Budget Deal Targets Pieces of Health Care Law

Ok, maybe I was a little hard on Boehner yesterday. Anything that helps defund or repeal obamacare is a good thing. I still think Boehner compromised when he didn't have to, but the deal he got was better than the past couple of continuing resolutions...

The Wall Street Journal

The budget deal reached Friday would affect two initiatives contained in last year's health-care law that were bitterly opposed by businesses, killing one outright and slashing funding for the other.

The agreement would eliminate a provision of the health-care law enabling low-income workers to opt out of employer-offered health insurance and shop for more affordable coverage on insurance exchanges to be created in 2014, according to congressional aides and business groups.

Under the provision, employers would have had to help pay for the insurance purchased on the exchange. Ending the program would save the government $4 billion over 10 years, but it wouldn't result in any immediate spending cuts because it isn't set to begin for three years.

Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden sponsored the provision, calling it "Free Choice." A spokesman for Mr. Wyden, Jennifer Hoelzer, said Saturday that "both parties claim to support choice and competition in health care, but their closed-door decision to kill off Free Choice makes it pretty clear that their real goal is to keep health care in the hands of special interests."

Spokespeople for the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers, organizations that opposed the measure, couldn't be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also opposed the measure, declined to comment.

The budget bill will also cut $2.2 billion in funding from a program that would encourage the development of health-care cooperatives-not-for-profit entities that would compete with private, for-profit health-insurance companies.

Read the rest at the link above...

No government shutdown...

Well, I told you Boehner would give in. I think the $38.5 BILLION in cuts is less than the interest that accrued while they were arguing about it.

It wouldn't have hurt my feelings at all if the government had shut down, except congress and obama would have still been paid. That wouldn't have hurt my feelings, but it owuld have pissed me off.

I hope Boehner was good at what he did before he got into politics. He may be needing that job again sooner than he thinks. We elected these people, last November, to put a stop to the out of control spending and be tough about it. So far, not much has changed...

Shutdown looms and democrats lose what's left of their minds...

I have heard it all now.

The Republicans want old people to die...

The Republicans want to deny cancer screenings for women...

The Republicans want women to die...

This is complete bullshit. If the dumbass democrats had passed a budget last October, they wouldn't be fighting over continuing resolutions every few weeks. What they did instead was just decide to spend what ever they wanted to, without the restraints of a budget.

Now the Republicans are forced to reign in the out of control bleeding of money from washington. When things are as bad as they are currently in our government tough choices have to be made. Somebody has to have the balls to make those tough calls.

You know what, none of those calls involve starving old people or killing women. The democrats are a bunch of fucking drama queens. If they were willing to face the fact that our Country is flat broke, maybe they would understand what needs to be done. They aren't. They won't. They need therapy, shock therapy.

obama has put together a budget for 2012. Right out of the gate it has a TRILLION dollar deficit. Before the first tax dollar is spent, we are already an additional TRILLION dollars in the hole. Is that any way to run a Country? Look at this number $1,000,000,000,000.00. Can you even imagine that? Does your brain even register that many zeros? Mine doesn't, it's mind boggling. And the really messed up part of that is, we will have to borrow that TRILLION dollars from China. Do you know how long it is going to take to pay that money back, on top of all the other money we already owe them? Put it like this, your grandchildren will still be paying it back.

Over all, our deficit is in excess of $14,000,000,000,000.00. 14 TRILLION dollars. And the fucking democrats are acting like a bunch of drama queen, chicken little, crybabies over 61 BILLION dollars that the Republicans want to cut this year.

If you are stupid enough to believe that the upcoming shutdown is the fault of the Republicans, please seek a mental evaluation. Just look at the numbers involved and how we got to them. Also consider what I said above about the democrats refusing to put a budget in place. When you consider that it is against the law for them not to have a budget it is even uglier. And don't forget that when the budget was supposed to have been put in place, the democrats controlled the house, the senate and the presidency. Like I said before, a budget would have just gotten in the way of their spending. A liberal, anti-American agenda is expensive...

Boehner: Congress shouldn't be paid in event of shutdown

Boehner is 100% correct. If the government shuts down congress should not get paid. And obama sure in the hell shouldn't get paid, he shouldn't even be getting paid now.

