Reid: Senate Will Pass GOP Funding Bill

BREAKING:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) announced Tuesday that Senate Democrats will support a short-term spending bill drafted by House Republicans. The resolution, which is expected to pass the House this afternoon, cuts federal spending by $4 billion over a two-week period. Many of the cuts were taken directly from President Obama’s 2012 budget proposal.

Following a “good discussion” with colleagues during a weekly caucus lunch, Reid told reporters that the Senate will hold a vote on the House bill “in the next 48 hours.”

“We’ll pass this, and then we’ll look to funding the government on a long-term basis,” Reid said. “The sooner we get this short-term funding of the government done, the quicker we can move to a long-term CR. That is where we are headed.”..

Reid’s announcement is yet another example of how that debate seems to have shifted in the GOP’s favor.

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just as a side note; isn't "where we are headed" supposed to be a BUDGET?

cpwill said:

BREAKING:




just as a side note; isn't "where we are headed" supposed to be a BUDGET?

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The Dems SHOULD have passed a budget last year... but somehow, the fact that the couldn't and now the GOP wants to cut makes the possibility of the lack of funding the GOPs fault... Technically, I am an Independent, but the Dems are growing ever more distasteful and if the GOP can shed the religious extremism, I may just rejoin the GOP.... yeah, wishful thinking...

ludahai said:

The Dems SHOULD have passed a budget last year... but somehow, the fact that the couldn't and now the GOP wants to cut makes the possibility of the lack of funding the GOPs fault... Technically, I am an Independent, but the Dems are growing ever more distasteful and if the GOP can shed the religious extremism, I may just rejoin the GOP.... yeah, wishful thinking...

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Dont worry, I suspect that the GOP will pull the plug or put in a poison pill to deny the dems and Obama a victory. It has been their way for quite some time now.. proposing stuff, having Obama agreeing and then suddenly the GOP oppose it..

PeteEU said:

Dont worry, I suspect that the GOP will pull the plug or put in a poison pill to deny the dems and Obama a victory. It has been their way for quite some time now.. proposing stuff, having Obama agreeing and then suddenly the GOP oppose it..

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Once again, PeteEU ignores the fact that the Dems had control of the Congress and the White House when the budget should have been passed, but they didn't do it. They have no room for blame now...

PeteEU said:

Dont worry, I suspect that the GOP will pull the plug or put in a poison pill to deny the dems and Obama a victory. It has been their way for quite some time now.. proposing stuff, having Obama agreeing and then suddenly the GOP oppose it..

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Why should the Republicans allows Obama to have any victories? Look what the Democrats did during Bush's terms in office. People like Harry Reid need to be politically defeated and destroyed.

cpwill said:

BREAKING:




just as a side note; isn't "where we are headed" supposed to be a BUDGET?

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I fail to see how passing a budget (even though its laughably short term) full of cuts that both parties agree with is shifting things in the GOP's favor. The best compromise is those things that both groups can agree to.

cpwill said:

just as a side note; isn't "where we are headed" supposed to be a BUDGET?

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I believe Senator Reid was talking about Fiscal Year 2011, which runs through September 30. He wants a continuing resolution to cover the rest of the current fiscal year. The President's budget was proposed for FY 2012, which begins October 1, 2011.

On a separate note, given that the President's budget package is a status quo document that includes none of the recommendations of the two fiscal commissions and fails to address the structural issues, I don't believe it is viable in terms of offering credible fiscal consolidation. Ahead of the President's proposing his budget, the IMF had already expressed concerns about the "slow" pace of medium-term fiscal consolidation in the U.S. (and Japan) in its January 2011 Fiscal Monitor. The IMF also declared (references to the U.S. and Japan are underlined by me):

In advanced economies where fiscal sustainability has not been a market concern, credible plans going well beyond 2011 need to be put in place urgently to lock in benevolent market sentiment. The United States and Japan where fiscal adjustment has now been delayed relative to the pace envisaged in the November 2010 Fiscal Monitor, need in particular to strengthen their adjustment credentials by detailing the measures they intend to adopt to honor their commitments to reduce deficits and debt.

If one goes to earlier IMF reports discussing the fiscal imbalances affecting the U.S., one finds repeated references to the need to reform the nation's mandatory spending programs. The IMF also suggests an economically painless (painless in that it would not create a drag on GDP) increase in the eligibility age for Social Security could mark a downpayment toward credible fiscal consolidation. The President's budget, which was released after the most recent Fiscal Monitor did not address any of the issues previously cited by the IMF.

ludahai said:

Once again, PeteEU ignores the fact that the Dems had control of the Congress and the White House when the budget should have been passed, but they didn't do it. They have no room for blame now...

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Oh I know that, and I agree.. the Dems screwed up when they had control of Congress, but to be fair, the GOP used every single procedural manoeuvres there is on the books, to delay and kill off bills if it was at all possible. And I dont see them changing that method until after the 2012 election and only provided that Obama is kicked out. They simply do not want to give Obama and the Dems any sort of victory, and of course blame the dems for everything and American's comment is a classical example of this political strategy they are employing.