Tag: budget

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Democracy Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

After the Nor’easters:Trump Caves on the Budget While the Real Storm(y) is on the Horizon

For all the talk about President Trump almost vetoing the Congressional spending bill, what’s lost is that his presidency will likely turn out to be a textbook case of an outsider with no natural political constituency unable to reorder the bureaucracy or scare enough legislators to bend to his will. After all, here is a politician who did not garner a majority of popular votes and is proving unable and unwilling to reach across the aisle to work with Democrats, who in many cases would be able to give him votes on legislation he’d like to pass.

Yes, he got his military spending increase, but on most other measures, including the ridiculous wall on the Mexican border, he earned the political equivalent of the Golden Sombrero, whiffing on cuts he proposed in funding for the arts, the EPA, housing and transportation, each of which received an increase in government support or the same level of funding as the year before. In effect, Congress ignored the president’s request, then essentially told him to sign the bill or he’d get a worse one in return.

So much for Trump the dealmaker or politician who would come in and clean house. In fact, the only house he’s cleaned is the White House by firing and replacing his staff at a rate unseen in…forever.

Congress has learned that the president cannot rally Americans behind his agenda mainly because his agenda is supported by a minority of people and his behavior has so eroded his support that Republican members of Congress are running for the doors in anticipation of a Democratic wave election in November. Trump has also shown a notable lack of policy knowledge and engagement, so trying to make an actual argument other than a particular policy is “great” or “the best” seems to be beyond his grasp. Add in the tweets that come in flurries after he’s watched some outrage on FOX and you have a political environment that is unstable, ignorant and rudderless.

Just what the Founders envisioned, right?

What should make Republicans quake that much more is that they and the president should be at the height of their power and influence. One-party governance has a short shelf life as Democrats can confirm from 2009-2011. You get two years to prove your worth and Republicans understand that they have not unified the country and that the president is not going to have a coat, much less coattails in the upcoming election. For the president to be snubbed on his major priorities at this point is a major rebuke. Neither they nor he are going to regain influence. The tax cuts are in the system. If all Trump has left is to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military, then it’s going to be a difficult environment for them for the rest of the year.

And that’s just the domestic side. A rejection of the diplomatic order that’s kept the peace since 1945 in the form of higher tariffs, a foreign policy team full of hawks, and a confrontational attitude towards China and North Korea are all causing some concern in the United States and abroad. It’s one thing to shake up a moribund system. It’s quite another to cause other countries to question the commitment of the United States to protocols that keep the world safe.

The president finally has a foreign policy and security team he’s comfortable with, but he still sees the world as a series of personal relationships that determine who gets punished and who doesn’t. Congratulating Vladimir Putin while applying tariffs to Japan makes for a contradictory signal. Gutting the State Department, leaving embassies short staffed and trusting your gut on Kim Jong-un is downright dangerous. The lone bright spot is holding China accountable for the theft of intellectual property, which has gone on since the 1990s. But that’s hardly something to run on.

It’s a bit too early to call President Trump a lame duck, but he’s getting close. Congress passed the tax cuts, but the ACA remains, as does an un-walled border. The issue that could unite the country, an infrastructure bill that provides both jobs and desperate repairs, is nowhere to be found. And, of course, the Stormy clouds are gathering.

Donald Trump will not be a transformative leader because his worldview and policy knowledge are far too limited, and he had done nothing to unify the country. Congress just reminded him of that. The people will remind him again in November.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Politics

Thanks Obama! Projected Budget Heading For a Six Year Low

Good news for America, bad news for the propaganda machine that is otherwise known as the Republican party! Even with all the roadblocks they have put up in America’s way, the projected budget for the year 2014 should be between $300 to $500 billion.

The U.S. government ran a big surplus in April, thanks to a flood of tax payments that helped keep the budget on track for the lowest annual deficit in six years…. Through the first seven months of the 2014 budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit totals $306.4 billion. That’s down 37 percent from the same period last year.
The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $492 billion for the full budget year. That would be the narrowest gap since 2008.

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Politics

President’s Weekly Address – Discussing Obama’s Proposed Budget

President Obama used this week’s address to discuss the benefits of having a balanced approach to lowering the nation’s deficit and getting Americans back to work. He stated that his budget proposal, which will be presented next week, is a compromise and requires everyone to make the hard decisions to get this economy moving again.

According to the President, his budget “doesn’t spend beyond our means,and it’s a budget that doesn’t make harsh and unnecessary cuts that only serve to slow our economy.”

Watch the address below.

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ObamaCare Paul Ryan Politics

The Brand New Same Old, Same Old – Ryan Plan

With a plate full of crises already looming in President Obama’s second term – North Korea’s nuclear threats, the Drone Program, domestic gun control and continued GOP obstructions on every front – the latest battle is an oldie and not a goodie. It appears Obamacare has resurfaced with a great wave of ‘pomp and circumstance’.

