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Subscribe to RSSAddressing reporters in the White House's briefing room, President Obama today embraced a proposal by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators to reduce the nation's deficit by some $4 trillion over the next 10 years.
Obama called the proposal "a very significant step," and said it was consistent with the "balanced" deficit-reduction roadmap he's been pushing for. "We now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that approach," the president said. "The hope is that everyone seizes this opportunity."
Obama's comments came after Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn rejoined the bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators working on a deficit-reduction proposal. Politico reported that Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said he would back the plan as well.
According to a summary obtained by NBC News, the Gang of Six proposal would:
-- immediately cut the deficit by $500 billion
-- cut discretionary spending
-- "strengthen" entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid
-- reform the tax code
-- and reform Social Security on a track isolated from deficit reduction.
In his statement to reporters, Obama said that the ongoing negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continues. But he called that effort -- which would raise the debt ceiling -- "the bare minimum that has to be achieved."
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Maybe this is what he's been waiting for all along. Now we can get moving again, and if the two sides don't embrace this, then we're in BIG, BIG, BIGGEST trouble.
Well, that didn't last long.
I just read the next thread, and never mind.
Sheesh.
And here is the "Gang of Sixes" so-called "plan" to make that happen:
Source: http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2011/07/19/gang-of-six-details/
That's why Obama likes it so much. Like Obama's plans, this one has no details either.
From the same article, here's a few more items that are totally meaningless:
See any "How's" in any of these listed items? These are proclamations, they are not a plan.
If you had read it, Joanna, you would have seen that the 'hows" are left up to the various committees.
Once the lefty liberal's see the details of this plan they will be screaming!!!!
It lowers individual and corporate tax rates, changes the index for SS COLAs to one that does not go up as fast, and my favorite (just for you Anna Molly) moves the US corporate tax system from a worldwide system to a territorial system where US corporations don't pay tax on their international profits, just like the vast majority of other industrialized countries corporate tax systems.
Lefty liberal's hair will be on fire!!!!!
O....M.....G
The gang of 6 are proposing to streamline the tax code into three brackets: a bottom rate of 8-12 percent; a middle rate of 14-22 percent and top rate of 23-29 percent -- as well as reduce popular deductions like home interest. Hmm, sounds a bit like the Ryan Plan, eh? And get this it would also curb the growth of Social Security benefits by moving to a lower inflation adjustment for annual cost-of-living updates. And even cut Mediacre and Medicaid.
Good grief, Navy Vet and the other leftwing zealots around here will surely have a hissy fit.
http://news.yahoo.com/gang-6-deficit-effort-gains-momentum-150518544.html
They'll have a what???
Anna Molly:
I saw the other thread also. Nothing changes. But I think Coburn is trying to send a signal to other GOP/TP Party people that they are on the wrong side of this debate and these false starts have to stop.
The GOP/TP is stalling, period and sooner or later they are going to have to get serious or this whole mess is going to be laid at their feet.
It's been three months now, has anyone heard what they found??
April 21, 2011, 6:11 pm
Obama Sets Up Team on Oil-Price Fraud
By JACKIE CALMES
7:41 p.m. | Updated President Obama sought again to show his concern for high gasoline prices, announcing on Thursday at a public event in Reno that the Justice Department is forming a team to investigate possible fraud in oil markets.
Mr. Obama last month directed his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to probe any reports of price-gouging. Now, he said, “we’re going a step further,” setting up the team “to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices – and that includes the role of traders and speculators.”
Well done Gang of Six. Thank you for listening to bipartisan debt commission, businesses, credit agencies, Americans, and using President Obama's blue print. Finally some members of Congress who understand it is their job to write the legislation.
$3.7 trillion in debt reduction over 10 years is much better than the House/GOP/Ryan budget that increased the debt over 10 years.
I wonder if the Gang of Six plan will also result in a balanced budget years before the House/GOP/Ryan budget that doesn't produce a balanced budget until 2040?
Well, then, never mind. Good thing I'm keeping my money under my mattress these days.
And, in your opinion, this is a BAD thing? ;-)
You're much more optimistic than I am, Navy. Hence, the mattress approach to investing.
Now if only my hair doesn't set my mattress on fire.