During a shutdown, only the people who protect us should be paid. The Military, Police and Fire are about it. There may be some other essential folks that need to stay on the payroll.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but don't those non-essential employees who will be laid off get back pay when everything starts back up? I'm almost positive I heard that somewhere. If that is the case, it is dead wrong. If I get laid off because my company is way over budget, when things get back to normal, do you think they will give me pay for the time I was sitting around the house in my underwear? I kind of doubt it...

By Jordan Fabian - The Hill

Lawmakers should not be paid if the government shuts down, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday.

Boehner expressed support for legislation that would prevent members from drawing a paycheck should Congress and the White House fail to reach a deal, by day's end Friday, to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

"Members of Congress are elected by their constituents. If there is a government shutdown, not only will Congress not be paid, but federal employees will not be paid," he said during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The Speaker's endorsement of the idea comes after a number of lawmakers urged leaders to adopt the principle this week.

Over 20 senators this week made public statements in favor of the idea, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) even said he would donate his salary to charity or give it back to the Treasury if the government shuts down.

Both chambers have passed separate pieces of legislation cutting off lawmaker pay in case of a shutdown, but a single bill has not advanced through both chambers and been signed by President Obama.

"We’ll have to take a look at that," Boehner said.

"If Speaker Boehner were really serious about preventing Members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown, he would immediately pass our ‘no budget, no pay’ bill," responded Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who sponsored the Senate's congressional pay bill.

During his wide-ranging interview with ABC, Boehner also expressed confidence both sides could eventually reach a deal on a 2011 budget.

Obama-Boehner Fight Gets Ugly

Everything is rosy when obama and reid get their way, when they are put in a position of possibly compromising they act like jr. high school girls.

Do you think Boehner will cave? I hope like hell he stands his (our) ground. There has to be real cuts made to spending in washington. We are headed for financial ruin at breakneck speed.

It is going to be painful to fix our budget woes, but not nearly as painful as the alternative. It can't be put off any longer...

By Chris Stirewalt - FoxNews

Obama Swats Boehner, Boehner Swats Back

“The president is certainly entitled to disagree with our budget, but what exactly is his alternative? If he wants to have an ‘adult conversation’ about solving our fiscal challenges, he needs to lead instead of sitting on the sidelines.”

-- Statement from Speaker John Boehner released Wednesday morning blasting President Obama for neglecting long-term fiscal issues

President Obama is out on the campaign trail today talking to Pennsylvanians about wind power and attending an awards ceremony hosted by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

But real the topic for the president’s day isn’t green energy or racial injustice. It’s dealing with House Speaker John Boehner and the prospect of a looming government shutdown.

After a White House meeting with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday, Obama went to the press room to rip Boehner for playing “games” with the process and “quibbling around the edges” of the nation’s fiscal problems.

Boehner then responded with a press conference of his own saying that Republicans would not be “put into a box” by the president and said Democrats are using “smoke and mirrors” to create the false appearance of spending cuts.

Today is the crucial day if lawmakers mean to avoid a government shutdown. House rules require three days for legislation to be considered before a vote and Senate Democrats have been unable to produce their own plan for funding the government when the current emergency measure expires on Friday.

That means if a shutdown is to be averted, Reid and his caucus would have to get busy today and produce a bill that can draw at least the seven Republican votes in the Senate needed to advance and head to the House.

In the six weeks since House Republicans passed their spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year – now just 25 weeks – the Senate has been stuck and the government has been operating on emergency measures to stave off shutdowns while negotiations continued.

Boehner shocked Democrats on Tuesday when he won the support of Tea Party members of his caucus for yet another emergency one-week extension. Boehner won their backing by attaching a $12 billion cuts package and promising full-year funding for the Pentagon in the measure.

Boehner, Reid Fail to Agree on Budget Solution as Gov't Shutdown Nears

It's funny seeing obama try to act like a badass. Especially when you consider that this entire mess has come about because the democrats, who controlled the house, the senate and the presidency, didn't pass a budget last year. So now, obama wants to act like a bully and try to make Boehner buckle under the pressure, force him to make a compromise.

If Boehner sticks to his guns, which I doubt, he can force obama and reid to make some concessions.

I don't think that a government shutdown is such a bad idea. It will separate the essential employees from the non-essential. It would go a long way to fixing our budget if those non-essential employees, who are not needed during a shutdown, were given the opportunity to find their next career. Maybe if several of them had to compete for jobs in the real world, with the current obama economy, maybe there would be more a more realistic attitude about spending.

It's almost as if the people in our government don't realize that real people actually have to work for the money they continue to spend. The money just magically shows up on the doorstep. Sorry, it doesn't work that way...

