Obama Rejects Latest GOP Spending Bill as Government Shutdown Looms

**Prince** · 04-05-2011, 12:47 PM

Obama Rejects Latest GOP Spending Bill as Government Shutdown Looms

A visibly frustrated President Obama said Tuesday that Democrats have agreed to how much to cut from the budget and that he won't accept another temporary spending bill that House Republicans are rallying behind to prevent a government shutdown.

"We've already done that twice," Obama said in a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room. "That is not a way to run a government. "I can't have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets."

Republicans are already blaming the White House for not considering another temporary spending bill.

"The White House has increased the likelihood of a shutdown," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.

House Speaker John Boehner told the president that House Republicans were rallying behind a third option because the House refused to be "put in a box and forced to choose between two options that are bad for the country (accepting a bad deal that fails to make real spending cuts, or accepting a government shutdown due to Senate inaction)," according to a readout from Boehner's camp.

The resolution was a backup that Boehner would only "break glass" on if he had to, and senior budget negotiators say they weren't sure it had the votes to pass even if it were accepted by Democrats.

Talks of a new resolution come as top-ranking lawmakers met at the White House Tuesday in what could be the last chance to reach a deal before the lights go out, which both the Obama administration and House Republicans are preparing for with notices to federal workers.

After the closed-door meeting of President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Boehner and their respective appropriations committee chairmen, Boehner said no budget agreement was reached. He added that Republicans are now rallying behind a seventh short-term resolution to keep government operating for one more week so Congress can get through the machinations needed to pass a compromise spending plan.

The meeting was a last-ditch effort to find a satisfactory number for operating the government for the remaining six months of the fiscal year. Republicans, fired up by the Senate's refusal to accept a $61 billion cut to current spending levels, said Democratic intransigence has led the nation to the brink.

Tea Party-backed freshmen lawmakers said they will support the new resolution, particularly since it is attached to a Defense spending bill.

But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who wouldn't comment on whether the White House had rejected the GOP bill, said it is premature to talk about any short-term solution.

"What we have said, it is not necessary and not acceptable to create toll booths to keep the government going," he said.

A spokesman for House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the new resolution "irresponsible and unacceptable."

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he will oppose the one-week resolution and added that he hopes other Democrats will follow his lead. Hoyer, who has voted for previous temporary spending bills, said they are "ineffective, inefficient and costly."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a Senate legislative committee Tuesday that forcing the government to live week-by-week this far into the fiscal year risks undermining the economic recovery underway.

The last-ditch deal -- which had been drawn up because the House needs to allow a three-day buffer before considering a longer-term budget, pushing back a vote beyond Friday night's deadline for a shutdown -- includes $12 billion in cuts from an array of places and a funding plan to provide for the Pentagon through the end of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

Most every department of the government would face some kind of cut from prior spending levels, including military construction, high speed rail corridor funding, first responder grants, foreign assistance accounts and hospital readiness grants.

Other "riders" are not as high-profile as earlier proposals to cut government aid to Planned Parenthood or de-fund the health care overhaul, but would include a ban on federal and local money from paying for abortions in the District of Columbia, prohibition from transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States and a requirement that the secretary of defense certify the transfer of a detainee to another country that would not put the U.S. at risk.

Stopgap measures, though, have become increasingly unpopular in Congress, particularly among House conservatives, and Republicans could have to look to moderate Blue Dog Democrats to help pick up votes. At the same time, congressional leaders were at the White House trying to work out a deal to fund the government for the rest of the year.

As the president meets with Boehner, Reid, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman, Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, over a number that could range from $33 billion to $61 billion in cuts -- or 2-4 percent of the total discretionary budget, the administration is preparing for a possible government shutdown.

A top official at the White House Office of Management and Budget has written a memo to agency heads directing them to review and share their contingency plans for a shutdown.

The Committee on House Administration also sent out a memo instructing employers in the House of Representatives to determine which "essential personnel" should keep working should funding lapse. The only House employees allowed to keep working would be those whose jobs are "directly related to constitutional responsibilities, related to the protection of human life, or related to the protection of property."

Read more: Obama Rejects Latest GOP Spending Bill as Government Shutdown Looms - FoxNews.com

**LAM** · 04-05-2011, 03:31 PM

lol stupid GOP doesn't remember the election results after their last government shutdown..