Not yet. They turned the investigation over to FAUX News and they're waiting for the results of the wiretapping. What they're going to find out is that they are hip deep in it themselves.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
As the saying goes, "The Devil's in the details." The House will pass its Cop, Camp, Corrall or whatever they call it. It will not even be worth voting on the in the Senate.
The Senate group will write up their version, merge it with the McConnell/Reid plan, give it to someone in the House to introduce (its a tax bill, since it changes taxes) and then it will all pass.
This is a plan, it is not a constitutional amendment. Like "Paygo," it can (and will) be ignored. If the Democrats regain control of the House, they will pass new legislation overriding this. If Republicans take control of the WH and the Senate, they will pass new legislation overriding the tax increases.
This is a face saving measure for all sides. It will pass, because it has to.
Our founding fathers were right to make the Senate 6 year terms, they should have stretched each term by 2 years. 4 for Congress, 6 for the WH, 8 for Senate. Then we would not be subject to the wild swings and influence of the semi-annual elections.
I guess Joe and the other rightys, while taking their victory lap and patting themselves on the back, missed the part about $1 trillion in increased revenue.
It doesn't matter what our President says or signs on to about the budget, it won't pass the TP's because it's not about the budget! It's about our President's racial profile. The TP's cannot stand to see a man of color being smarter than they are and heaven forbid he was elected as the leader of the greatest (until the TP's came to power) countries in the world. That fact and that fact alone is stopping the debt ceiling from being raised and a budget from being passed. The TP's believe that only Black People use Medicare, Medicade, and Social Security. The TP's are cutting off their faces to spite their noses. Have at it. At the most Black People have always known how to make a living out of nothing. We will survive! But can the poor people who back the TP survive. Hold on President Obama! Let them kill the debt! You've done all you can do to save the idiots from themselves! Let them put the US in the hole! You can stop a fool from jumping off a bridge! Let them go and fall prey to the voters! I'm praying for you and our Country.
The ignorance of your statement is outstanding, though the left has been trying to play the "race card" since the Tea Party first appeared on the scene, there has been NO proof of these allegations. In this (real) world of cell phone camera's in everyones pocket, and the ability to upload instantaneously images of this proof, NONE has ever shown. And if such an image could be produced, you can damn well bet the mainstream media would have taken it viral, and it would be front page news, everyday. This is not the 50's, 60's, and or 70's anymore, MOVE ON, the rest of the world has. The only people who still cling on to the past are people like, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Whoopie Goldberg, and Wanda Sykes, because without the "race card", they are irrelevant. Obama won the Presidentcy with 53% of the vote, and since blacks do not make up 53% of the population in America, whites voted for the man as well, move on. Conservatives and Tea Party members are not concerned with Obama's color, its his politics and unsustainable spending of our tax dollars that concerns us. Like I said the IGNORANCE of your statement is outstanding, but understandable, your a liberal right?
Mruseurhead: your naivete is astounding. If you really believe that there is not any racism in America today and that many in the Republican party oppose him on the basis of his color, I would like to give you the opportunity to buy some ocean front property in Iowa. The likelyhood of both is about the same.
Barack Obama was elected because he was the most qualified. He will be reelected because the Republican Party has been taken over over by extremists who are unable to vote for an otherwise qualified candidate who does not come up to their definition of an ultra-conservative christian.
4Trillion is the way. one hopes they don't hop out of this simply because Obama for = Norquist against.
Seems fair cause no one is going to like this...
The Senate “Gang of Six” introduced a proposal to cut the debt by as much as $3.7 trillion over the next decade. The President praised the proposal: “I think we’re now seeing a potential for a bipartisan consensus”.
A summary of the Gang of Six plan would impose a two-step legislative process that would make $500 billion worth of cuts immediately followed by a second bill to create a “fast-track process” that would propose a comprehensive bill aimed at dramatically restructuring tax and spending programs. The plan calls for changes to Social Security to move on a separate track, and establishes an elaborate procedure for considering the measures on the floor.
The $500 billion in cuts would come from a range of sources, including shifting to a new consumer price index to make cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security. The plan would impose statutory spending caps through 2015, freeze congressional pay and sell unused federal property.
To enact a comprehensive deficit plan, the group calls for congressional committees to report legislation within six months that would “deliver real deficit savings in entitlement programs over 10 years,” the plan says.
