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Subscribe to RSSThis week, Congress will have its first substantial policy argument since the members came back from recess. And what would that be? Another fight over how to continue to fund the federal government.
Here are the parameters of the debate in layman’s terms, as this one is especially confusing (even after the summer's debt-ceiling debate).
1. The money
On Sept. 30, 2011, Fiscal Year 2011 funds will run out. This is the agreement that was reached in March during the near government shutdown. However, unlike in March when the government came within 45 minutes of a shutdown over a funding fight, the general sentiment on Capitol Hill is that neither side wants to even come close to a government shutdown -- since Congress is polling so low. In fact, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said today, “Nobody is intending for a government shutdown, the country has had enough of it.”
Part of the debt limit deal was that when the Fiscal Year 2011 ended on Sept. 30, the funding number for Fiscal Year 2012 would be $1.043 trillion. There's no debate on that point. So unlike last March, when both sides wanted to adjust the overall funding number, everyone agrees on $1.043 trillion. This time, however, the debate will be over where the money is spent.
Even on the last point, there’s widespread agreement on the majority of the continuation of funds. But where there's disagreement is on the subject of FEMA and emergency disaster-relief funding.
2. FEMA
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid passed a stand-alone FEMA/disaster relief funding bill that included $6.1 billion in funds. That bill got support from 10 GOP senators. In an effort to pit House GOPers against Senate GOPers, Reid is going to attach an amendment to the House GOP government funding bill that would make the FEMA/disaster relief funds equal to $6.1 billion and make the Senate vote on it. The House bill appropriates $2.65 billion for FEMA, which is far below Obama’s request of $5.1 billion.
The House GOP says there are giving more than Obama requested in 2011, and that the states themselves have not finished the task of appropriately asking for how much money is needed for disaster relief.
Today, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy said there are not enough votes in the House for the Senate-passed FEMA funding bill. So that is an issue that needs to be figured out. Cantor dodged a question on whether or not the House would leave town on Friday no matter what -- even if a deal isn’t reached.
Another issue with Democrats is the GOP insistence on off-setting the billion dollars for FY 2011 with cuts in other places. Currently, the FY 2011 funds would be offset by cuts in a green car vehicle loan guarantee bill that is part of Obama's green jobs initiative which -- according to Republicans -- has a $4 billion surplus that hasn't been used. “
3. So where do they go?
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said earlier today that Democrats may vote against the overall funding bill if the House GOP pairs budget cuts with FEMA funding (i.e., what they are doing with the green car money).
Why is that important?
There’s speculation that a decent number of conservative House GOPers are going to vote against the government funding bill no matter what, because they deem it to be too costly and are still mad about the debt limit. There’s also speculation that Democrats -- coupled with enough conservative Republicans -- could lead to enough NO votes on the government funding bill. Hoyer sees leverage in House Dems voting no on the bill because the GOP leadership would need to add more FEMA funds to get their votes and avoid a shutdown.
4. Wednesday
The House expects to pass their government funding bill tomorrow -- to which Reid will add his FEMA money as soon as he gets it. It remains to be seen whether or not Reid can get 60 votes again for his version of FEMA funding. If McConnell can whip that number down, then it’s up to Reid to how the government funding bill will proceed. Either he passes the House funding bill or holds out for more FEMA money.
The bill will fund the government through Nov. 18th, 2011. Before Thanksgiving we’ll have to go through this process again and the hope is that Congress will able to fund the government for the full fiscal year. (Don’t hold your breath.)
5. Deadline
The deadline is this Friday because both chambers expect to be on recess next week. It’s expected that an agreement will be reached as the appetite for any discussion of a shutdown is ZERO. However, there’s a small chance that -- due to procedural issues -- they might need to take until Saturday to figure all of this out. We’ll know a lot more after tomorrow.
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Maybe this is why Tennessee Sen.Lamar Alexander is leaving his #3 position in Republican Leadership!
Harry Reid will do the same thing he's done for the last 3 fiscal years (2009 - 2011) - Ignore his responsibility to pass a Budget for the 2012 Budget year.
Then he'll try to blame it on the Republicans. The Republicans already passed a 2012 Budget in the House - Harry is sitting on it in the Senate.
That's one job that should be ended. - Reid is totally incompetent.