**phosphor** · 04-05-2011, 04:02 PM

They lost and gained last time - however this was based on the Republicans over-interpreting the degree to which the public supported their agenda to reduce government spending and shut down of the government, twice, in their efforts to force dramatic budget cuts.

This is an entirely different animal and it seems that the democrats are now playing a very dangerous shell game. Look at it this way: do you want some piddly cuts that are just barely superficial and actually do nothing except make your party look good - or do you want very substantial cuts that would make a difference that both parties can take credit for. The democrats have not proposed anything substantial and you know it - and if the dems pass the one they want now, don't count on anything else coming down the pike from them.

Cuts are a good thing and we need ALLOT of them to get back on track. Snarky remarks aside, LAM, we both want the same thing regardless of who gets the credit - I hope.

**LAM** · 04-05-2011, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

This is an entirely different animal and it seems that the democrats are now playing a very dangerous shell game. Look at it this way: do you want some piddly cuts that are just barely superficial and actually do nothing except make your party look good - or do you want very substantial cuts that would make a difference that both parties can take credit for. The democrats have not proposed anything substantial and you know it - and if the dems pass the one they want now, don't count on anything else coming down the pike from them.

Cuts are a good thing and we need ALLOT of them to get back on track. Snarky remarks aside, LAM, we both want the same thing regardless of who gets the credit - I hope.

cuts in social services that did not cause the problem isn't a solution..fixes can be made to medicare and there needs to be cost control between them and the for profit health care industry.

4-6T in cuts over X amount of time isn't a real solution to the debt we are already in. these types of cuts will only hurt those struggling and trying not to fall into poverty.

I am not for any types of cuts that will cost more americans the low paying jobs that they already have when there are no others to go to. I am definitely not for anything that will further effect the elderly on fixed incomes either.

**danzik17** · 04-05-2011, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

cuts in social services that did not cause the problem isn't a solution..fixes can be made to medicare and there needs to be cost control between them and the for profit health care industry.

4-6T in cuts over X amount of time isn't a real solution to the debt we are already in. these types of cuts will only hurt those struggling and trying not to fall into poverty.

I am not for any types of cuts that will cost more americans the low paying jobs that they already have when there are no others to go to. I am definitely not for anything that will further effect the elderly on fixed incomes either.

There are many places you can cut with relatively little pain - government has a lot of needless redundancy and overhead.

That said - 2/3 of government spending is mandatory spending. It would be foolish to think we can get our house in order without addressing that.

**Prince** · 04-05-2011, 07:04 PM

John Boehner: Democrats 'win' in government shutdown
By JOHN BRESNAHAN & JAKE SHERMAN

Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Republican leaders speak with the media after Obama's briefing room appearance regarding the budget in Washington, D.C. |

Speaker John Boehner is warning his Republican colleagues that Democrats would “win” a government shutdown and the GOP would suffer a political catastrophe if the federal government runs out of money at the end of this week.

“The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown. I agree,” Boehner said during a closed-door, 90-minute meeting on House Republicans on Monday night, according to several lawmakers who attended the session.

Boehner’s opinion was quickly backed up GOP lawmakers who were serving in Congress during 1995, when former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) squared off with then President Bill Clinton by shutting down the government twice. Reps. Don Young (Alaska), Dana Rohrbacher (Calif.) and Buck McKeon (Calif.) — a close ally — supported Boehner’s position. Dozens of other Republicans rallied to support Boehner as well, in a moment that one GOP insider called a “turning point” for House Republicans.

“My view is that a government shutdown doesn’t benefit anyone necessarily, but if one party or the other is going to get an edge, it’s probably the Democrats. I agree with the speaker there,” Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) told POLITICO. “If you look at the government shutdown of 1995, it guaranteed President Clinton’s reelection. And that’s what this would do. If you want to cede the presidential race in 2012, you shut down the government.”

But while Boehner may have backing from the old veterans in his camp, he’s run headlong into the tea-party group of House Republicans who believe that Obama and Senate Democrats would come off the worse if a shutdown actually takes place.

These hard-line Republicans, not all of whom are freshmen, have forced Boehner to play hardball with the Democrats or face a potential threat to his own survival as speaker. This hard-core faction is insisting on no less than the $61 billion spending cut package passed by the House in February, and they’ve refused to back to any proposal that includes smaller reductions. Reid and Senate Democrats have pushed a much smaller reduction of $33 billion. As of Tuesday afternoon, the potential of a shutdown was growing, but could be headed off by a Boehner offer of $40 billion in cuts plus certain policy riders favored by GOP lawmakers.

