Democratic votes. That’s why it will be almost impossible to fire, layoff, furlough or otherwise remove them from what amounts to (for most) the public dole. (They pretend to work and we pay through the nose for their salary and benefits.) The negotiation process is like arbitration. Both sides must give up something they cherish to get a deal done. As somebody pointed out, the Republicans are only interested in the appearance of big cuts, not the policy of big cuts. So, there is nobody really representing the good of the United States or the American people. (Maybe a few, but those few have been neutered by their fellow Congressmen and the MSM.)
My workout buddy is a state employee; an absolutely wonderful guy. However, he tells me he’s read hundreds of novels while at work. This, because he was cited as using the internet too much for personal use. He tells me he could really sit at his desk and do nothing and nobody would notice. I get the impression from the other state workers in the gym that is what they do; nothing. One guy talked for days about how he changed the payee’s address on a contract.
My workout buddy complains that he hasn’t received a raise in three years. But his retirement package will be worth anywhere from a million to two million. As much as he’s a great guy, I have a hard time being sympathetic as all but two of the companies I’ve worked for were driven out of business during the buyout frenzy of the ‘90’s thus vaporizing the retirement funds. (Thank you Bernie Schwartz and President Clinton.)
Oh, and by the way, wasn’t Obamacare “paid for” by cutting waste, fraud and abuse already?
Was there some committee set up to oversee that? Are we reading news items about the billions being saved as a result? How many times are they going to claim the same savings for the same “waste, fraud and abuse”?
Or maybe they’re counting healthcare costs as “waste” if you’re too old, not the right skin color, immigrant status, religion, party affiliation, etc.
It’s part of the “Get paid on Friday, party on Saturday, broke on Monday” mentality.
You are right—the benefits and retirement packages for government employees are ridiculous. I certainly think gummit employees should have an adequate retirement, but it seems to me that we have gone way overboard on that score!
Everyone’s just defending their own turf. I don’t believe the Joint Chiefs any more than the others.
As has been pointed out, this isn’t even a reduction in spending, only in the increase of spending. I would like to see this happen, and across the board. If we can’t even do this then there is no hope for us.
Yes, Medicare and SS are the 800 lb gorilla in the room that nobody is talking about. Only if cuts start can we begin to point at the gorilla.
IF the Sequester kicks in, there will be a lot of real damage. Reserach, defense companies, manufacturing related to defense, medical research (the city of Boston predicted yesterday they would lose 60,000 research jobs alone), and many others.
Many of our nations veterans will also pay the price:
Many federal workers facing furloughs are veterans
Over 85% of the DoD workers affected work outside the beltway in maintenance, logistics, nursing, contracting, and other jobs. 27% of those facing a paycut of 1/5th of salary are veterans, many of them disabled.
A reporter for "The Hill" asked Nancy Pelosi if Congress should take a paycut.
This was her response:
Pelosi: Congressional pay cut undermines dignity of the job
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs. "I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "I think it's necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded." The comments were made in the context of the looming sequester, which would force across-the-board cuts affecting most federal offices, including Congress. With lawmakers nowhere near a deal to avert those cuts, federal agencies are bracing for ways to absorb them with minimum damage to programs and personnel. Pelosi, whose husband is a wealthy real-estate developer, was quick to note that a cut in her own pay would be far less significant than that for both staffers and less wealthy members of Congress. "It's a hard question to ask me because most of my colleagues are the breadwinners in their families," she said. "A pay cut to me doesn't mean as much."
Bloated? The military has already been cut substantially by Obama and Panetta.
And what will be done with the savings from defense? The money will be shifted to keep the welfare state afloat. This is the classic "Guns versus Butter" battle that takes place in declining great nations and civilizations. The UK and the rest of Europe are good examples.
They are now spending about 1% of the GDP on defense. They continue to cut back on their defense expenditures. Fortunately, they have the US to provide the security umbrella. Unfortunately, we will not have that luxury as our defense capabilities are eviscerated. It is inevitable. The politicians will assure us that these cuts will not harm us and that DOD is bloated and inefficient. Butter has far more constituents than guns.
Law? What law? We're in a post legal environment.
Any cut is a good cut!
No reason we can’t do that with every 5th DoD civilian employee either.
The sequestration law specifically exempts Medicaid, CHIP, Social Security benefits, TANF, etc.
In the law, Congress outlined healthcare related accounts that would be exempt from these cuts. The exemptions include:
All programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Grants to States for Medicaid
Children’s Health Insurance Fund
Non‐defense unobligated balances
Black Lung Disability Trust Fund Refinancing
Medical Facilities Guarantee and Loan Fund
Payment to Department of Defense Medicare‐Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund
Payments to Health Care Trust Funds
Payment to Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund
Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund
Vaccine Injury Compensation
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Trust Fund
Black Lung Disability Trust Fund
Department of Defense Medicare‐Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Fund
Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund
Retirement Pay and Medical Benefits for Commissioned Officers, Public Health Service
Yep!
Wonder how long these folks would get unemployment benefits?
I disagree.
We are now finding out that sending jobs to China is a potentially fatal mistake.
Tax China. Do not freely trade with a country so huge, with such a large population, so far below our own salary level.
Now. We are heading critical.
America first.
News to me. Do you have a source for that. I know that the Dems are preparing their alternative in the Senate, but nothing has been passed unless I missed it.
I certainly hope so.
Since we are almost half way thru the fiscal year, the impact of the cuts will be compounded. Most of the agencies have already spent half of their budget. Furloughs will be used to save money. Then the drill starts again next fiscal year.
Sure thing kabar. From "The Hill." Here you go.
Senate Dems unveil $110 billion sequester-replacement package
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