It calls on the Finance Committee to permanently reform or replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate - an outdated formula aimed at determining the amount to reimburse doctors for treating Medicare patients - by $298 billion.
The Finance Committee would be instructed to deliver “real deficit savings” through simplifying the tax code and raise as much as $1 trillion. It would do this by establishing three tax brackets with rates of 8-12 percent, 14-22 percent and 23-29 percent. It would permanently repeal the $1.7 trillion Alternative Minimum Tax. And it calls for establishing a single corporate tax rate, between 23 percent and 29 percent, and to move to a competitive territorial tax system.
Overall, the group claims it would result in a $1.5 trillion net tax decrease.
The group punts many of the specifics to other committees, which would be asked to find savings in discretionary and mandatory spending. This includes: $80 billion out of Armed Services; $70 billion out of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; $65 billion out of Homeland Security and Government Affairs; $11 billion out of Agriculture; $11 billion out of Commerce; $6 billion out of Energy and Natural Resources. The Judiciary Committee would be asked to find savings through medical malpractice reform.
The group spent ample time proposing ways to expedite the legislative process should there be a stalemate in committee.
If any committee cannot propose cuts, it would impose “across-the-board” cuts to programs under the panel’s jurisdiction. It would exempt programs aimed at low-income communities.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59345.html#ixzz1SZnWUuIL
Even thought it is bi-partisan I'm sure once Pres. Obama says he is for it the Rethugs GNOP will say they are against it -
The truth being the Get Obama Party can't handle the truth.
What I would like to see is the negotiations for the "how to"--cut spending, raise revenues, fix the social safety nets, invest in the country--be done outside the context of the debt ceiling talks. Just raise the debt limit and then have at it on solving our problems.
Sadly, Paul S, you're probably right. The minute President Obama says he's "for" something, the GOPTP does a back flip and flop.
So...
What do you think, Ira?
This sounds very, very close to Bowles-Simpson...
The fact that no-bs Tom Coburn is backing it is a good sign.
I guess the "Gang Of Six" wasn't dead after all!
Welcome back, Senator Coburn.
And First Read:
"strengthen" entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid
Hmmm...
Why the quotation marks on the word "strengthen'?
We're all going to trust President Obama's judgment on this, aren't we?
Mixed Bag..
I knew you'd love the proposal....read my post a couple below...
I think this is going to be the best we're gonna get and it has shared sacrifices for all.
Bi-partisan support.
No more ATM.....
I'm surprised the folks here are not pulling their hair out.
Mixed Bag
If they can work together and get something done would be great but watch your Norquist bound boys hop off.
Pius-
Google Tom Coburn's letter to Grover Norquist on the subject of ethanol subsidies. He isn't afraid of Norquist in the slightest.
He'll fight for this.
Let's see what happens, shall we?
Mixed Bag
Sure, let's hope for the very best. People like Norquist whether a Dem or a GOPer, deserve no place in our democracy.
Can't agree with that, Pius.
Norquist is as entitled to his opinion as anyone.
Senator Mark Warner is a part of the gang of six. I'm inclined to accept this proposal because I know he is a trustworthy guy. Him and Obama. :)
Mixed Bag
everyone is entitled to their opinions but not when imposed.
So let me understand this correctly, this "Gang of Six" proposes to cut the debt by 3.7 trillion over the next decade and Obama is all kinds of happy, but Obama wanted a 1.3 trillion dollar budget for one year? How does that even make any sense?
Geez, that's like taking one step forward and 3 steeps back.
While I'm sure once the details are fleshed out, there will be some items that I will not like or would rather have been done differently but overall, I like the plan and I like the balanced approach that does have some revenue raisers in it and doesn't just rely on cuts. I'm also hopeful that this would lead to a balanced budget at some point with modest surpluses to pay off some of the debt but that remains to be seen.
I am NOT in favor of a balanced budget. I want a BUDGET surplus that can actually be used to pay down the debt. Spending 10-15% of an increasing budget on interest alone is useless spending.
So it's Simpson-Bowles lite...but still something reasonable that shares the pain. Let's see how this plays out...
dangerfield...
Mixed Bag must be doing a celebratory dance.
Simpson- Bowles like and Coburn was involved....one of his heroes.
Hey, I didn't see you guys down here.
Yeah...