The split among Republicans breaks somewhat along generational lines, but even more clearly between those who have served in government — either in the state, local or federal level — and those who have never done so.

The Republicans favoring a shutdown are convinced the political landscape is radically different this time around. They believe the power of the president’s “bully pulpit” isn’t as overwhelming as it was in Clinton’s time, and more voters will sympathize with the GOP’s efforts to shut down the government.

Read the rest of the article here: John Boehner: Democrats 'win' in government shutdown - John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com

**Dale Mabry** · 04-05-2011, 07:19 PM

Shut it down, we won't have to pay taxes when they are shutdown since they aren't working, right?

**Prince** · 04-05-2011, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Shut it down, we won't have to pay taxes when they are shutdown since they aren't working, right?

**Glycomann** · 04-05-2011, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

They lost and gained last time - however this was based on the Republicans over-interpreting the degree to which the public supported their agenda to reduce government spending and shut down of the government, twice, in their efforts to force dramatic budget cuts.

This is an entirely different animal and it seems that the democrats are now playing a very dangerous shell game. Look at it this way: do you want some piddly cuts that are just barely superficial and actually do nothing except make your party look good - or do you want very substantial cuts that would make a difference that both parties can take credit for. The democrats have not proposed anything substantial and you know it - and if the dems pass the one they want now, don't count on anything else coming down the pike from them.

Cuts are a good thing and we need ALLOT of them to get back on track. Snarky remarks aside, LAM, we both want the same thing regardless of who gets the credit - I hope.

Let's start by demanding our TARP money back from the banks. Then stop the Fed from printing money and handing it over to European banks. Then take the damn money back from the European banks. Then kick all the lobbiests out of Washington and publically fund elections. Then install a line item veto. Then install pay-go rules. There everything fixed in less than a paragraph. Fuck the repugnicans and the demorats and fuck everybody that buys into this BS shell game and cast of actors.

**danzik17** · 04-05-2011, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by Glycomann

Let's start by demanding our TARP money back from the banks. Then stop the Fed from printing money and handing it over to European banks. Then take the damn money back from the European banks. Then kick all the lobbiests out of Washington and publically fund elections. Then install a line item veto. Then install pay-go rules. There everything fixed in less than a paragraph. Fuck the repugnicans and the demorats and fuck everybody that buys into this BS shell game and cast of actors.

+1 On everything except line item veto. It gives the executive branch too much power over legislation. I'm not saying it wouldn't be extremely useful at times, but it's too much power in one branch.

**Prince** · 04-05-2011, 08:56 PM

Originally Posted by Glycomann

Let's start by demanding our TARP money back from the banks. Then stop the Fed from printing money and handing it over to European banks. Then take the damn money back from the European banks. Then kick all the lobbiests out of Washington and publically fund elections. Then install a line item veto. Then install pay-go rules. There everything fixed in less than a paragraph. Fuck the repugnicans and the demorats and fuck everybody that buys into this BS shell game and cast of actors.

**phosphor** · 04-06-2011, 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by LAM

cuts in social services that did not cause the problem isn't a solution..fixes can be made to medicare and there needs to be cost control between them and the for profit health care industry.

4-6T in cuts over X amount of time isn't a real solution to the debt we are already in. these types of cuts will only hurt those struggling and trying not to fall into poverty.

I am not for any types of cuts that will cost more americans the low paying jobs that they already have when there are no others to go to. I am definitely not for anything that will further effect the elderly on fixed incomes either.

Glad your a critic of the new proposal, it proves my point of liberals in general. Liberals don't have to balls to make the cuts nessesary to get this country back on track because they are the very same people enabling the parasites to bleed this country dry. You say on one hand, 6.2T isn't enough but then dismiss the whole thing because it 'hurts' people. Well, what's your proposal? What's the Dem's proposal? The amount? The cuts?

Bleeding heart BS from people so quick to throw around other people's money. How brave and big hearted you are.