Over this past weekend, many Republicans have begun their 35th war on ObamaCare, threatening to destroy the very fabric of its existence in the name of Debt Reduction. Now, the wiz kid of the previous election, Vice Presidential Candidate Rep. Paul Ryan has devised a plan (Again) to eliminate ObamaCare and reduce the debt in the same swing. After the fiscal cliff fiasco, Ryan said, “We’re not going to re-fight the past because we know that’s behind us,” but he doesn’t apply that logic to ObamaCare, which he and his fellow Republicans do want to relitigate… again!

Fighting to repeal ObamaCare was “never a doubt” in Republican minds, he said Tuesday.

This is completely ironic, mind you, because if you recall, Obamacare was patterned after the Mitt Romney health care plan he formulated in Massachusetts while he was governor. Also, if you recall, then Vice Presidential candidate Ryan, also formed his own plan. (Do you follow me?) When asked by a reporter what he thought of the Paul’s plan, Romney said, “I’m the one running for president. We’ll go by my plan.”

It appears that Rep. Ryan has no one holding him back now, so here is the brand new same old same old Paul Ryan Plan… again, Part 2.

It’s a 10-year fiscal plan that takes aim at repealing ObamaCare’s 2010 health care overhaul in which Paul projects savings of $4.63 trillion over 10 years, yielding a surplus of $7 billion by fiscal 2023. “Our opponents will shout austerity, but let’s put this in perspective,” Ryan wrote in an op-ed posted to The Wall Street Journal’s website Monday night. “On our current path, we’ll spend $46 trillion over the next 10 years. Under our proposal, we’ll spend $41 trillion. On the current path, spending will increase by 5 percent each year. Under our proposal, it will increase by 3.4 percent.”

But who benefits from this plan and who will be hurt by it?

As always, tax cuts for the wealthiest and the poor will see programs slashed, if not cut completely. The budget would take its heaviest toll on entitlements that support the poor, including Medicaid and food stamps, while holding Social Security harmless. Why the poor and middle class are always targeted by Republican programs has been a mystery to millions of Americans especially when the wealthy seem to not be phased by any loophole they can squirm through.

Do they understand that taking away any program from those that are in need only demoralizes that individual, that family, that community? And does the super rich Congressional Republicans really believe that Americans truly want to live on Food Stamps and Unemployment Benefits? Or have a Medicare program that doesn’t work for them?

Here’s the final analysis Rep. Ryan. During the 2012 election, America did not support your “plan” of action. They came out in record numbers and voted for the President’s approach in November. As a matter of fact, a new McClatchy-Marist poll of registered voters shows that, generally, voters, by 53 to 37 percent, prefer to reduce the deficits by mostly cutting government programs and services rather than mostly by raising taxes..

The White House chimed in on the Ryan plan stating,

“By choosing not to ask for a single dime of deficit reduction from closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and well-connected, this budget identifies deep cuts to investments like education and research – investments critical to creating jobs and growing the middle class.  And to save money, this budget would turn Medicare into a voucher program–undercutting the guaranteed benefits that seniors have earned and forcing them to pay thousands more out of their own pockets.  We’ve tried this top-down approach before.  The President still believes it is the wrong course for America.”

It’s an attempt to make himself and his party look ‘busy,’ the same old, tired attack on Obamacare – a healthcare program that at last count, had the support of 9-GOP Governors over the past 3 weeks. Rep. Ryan and a group within the rank and file Republicans have decided to give it another go. But all of this is just another attempt to tarnish the legacy of President Obama.

Congressional Republicans have not backed the President’s plans or his direction for this country unless they felt cornered. And this is just an addendum or a harbinger of the Republicans wish for the future. Posturing for the 2014 elections? Digging in for the 2016 White House? Yes and Yes. But make no mistake about it, with Americans polling in high numbers that the wealthiest should take on more of the tax burden than the poor, Rep. Ryan and his GOP surrogates have an uphill fight or if you prefer, going up stream, up a creek without a paddle.

Still Out of Touch with America. The good thing is, the longer they stay out of touch with America, the longer they’ll stay Out of the White House. In that case, Stay the Course.

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Paul Ryan Politics wealthy

House Republicans Pretending The Senate Approved Paul Ryan’s Budget

House Republicans have all agreed and passed the Paul Ryan Budget – a budget that takes $5.3 Trillion from services that helps the poor and transfer $4.3 Trillion to the rich in the form of subsidies and tax cuts.

Knowing that the Democratically controlled Senate will never approve such a dumb and draconian budget, House Republicans are now pretending that the Senate did just that. Included in a House Resolution (H.RES.614) this week was this little provision:

Pending the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2013, the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 112, as adopted by the House, shall have force and effect in the House as though Congress has adopted such concurrent resolution

In other words, we know the Senate didn’t approve and would never approve this Paul Ryan Republican budget (House Concurrent Resolution 112), but this provision allows us pretend and act as if they did. Yay for Paul Ryan!

Just another day in the life of a Do-Nothing Republican House of Representatives.

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Politics Republican Texas

Rick Perry’s Texas Has A $25 Billion Budget Shortfall

So far, so good. Rick Perry just announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2012, so the main stream media is falling all over him, praising his “job creation skills” in Texas, his “rigid good looks,” his “Texas slang,” the ease at which he collects massive donations, and his “Bush mannerisms.”