I'm all for parcelling a FEMA fund, but the budget must be balanced and do not touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and DI which is spending more than it is taking in this year. The FEMA funds should be a reserve account not to be touched except in the case of a disaster.
Get the FEMA fund money out of the green cars and other infrastructure money. If the President wants so bad to spend tax money on infrastructure, let all government employees and retirees take a healthcare and pension haircut to raise the money.
The Budget should originate in the House, then run through committees of both houses of Congress. There is no House version of the Fiscal 2012 Budget available to be found on Google. What's that all about?
scott-579755 "The Budget should originate in the House, then run through committees of both houses of Congress."
Here's the link to the 2012 Budget passed by the Republican House, which the Senate (Harry Reid) is sitting on;
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/house_approves_republicans_budget_EllkSDHkkJUIhitxBNxk7N?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=
scott-579755, the House FY12 budget is Paul Ryan's Road to Oz plan that every GOP member of the house voted for back in April....you know, the one that lowers the corporate tax rate to 25%, Coupon Care to seniors, repeals the Affordable Care Act and would immediately force seniors to pay for copays for prescreenings and tests. Opens the unfunded Medicare part D donut hole that the ACA closes, too.It is yet another of their blatant attempts to kill Social Security and Medicare. They would like everyone to develop amnesia about this plan...the Cut Cap & Balance bill was Paul Ryan's plan on steroids.. just do a search for Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity-ha!
And all of this could have been avoided if the Democrats would have passed a budget in the last two years.
Shut it down Harry! Highlight what a loser you are for everyone!
Come on WCA - give Harry some slack. We all know he's about as usless as yesterdays newspaper. In fact, yesterday's newspaper has several more uses than Harry. I can line my bird cage with it... it does an excellent job cleaning windows... Hell, Harry can't even get obvious things correct... He's a bit mentally irregular so don't pick on the handicapped for goodness sakes.
Those mean democrats won't sign on to the 2012 republican budget because it kills medicare and medicaid and kills Obama-Care while giving even more tax cuts to the rich and corporations.
A budget for the rich and no one else. How could we expect anything else from the republican party that has pledged with Norquist to destroy America?
Really?
We are broke and the dems are really going to fight over using $4 billion that we can't give people to buy the stupid Volt that is worthless except for the value to rich libs as a green conservation piece?
Sales of a 125 in July - nationwide!
Can we not plug one billion dollar rat hole?
And dems wonder why there is no confidence in government, no "demand?"
Bob seen the price of the Volt what are people suppose to use to pay for a car or anything else. What is the unemployement number you Repubs keep shoving down 9.1 and then you can't understand why a car is not selling. What a brain trust we have here.
Yeah Tis - the Volt is not selling cause of unemployment.
Sure. OR maybe cause it's a turgid POS, brought to you by Government Motors.
Even better is that they are busting out a CCadillac version. Cause they are the government now, so the fact there is no demand is not important.
Obama has gone an done what none of us could ever do - killed the green energy thing-y dead. Thank you Obama, Van Jones, Lisa Jackson - you guys rock.
Really, Bob our country is broke and somehow we just can't stop giving tax cuts that our country could not afford in the first place. These tax cuts have costed our country almost 3 trillion dollars in revenue, I'm guessing at least 2 trillion for the rich alone if not more. That is 3 trillion our country had to borrow and add to the debt and are now paying interest on.
Only a repulbican who can not plug a 2 trillion dollar rat hole, would complain about a one billion rat hole and act like it is a big deal.
Season - It's the Volt that isn't selling well. Other dealerships of other makes of vehicles have slowed down, but are still selling.
What about a single product out of hundreds don't you understand? You claim that we shove the 9.1% down liberals throats and then you try to use it against Bob? Get your facts straight. The Volt is a loser, not vehicles in general. Spin, deflection and just plain BS.
My gosh how liberals rail on and on and on and on and on and on and on about tax cuts. Answer me this liberals... HOW MUCH MONEY DOES OUR GOVERNMENT GIVE TO WELFARE RECIPIENTS and foreign governments... billions.. how about trillions in the past few years? You are so fixated on raising taxes it's becoming a joke. If you feel guilty about it... donate all your money to fix it. I won't mind a bit!