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Liberals don't have to balls to make the cuts nessesary to get this country back on track because they are the very same people enabling the parasites to bleed this country dry.

same old tired bull shit from the far shit about "certain" people bleeding the government dry...

please show the empirical data showing that social services are bankrupting the government...

good luck to you and your family when they take away your EITC and the ability to deduct your mortgage insurance from your taxes but they don't take any welfare away from the corporations...

once again the GOP will be on the wrong side of history as the harsh edges of capitalism send more people into poverty simple because the labor wages that they make do not enable them to afford the basic needs in this country anymore...

**andyo** · 04-06-2011, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Glad your a critic of the new proposal, it proves my point of liberals in general. Liberals don't have to balls to make the cuts nessesary to get this country back on track because they are the very same people enabling the parasites to bleed this country dry. You say on one hand, 6.2T isn't enough but then dismiss the whole thing because it 'hurts' people. Well, what's your proposal? What's the Dem's proposal? The amount? The cuts?

Bleeding heart BS from people so quick to throw around other people's money. How brave and big hearted you are.

This is pretty funny considering the Repiglicans were elected last November and have done nothing but blame the White House for every one of their inabilities to get anything done ever since.Boner or whatever his name is gets up there and cries every chance he gets. When is the government actually going to get their shit straight and do something for the people? Fire them all! Both sides.

**andyo** · 04-06-2011, 09:53 AM

Isn't it funny to think that during the Civil War era the Republican party was the liberal side and the Democrat side was actually the conservative side? Sean Hannity and Rush would disagree because they're too one-sided to check their facts.

**DEATH MATCH** · 04-06-2011, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by LAM

lol stupid GOP doesn't remember the election results after their last government shutdown..

16 years ago dumbo time has changed and the people have a different view on politics now. Boy your dumb

**KelJu** · 04-06-2011, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by Glycomann

Let's start by demanding our TARP money back from the banks. Then stop the Fed from printing money and handing it over to European banks. Then take the damn money back from the European banks. Then kick all the lobbiests out of Washington and publically fund elections. Then install a line item veto. Then install pay-go rules. There everything fixed in less than a paragraph. Fuck the repugnicans and the demorats and fuck everybody that buys into this BS shell game and cast of actors.

Good Stuff!

**Zaphod** · 04-06-2011, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by phosphor

Glad your a critic of the new proposal, it proves my point of liberals in general. Liberals don't have to balls to make the cuts nessesary to get this country back on track because they are the very same people enabling the parasites to bleed this country dry. You say on one hand, 6.2T isn't enough but then dismiss the whole thing because it 'hurts' people. Well, what's your proposal? What's the Dem's proposal? The amount? The cuts?

Bleeding heart BS from people so quick to throw around other people's money. How brave and big hearted you are.

You seriously think the Republicans have your best interests in mind? I'll let you in on a little secret. They don't. They don't give one flying shit about you. The Democrats are the same way. They don't give a shit about the people. Both are in the pockets of and controlled by the rich and by corporations.

If you honestly believe either side is acting in your or the country's best interests you are a fucking moron and you should have been swallowed.

**Zaphod** · 04-06-2011, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by andyo

Isn't it funny to think that during the Civil War era the Republican party was the liberal side and the Democrat side was actually the conservative side? Sean Hannity and Rush would disagree because they're too one-sided to check their facts.

And too stupid.

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by DEATH MATCH

16 years ago dumbo time has changed and the people have a different view on politics now. Boy your dumb

I take shits more intelligent than you...

get back to me when you cut the cord from your family, stop reciting the politics of your father, join the working world then come talk to me when you have some real world and life experience...

**phosphor** · 04-06-2011, 03:45 PM

you know who you are.

**ALBOB** · 04-06-2011, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

lol stupid GOP doesn't remember the election results after their last government shutdown..

???

White House = Democrat
Senate = Democrat
House = Republican

With 2/3 of the gubmint being run by Democrats, tell us again who's shutting things down?

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 04:07 PM

"Republicans continue to fight for the largest spending cuts possible to help end Washington's job-crushing spending binge," Boehner said.

Read more: Tick, tick, GOP: Government shutdown looms - UPI.com

WTF does Washington and social programs have to do with creating jobs? Bonner needs to drink another 6-pack maybe..

why all the big cuts NOW...why not when GWB was in office? the numbers are still the same in-regards to the costs of most of the social services in question...

**ALBOB** · 04-06-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

"Republicans continue to fight for the largest spending cuts possible to help end Washington's job-crushing spending binge," Boehner said.