And although these “traits” in themselves may be considered a plus by some, they have no bearings on his actual governing and presidential capabilities. Take for example this story that is, so far, ignored by the media; Rick Perry’s Texas has a projected budget shortfall of over $25 billion over the next two years.

This month the state’s part-time legislature goes back into session, and the state is starting at potentially a $25 billion deficit on a two-year budget of around $95 billion. That’s enormous. And there’s not much fat to cut. The whole budget is basically education and healthcare spending. Cutting everything else wouldn’t do the trick. And though raising this kind of money would be easy on an economy of $1.2 trillion, the new GOP mega-majority in Congress is firmly against raising any revenue.

So the bi-ennial legislature, which convenes this month, faces some hard cuts. Some in the Texas GDP have advocated dropping Medicaid altogether to save money.

Yep. Cutting education and dropping medicaid to save money… that’s the Republican way!

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Barack Obama Medicare Paul Ryan Politics Republican The Budget United States weekly address

President Obama Slams Ryan’s Budget… Again!

After President Obama presented his speech on reducing the federal debt, Republicans went on a crying spree, accusing the President of not playing fair, and “making a partisan speech.” All of a sudden, the very same Republicans who have stood in the way of every single piece of legislation the Obama administration has put forth, are now questioning why, as they see it, President Obama is not working with them and agreeing on the Paul Ryan budget.

So to make sure Republicans heard him the first time around, President Obama used his weekly address to put emphasis on his original points – that all, including the rich, must contribute their share to America’s future, and that Paul Ryan’s plan is not worth the paper it is written on.

The President:

Now, one plan put forward by some Republicans in the House of Representatives aims to reduce our deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years. But while I think their goal is worthy, I believe their vision is wrong for America. It’s a vision that says, at a time when other nations are hustling to out-compete us for the jobs and businesses of tomorrow, we have to make drastic cuts in education, infrastructure, and clean energy – the very investments we need to win that competition and get those jobs.

It’s a vision that says that in order to reduce the deficit, we have to end Medicare as we know it, and make cuts to Medicaid that would leave millions of seniors, poor children, and Americans with disabilities without the care they need.

But even as this plan proposes these drastic cuts, it would also give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% of Americans–an extra $200,000 for every millionaire and billionaire in the country.

I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think it’s right to ask seniors to pay thousands more for health care, or ask students to postpone college, just so we don’t have to ask those who have prospered so much in this land of opportunity to give back a little more.

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Democratic Featured MSNBC Republican United States

Eric Cantor Shows Ignorance On How To Do His Job – Video

Eric Cantor doesn’t know how laws are made. The number 2 Republican in the House of Representative held a news conference yesterday and allowed the following words to come out his mouth;

“…the Senate’s got to act, prior to the expiration of the CR.  If it does not act, HR 1 becomes the law of the land.”

Cantor was talking about a House Resolution to fund the government for this budget. So far, the House and Senate congressional members have agreed to two temporary Continued Resolutions (CR), because an agreement could not be reached on specific budgetary issues like spending cuts. Republicans want to cut over $61 billion from the budget. So what Cantor was saying here, is that if the Senate cannot submit their bill for the next budget, then the HR1 bill passed by the House of Representatives automatically becomes “the law of the land.”

What the statement from Mr. Cantor demonstrated, was that the Republican Majority Leader was not aware of how laws are made, or he tried unsuccessfully to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. Anyone and everyone knows that in order for a bill to become law, both House and Senate must agree on the bill and the President must sign it into law.

In the video below, Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC tore into Mr. Cantor and his ill-informed comments.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Abortion House republicans Planned Parenthood Politics Republican

Scott Brown: Cutting All Funding For Planned Parenthood Goes Too Far

One of the ways Republicans propose to bring the budget under control, is the elimination of all funding for Planned Parenthood… ALL! However, one Republican/Teaparty senator, Scott Brown – representing Massachusetts, thinks this is going too far. After House Republicans voted and approved the cuts, Senator Brown had this to say;

“I support family planning and health services for women. Given our severe budget problems, I don’t believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate.”

Although the Hyde Amendment prohibits all public funding to be used for abortion services, Republicans have long argued that agencies like Planned Parenthood should not receive federal funding because it allows other funds to be made available for abortions. The cuts, if approved in February, would save $300 million. Republicans have promised their supporters and the Teaparty to cut as much as $61 billion from the federal budget.

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Fox News rachel maddow Republican Wisconsin

Shep Smith of Fox News Tells The Truth! When Will He Be Fired?

As I write this post, I’m hearing the song, “Hit the road Jack,” playing in my head, and I can’t help but feel that it’s just a matter of time before Fox News sings that song to Shep Smith. He actually has a mind, and although sometimes he falls in line and echos their extremists talking points, for the most part, Shep Smith goes off on his own and tells it like it really is. So for this reason, he’s not a good fit for the liars at FOX.

Mr. Smith Goes To Wisconsin

His latest stab at the truth came this week when he again, branched off  and defied the talking heads at FOX.  Shep stated that what’s happening in Wisconsin “has nothing to do with the budget,” and he correctly sees  governor Walker’s actions for what they really are… dirty politics.

Video.

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