I gotta admit.
This sounds like good news.
I wonder how many around here will figure that out?
I've been battling them non-stop for months on the debt commission...
But, not without a few compatriots, eh? ;-)
Really...I'm only surprised it took this long to figure out this is the only sort of proposal with a fighting chance of passage.
From what I've read so far this has $3.7T in spending cuts and $1.3T in *OMG* revenue *GASP* increases. Almost exactly the 3-1, cuts to tax increases that have been talked about.
Now it will be interesting to see if the Tea Baggers in the House kill this deal too.
If everyone else is for this, yet they (and Grover Norquist) kill this deal, they really will own this and they will be toast.
Fortunately, I think enough of the grown up Republicans (i.e. not Eric Cantor) and the Democrats will pass this.
Better worry about the Progressive Caucus in the House as well, dirp.
They're not going to be happy with this proposal.
Not at all happy.
I'd love to see the looks on those faces when Nancy Pelosi and President Obama urge them to vote for those spending cuts.
Schadenfreude? MB?
I sincerely hope that "I want to be quotable" politicians from BOTH niches can hold their powder and something actually gets done. Tomorrow there will be tales of who is in a hissy-fit about what, and some will be "walking back" their initial statements and or suspected inclinations. If it bleeds it leads journalism dictates that the focus will be on the dissension rather than the concurrence within the ranks. And there is NO WAY to control the "true believers" on either side.
So I feel like the character in That old Woody Guthrie tune "worried man", because while I have never held a single doubt about the outcome of the debt ceiling "crisis", I am sure as hell worried that the Go6 plan is destined to become a watered-down version of their watered down version of S/b, ultimately no more than a band-aid.
So while I too would love to be a fly on the wall as Boehner tries to "herd cats" and the President tells the minority leader, among others that she and they have to swallow the bitter pill for the good of the nation, I'm afraid that I might be more sadly disappointed than amused by what I would hear.
Schadenfreude has it's place but in this instance (and this is hard for me because, well you know...) because I am really rooting for both sides to rise above their petty bickering and act for once like people who don't deserve a 25% approval rating. And it would really suck if the tragicomic machinations of out collective "Captains Smith" is the most substantial thing that comes from this promising moment.
Schadenfreude?
lol
Soitenly, dangerfield.
Just wanted to give dirp the flip-side of the coin.
If this goes forward, it isn't going to be all about resistance from Tea Party House members is it?
I wonder if this will be enough for the GOP? I doubt it. Much like the so called Grand bargain, the right will claim there is not enough detail here or the cuts are just smoke and mirrors and not real.
Even though this has at least some bipartisan Senate support something tells me they can't get approval from the house side in 2 weeks.
Time to agree to raise the debt ceiling limit and then implement this and hash out everything through the committees. Stop playing with fire.
Actually, Mark, they shouldn't rush this. It's going to take time for the various Senate Committees to hash out the details.
The debt ceiling issue will likely be settled separately.
Still...I can't help but believe that this news will help move those negotiations along as well.
Make no mistake...there will be fierce opposition to the "Gang Of Six" proposal on both sides of the aisle in the House.
President Obama will have his hands full with Democrats in the Progressive Caucus, just as Speaker Boehner will with his Tea Party members.
No one's saying this is going to be easy...but it's certainly worth a shot, isn't it?
Yes it is worth it to try to get a handle on the deficit. I do think the shared sacrifice of spending cuts and increased revenues by way of tax reform - broadening of base is the only thing that has a chance.
I agree it will take a long time to get accepted in committees and will play a big role in the upcoming election. We all thought passion was flying high during town halls about HCR. It will not be pretty as all the special groups from my side and your side will complain loudly. Fox News, MSNBC, ABC etc will love the ratings.
I hope this allows the parties to agree in good faith and raise the debt ceiling now. However that is probably wishful thinking. I tend to agree with what Dirp said above. They will need to go the way of the McConnel plan (allow Obama to raise the debt ceiling - so GOP can vote against it and gain their coverage for the TP's)
Mixed Bag, do you think that by embracing this plan now Obama is helping to lead or is he still _______. (insert GOP anti Obama complaint)
Actually, Mark...President Obama's embrace of this proposal is a good thing.