Apparently we are so broke we are selling America off to China, who is even more broke than we are, so go figure. But we now beat China on one thing--disparity between rich and poor, yep we now have a larger gap. In the meantime, the Chinese are rubbing their hands together with glee, because now they are cornering everything -- clean technology, infrastructure deals, even buying property here in the US for basement bargain prices. USA! USA!
Wonder how long reid will ignore the house passed FY2012 budget?
Personaly I would go with not supporting any continuing resolution for the budget and then I would look at what deiscretionary spending programs could be cut back.
Wonder if obama will get his pants in a bunch over this and once again demand immediate action?
The house budget for protecting the rich at the cost of the poor.
It kills Obama-care outright and starts the dead of medicare and medicaid all so we can give the rich and corporations more tax cuts. Death to America by a 1000 cuts.
Lets all pledge with Norquist death to America while you wear your flag pin to prove your patriotism to America.
Personally I would go for all the people in congress to lose their retirements and go on social security and medicare with the rest of us.
If only Bill O'Really and Sean Insanity would pack it in. Let's ask all the teachers, first responders, nurses, etc. if they would vote to raise taxes if we could really get rid of these douche bags.
Why hasn't the president striped the pension funds of the congress and the senate to replace the looted social security /medicare funds ? It would take less then 20 mins to transfer the whole fund ! He would be voted back in ...or maybe as silly as this seems end all the wars as a surprise to the American people !
I just heard a good one tonight. Maxine Waters was voted to be the most corrupt in the congress. The poll was taken by an independent organization. You democrats must be so proud.
Ahead of David Rivera (R-FL) or Stephen Fincher (R-TN)? I can't find a credible source on that jmm -- Must be a site like NewsMax, FreeRepublic or WordNetDaily polling their far-right supporters.
More interesting is Bill O'Really threatening to walk away from a $10,000 contract if he has to pay Clinton era taxes (which he used to pay) because it would be "too oppressive." Hahahahaha! Million Dollar Baby.
At this point it all seems moot. Politicians are just going through the actions. Believe this is how future history books will read: A new extremist faction of the republican party (koch bros t-party) forever closed the only and last window of opportunity for america and the world to avert the greatest of depressions thru a phony radical polarizing ideology, unhonorable political gamesmanship and obstruction.
THE STATES need to get their disaster estimates in before anything is done
WITH OUT THESE ESTIMATES who really knows how much is needed
THEN put people to work rebuilding these areas of our country ,
REALLY NOT THAT COMPLICATED IS IT
over course when you are in the ivy league SIMPLE SOLUTIONS WOULD BE JUST TOO MUCH TO HANDLE
dang I am starting to sound like all the name callers
so I BEST RETRACT THAT
in my opinion simple solutions
I wonder who will blink this time. Cantor and the fringe have gone over to the "Dark side" and want to shut down "OUR" Social programs. Sixty-one percent(61%) want the Congress to do their job and create jobs in America. This current Congress has failed grossly as they have been taken over by the TEA party of "No Compromise"! This minority of brain-dead want total control while protecting the richest from tax increases! I agree the government should get out of our lives. Government should not mandate Sonograms for women! Government should not mandate HPV vaccines! The government should spread tax revenues evenly and proportionally across the board. Why hasn't this gaggle of Senators and Representatives done the jobs they said they were going to do when they ran in 2012? Every Senator and Representative should be on the same level as the rest of us. They should pay into Social Security, be on Medicare or Medicaid and have the same waiting privileges in hospitals that we have. They don'e want to fund FEMA, the one department charged with helping those in great need now after the Hurricane ripped the east coast.
Before anything else is done, they need to not vote themselves pay raises, cost of living increases, increases to their budgets, staff, muffins and coffee....and like the rest of America, at least expect pay freeze if not cutbacks, and cutbacks in benefits as well....then, when they exist in our world, they may come up with some real world solutions. How many of them take public transportation to capitol hill? How many of them brownbag a lunch from home? How many of them do their own laundry after a hard day at work, or wear the same work clothing a couple days in a row? Oh yeah! and while they are about it, they can just run right out and sign up for their health package so that they are in compliance with the Health Care bill that they saw fit to pass without even knowing what was in it. The American people are supposed to accept a pig in a polk, but they don't?????