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Title: Obama to Set Out Budget Plan on Wednesday (will deliver speech to nation)
Source:
nz.news
URL Source: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/ ... -out-budget-plan-on-wednesday/
Published: Apr 11, 2011
Author: staff writer
Post Date: 2011-04-11 04:59:35 by Murron
Keywords: None
Views: 2812
Comments: 3
Obama to Set Out Budget Plan on Wednesday (will deliver speech to nation) WASHINGTON (AFP) - Aides say President Barack Obama will lay out plans to reduce the soaring US budget deficit on Wednesday, setting the stage for a major battle that could define his reelection campaign. Washington is still regrouping from the political jousting that led to the near shutdown of the federal government at the weekend, but looming on the horizon are even bigger battles over the debt ceiling and the 2012 budget. Opposition Republicans put pressure on Obama in the long-term budget debate by unveiling a spending blueprint last week that would cut government expenditures by $6 trillion over the next decade. Republicans want to slash funds for Medicare, benefits for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health program for people with low income, but Democrats would prefer to make up much of the deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy. Right at the heart of this ideological debate is the broad disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over the size and scope of the government's role in American life. White House aide Dan Pfeiffer said Obama would lay out his own vision on Wednesday, while other presidential aides attacked the Republican policy paper outlined on Tuesday by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. "The average millionaire in this country would get at least a $200,000 tax cut while the average senior down the road is going to pay $6,000 more in health costs, the middle-class is going to pay more, you've got a 70 percent cut in energy investment at a time of record gas prices," said senior White House adviser David Plouffe. The president, by contrast, would take "a scalpel, not a machete" to the social welfare programs and look to rein in the deficit "in a balanced way," Plouffe told ABC's "This Week" program. After weeks of haggling in Congress, Obama stepped in belatedly to help reach a deal over the fiscal year budget which covers government spending through September 2011. The 11th hour accord reached late Friday, which cuts $38.5 billion in spending over the next six months, will be voted on in Congress later this week but is a done-deal. In his weekly media address Saturday, Obama called the agreement "the biggest annual spending cut in history," but said he had given ground to Republicans and accepted "painful" cuts. His Republican interlocutor, House Speaker John Boehner, wound up with most of the spending reductions he sought, including one which would bar Washington DC from spending city funds to provide abortions for low-income women. Many Democrats were said to be unhappy with a bill which made substantive cuts in social spending for the poor, while many Republicans complained it did not go far enough in cutting government programs. But in the end both sides walked away from the precipice of a government shutdown, which would have closed vital government services and seen hundreds of thousands of workers go without a paycheck. Obama underscored the relief with an impromptu visit Saturday to the Lincoln Memorial -- among the many sites that would have closed -- bounding up the marble stairs leading to the enormous statue of America's 16th president. "I just wanted to say, real quick, that because Congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody is able to enjoy their visit," Obama told stunned tourists as security guards looked on. In a sign of tougher battles ahead, Ryan signaled that his party would only be content with far more draconian cuts in the future. "This is really still a drop in the bucket. We want to move from talking about saving billions to saving trillions of dollars," he told NBC's "Meet the Press" program. Obama must also forge a deal to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit, with economists warning that the United States risks defaulting on its loans in just five weeks' time. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation" program, urged Republicans not to treat the debt ceiling the same way as they were treating the budget issue. "You cannot do that with the debt ceiling. That is playing with fire -- because if the markets believe we are not going to pay our debt, it could be a formula for recession or worse. "I would urge both sides to take the threat of not renewing the debt ceiling off the table," he said. "It is highly irresponsible... It shows a lack of knowledge as to how our government works."
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#1. To: Murron (#0)
Boehner won a huge political victory, Ryan is driving the debate...and Owe-bama looks weak.
I hear you knockin...go back where you been....
Nobody won from this, Boofer.
America...My Kind Of Place...
No surprise, it's inevitable that big government nanny state advocates will raise taxes eventually. This will further hurt the economy, the dollar, and bolster dependence on global financing. Welcome to the NWO, comrade.
I recall a re-run of MASH I saw where this uber right winger named Colonel Flagg...
#2. To: Badeye (#1)
#3. To: Murron (#0)
raising taxes
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
Godwinson posted on 2011-02-23 11:47:32 ET
http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=18011&Disp=46#C46
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