From FoxNews

Even with President obama holding their feet to the fire, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader harry reid were unable to reach a budget deal during a meeting on Capitol Hill as a government shutdown loomed this weekend.

The meeting lasted less than an hour but the two "agreed to continue working on a budget solution," spokesmen for the two said in separate statements.

Earlier Tuesday, a visibly frustrated obama said that if the meeting between the two leaders does not lead to a deal, he would summon the pair back to the White House Wednesday.

"Myself, joe biden, my team -- we are prepared to meet for as long as possible to this resolved," obama said during a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room.

obama also said that democrats have agreed with Republicans on how much to cut from the budget and that he won't accept another temporary spending bill that House Republicans are rallying behind to keep the lights on for another week.

"We've already done that twice," obama said. "That is not a way to run a government. "I can't have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets."

obama said both sides are closer than ever to a deal and that politics shouldn't stand in the way of preventing a shutdown that would harm the economic recovery.

"There is no reason why we should not get an agreement," obama said. "At a time when the economy is just beginning to grow, the last thing we need is a disruption that's caused by a government shutdown."

In a statement following the private White House meeting earlier Tuesday, Boehner had said there was no deal. And he warned that House Republicans "will not be put in a box" of accepting options they refuse to endorse.

Boehner has proposed an agreement that would keep the government running for one more week and slash another $12 billion in spending. The GOP-led House has already passed a pair of stopgap bills, so far cutting $10 billion from an estimated $1.2 trillion budget to fund the day-to-day operations of government through Sept. 30.

obama said he would only accept another short-term funding extension, of two or three days, in order to get a longer-term deal through Congress. But he ruled out a longer extension to allow negotiations to continue.

"What we are not going to do is once again put off something that should have been done months ago," the president said.

Read the rest at the link above...

Obama Summons Lawmakers to White House Budget Talks

So, will Boehner cave today or later in the week? Because it isn't a question of if, just when. The worst about about it is that he is in the better position. The democrats need him to compromise, because they sure aren't planning on making any concessions. It's the same old story, compromise means the Republicans doing exactly what the democrats want...

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Monday summoned key lawmakers from both parties to the White House for budget talks in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown this weekend.

The White House said the president has invited House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and top negotiators on the appropriations committees to a session Tuesday.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney said time was running short and the president would urge the lawmakers to reach an agreement.

Carney said the White House was optimistic that a shutdown could be averted, but a top Republican did not share that optimism.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said there were still disagreements about how much to cut spending through Sept. 30, the end of the budget year. He accused the White House of bringing too many phony budget cuts to the table in hopes of restoring reductions made by Republicans in February.

"Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I've made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors," Boehner said in a statement. "That's unacceptable."

Democratic officials knowledgeable about the proposals said the administration's ideas including taking unused money from federal highway programs and leftover funds from a program providing health care to middle-class families. Both ideas count in congressional budget terms as savings that could be used to pay for spending elsewhere in the day-to-day budgets of domestic agencies, but their practical effect is nil.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss proposals that haven't been made public.

Read therest at the link above...

Obama to Congressional Leaders: Hurry Up and Strike a Budget Deal

What do you bet Boehner folds again? This guy has way less balls than I thought. He is in a very good position right now. He doesn't have to compromise. He should be able to force the democrats to make some REAL spending cuts. He won't though.

I about half hope there is a shutdown. As long as the government is shutdown there is a lot less stupid spending going on. And if the government does shut down, it will be the fault of both parties. The democrats will try to spin it as unwillingness on the part of Republicans to make a compromise, but really it will be the unwillingness of the democrats to make real spending cuts in an out of control government...

From FoxNews

President obama told the leaders of the House and Senate on Saturday to hurry up and strike a deal on the budget to avoid a government shutdown next weekend, the White House said.

obama made separate calls to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging them to "reach a final solution and avoid a government shutdown that would be harmful to our economic recovery," the White House said in a readout of the call.

Negotiators are discussing spending cuts in the $33 billion range but haven't agreed on where to make them. Talks were continuing through the weekend. Funding for the government expires at midnight Friday.

Boehner is under pressure from Tea Party-backed conservatives to not compromise after the GOP-led House passed a budget bill in February that cuts $61 billion from current spending levels.

During the phone call, Boehner "reminded the president that there is no 'deal' or agreement on a final number, and he will continue to push for the largest possible spending cuts," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.