Read more: Tick, tick, GOP: Government shutdown looms - UPI.com

WTF does Washington and social programs have to do with creating jobs?

why all the big cuts NOW...why not when GWB was in office? the numbers are still the same in-regards to the costs of most of the social services in question...

#1 Why NOT now? The cuts have to be made sooner or later or were all fucked.

#2 GWB = BHO & BHO = GWB They're two peas from the same pod. The only difference is that a few in the House and Senate have finally realized the people have had enough. SOMETHING has to be done. The assholes that haven't realized that are the ones causing the shutdown and they're from BOTH sides of the aisle.

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by ALBOB

#1 Why NOT now. The cuts have to be made sooner or later or were all fucked.

#2 GWB = BHO & BHO = GWB They're two peas from the same pod. The only difference is that a few in the House and Senate have finally realized the people have had enough. SOMETHING has to be done. The assholes that haven't realized that are the ones causing the shutdown and they're from BOTH sides of the aisle.

your right something has to be done..but not the GOP's big "conservative" attack on the poor. not with high unemployment and a weak dollar and no jobs now or in the foreseeable future...

the only thing that is keeping the economy going right now is gov spending. anything that costs people jobs right now isn't even an option.

even with the most drastic cuts in services we will still be a good 8T in the whole thanks to the monies we had to borrow and now finance the loans on for those wars and "tax" cuts that we couldn't afford under GWB.

and Boehner want to continue those Bush tax cuts and/or make them permanent...

**ALBOB** · 04-06-2011, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

the only thing that is keeping the economy going right now is gov spending..

And that right there boys and girls is the difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals say government spending is the answer. Conservatives say that government spending is the problem. Who's right? Who's wrong? Only history will be able to tell us.

So for now, the only thing we can do is agree to disagree and finally meet face to face so you can buy me that drink you've owed me for the past 10 years.

**M4A3** · 04-06-2011, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

same old tired bull shit from the far shit about "certain" people bleeding the government dry...

please show the empirical data showing that social services are bankrupting the government...

good luck to you and your family when they take away your EITC and the ability to deduct your mortgage insurance from your taxes but they don't take any welfare away from the corporations...

once again the GOP will be on the wrong side of history as the harsh edges of capitalism send more people into poverty simple because the labor wages that they make do not enable them to afford the basic needs in this country anymore...

Working at McDonald's or Wal-mart shouldn't provide you with a living wage.

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by M4A3

Working at McDonald's or Wal-mart shouldn't provide you with a living wage.

how do you discount the labor wage (low skilled jobs, etc.) if that is currently the largest growing job market in the US?

how can a family that all make "labor" wages afford, housing, energy, health-care, etc. if they make no profits on that labor but are expected to pay constantly increasing expenses as if they were?

**M4A3** · 04-06-2011, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

how do you discount the labor wage (low skilled jobs, etc.) if that is currently the largest growing job market in the US?

how can a family that all make "labor" wages afford, housing, energy, health-care, etc. if they make no profits on that labor but are expected to pay constantly increasing expenses as if they were?

I don't really give a fuck. And I don't see how it's my problem to make sure they are supportrd on my tax dollars.

My father came to this country with 300 dollars in his pocket and didn't even speak the language. He managed to put himself through school while working as a mechanic, and became an electronic test engineer. I've got no sympathy for people who are either too lazy or too incompetent to make a better life for themselves. If they are really that bad off, they can always enlist. Uncle Sugar is always looking for new boots.

In other words, "Cry me a River."

**LAM** · 04-06-2011, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by M4A3

I don't really give a fuck. And I don't see how it's my problem to make sure they are supportrd on my tax dollars.

My father came to this country with 300 dollars in his pocket and didn't even speak the language. He managed to put himself through school while working as a mechanic, and became an electronic test engineer. I've got no sympathy for people who are either too lazy or too incompetent to make a better life for themselves. If they are really that bad off, they can always enlist. Uncle Sugar is always looking for new boots.

In other words, "Cry me a River."

you may want to read a little more because the "they" I am talking about is about 1/3 of the US population that gets paid a low skilled labor wage...

and yes the old tire conservative excuse about the poor all being lazy or incompetent maybe used to fly but once you involve monetary policy and the intermingling of government and for profit business all the class economic theory's no longer apply.

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