But, back in May, he actually undercut the "Gang Of Six" negotiations by bypassing them, and having VP Biden start a whole separate group that ultimately collapsed in failure.
The members of the "Gang Of Six" deserve the lion's share of the credit here...THEY stuck it out despite the intrusion of the Biden negotiations. THEY are the heroes. President Obama was merely wise enough to grab the life preserver they threw him.
He has mostly been a follower in this process in my opinion...hardly a leader.
That said, I'm delighted he's shown the good judgment to endorse the "Gang Of Six" proposal.
When the President and Congress began throwing around words like, "Cut, Strengthen, Reform, in the same sentence as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, that means the Middle Class, the Poor, Sick and Disabled are once again taking a Hit for the Team. No mention of Revenues from the Rich who's been getting Tax Cuts for 10 years now and produced only 3 Million Jobs vs. 20 Million Produced under President Clinton.
The "Symbolic" Tea Party Cut Cap and Balance plan is going to vote to try and derail any plan that is agreed to. They know it will not pass but they want it out there for campaign reasons for 2012. Play politics right down to the end
The 63 new House Repubs were sent there BY VOTERS in 2010 to cap and cut the spending. Why is that "playing" politics?! Furthermore, the Dems were NOT elected in 2010 for a reason. The Dems and Obama can't be trusted to NOT spend us into a "Greece-like" downward spiral.
The Republicans were elected for a reason, but the Democrats weren't elected for a reason? Really? And, the Republicans put us in the spend spiral. Who was the last president to reduce the deficit? Bill Clinton. Period. Full Stop.
All you liberal Democrats...go ahead and believe your chosen one. He's leading the lamb's to the slaughter.
The gang o' six is comprised of senators--will the House 'buy' the substance of what they're selling?
The 'breakthrough' is, again, a smokescreen for sticking it to the middle class. And without a mortgage interest deduction, the bill won't pass because mortgage interest deductions are one of the few reliable mechanisms for making home ownership attractive to lower middle class renters.
The reality of the proposal is that it too kicks the can down the road--but perhaps it can achieve an increase in the debt ceiling with all the other nonsense To Be Decided.
I am afraid that given time, Obama at his current pace will outdo all of them. The past is past and we are now at a breaking point. I don’t see any sense in blaming any presidents and we should be trying to solve this.
Time to change the guard..........Don't cast one single vote for one incumbent next election. You can whine and complain all ya want on here and to your neighbor. But the one and only thing you can do to help America is to VOTE. And IMHO to vote for any incumbent in office right now is asking for more of the same crap we are getting right now. So whine, and I do a lot too, but VOTE! I plan on voting for ALL NEW CANDIDATES.......
I saw only $145 billion in defense cuts. Get real, that's like treating the cancer that has become the defense budget with an aspirin. These guys aren't serious. They only want to win re-election.
Wm
I do believe that is close to the amount that Secretary Gates called for a few months ago. I didn't see ANY DoD cuts in Obama's Defense Bill that was recently passed.
It's certainly not a perfect plan, but it's the first sign of compromise from either party we've seen in a long time. Sure, middle America is going to foot the bill. The GOP/TP isn't going to sacrifice their capitalist extremists and the Democrats can't afford to sell out the poor and marginalized. Middle America tends to fall somewhere in between and suffers and benefits from both parties at the same time. Let them balance the budget somehow, keep America's credit rating respectable so the citizens' don't have to pay extreme interest rates, reopen the housing markets and get jobs back in this country that pay more than the Wal-Mart greeter. No offense to Wal-Mart greeters, but it's tough to raise a family on those wages.
But I digress, as the saying goes "if both sides are unhappy, it's probably the right thing to do".
The FBI needs to investigate Norquist office. All computer and email and wiretap their phones! Its a racket! Norquist has threatened members of the House and Senate. This needs to stop! Norquist twist representatives arms to sign his "NO TAX" paper or else! Or else? Or else he will target them during their election cycles.
Well, Debra. These politicians are weak in character, and they have agreed to put themselves in the position of protecting a piece of paper over the American people. They are responsible for their own behavior; not Norquist. We should not offer them (the signer) an out; by blaming someone else (Norquist) for their lack of responsibility. If they are being threatened...they get what they deserve. Let them feel the heat for their lack of ethics, perhaps they'll learn something. "What goes around; comes around".