Dems Demand Sequester Rollback; Sen. McConnell and Paul: 'A Non-Starter'
Today In Washington, D.C. - Oct 14, 2013 - Day 14 of Government Shutdown. Senate Democrats attempt to increase spending as well as securing a unlimited continuing resolution.
The Senate will reconvene at 1 PM. Later this afternoon, the Senate is scheduled to take up the nominations of Andrea R. Wood to be U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and Madeline Haikala to be U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Following up to 30 minutes of debate, there will be a vote on confirmation of the nominations.
On Saturday, the Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance their trillion dollar no-strings-attached blank check debt limit increase (S. 1569). The vote was 53-45.
The House reconvened today at Noon. The House will continue focusing on funding bills for the government. Today they will take up H.J. Res. 80 — "Making continuing appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Indian Health Service for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes." And, H.R. 3190 — "To provide for the continued performance of the functions of the United States Parole Commission, and for other purposes."
The Wall Street Journal reports today, “As the search for a way to end the partial federal shutdown and avoid a debt crisis shifted to the Senate, Democrats made plain that one of their top priorities was to diminish the next round of across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester, due to take effect early next year. Many Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), oppose retreating from those cuts. That set up a clash that seemed almost as intense as the one that caused budget talks between House Republicans and President Barack Obama to collapse Friday. ‘Total federal spending has now gone down for two years in a row—the first time that's happened since the Korean War,’ Mr. McConnell said Sunday. With the additional sequestration cuts on tap for 2014, the budget limits have produced ‘the most significant spending reduction in modern history and Senate Republicans will not accept anything that undoes these cuts.’”
WSJ notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) rejected a potential plan over the weekend, pointing out that “Democrats say their biggest objection was that it would make it more difficult to reach their long-held goal: to replace some of the across-the-board sequester cuts with a broader budget deal that would include tax-revenue increases . . . .”
The Hill, adds, “Republicans say Reid imperiled a possible deal when he pushed to raise funding levels above the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act. ‘Now they want a spending bill that increases spending and dramatically will increase the debt,’ Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a McConnell ally, said on CNN's ‘State of the Union.’ ‘It’s a non-starter,’ he said. . . . Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) acknowledged Sunday that spending levels were a sticking point in the talks. ‘The dispute has been how to undo the sequester,’ Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS on Sunday . . . .”
In an editorial, the WSJ urges Republicans to continue to defend the sequester cuts, writing, “Democrats hate the spending caps and sequester because they squeeze their pet domestic programs, and two recent reports illustrate how much. The Congressional Budget Office's latest monthly update, for the first 11 months of fiscal 2013 through August, shows that total federal outlays are down $127 billion over the same period last year. This means that when the report comes in for the full fiscal year overall federal spending may have fallen two years in a row for the first time since the end of the Korean War. Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service has released a new report that shows the sequester caps are providing better fiscal discipline than any budget deal has since 1980.” And, the WSJ editors point out, “The 2011 Budget Control Act is reducing future deficits through spending cuts alone,” not with tax increases.
As Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN, "undoing the bipartisan spending cuts that both parties voted for and that President Obama signed in 2011 is “a non-starter.” Leader McConnell reiterated that “Senate Republicans will not accept anything that undoes these cuts.”
Tags: Democrats, seek increased spending, rollback sequester, big government spending, continuing resolution To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Senate will reconvene at 1 PM. Later this afternoon, the Senate is scheduled to take up the nominations of Andrea R. Wood to be U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and Madeline Haikala to be U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Following up to 30 minutes of debate, there will be a vote on confirmation of the nominations.
On Saturday, the Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance their trillion dollar no-strings-attached blank check debt limit increase (S. 1569). The vote was 53-45.
The House reconvened today at Noon. The House will continue focusing on funding bills for the government. Today they will take up H.J. Res. 80 — "Making continuing appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Indian Health Service for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes." And, H.R. 3190 — "To provide for the continued performance of the functions of the United States Parole Commission, and for other purposes."
The Wall Street Journal reports today, “As the search for a way to end the partial federal shutdown and avoid a debt crisis shifted to the Senate, Democrats made plain that one of their top priorities was to diminish the next round of across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester, due to take effect early next year. Many Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), oppose retreating from those cuts. That set up a clash that seemed almost as intense as the one that caused budget talks between House Republicans and President Barack Obama to collapse Friday. ‘Total federal spending has now gone down for two years in a row—the first time that's happened since the Korean War,’ Mr. McConnell said Sunday. With the additional sequestration cuts on tap for 2014, the budget limits have produced ‘the most significant spending reduction in modern history and Senate Republicans will not accept anything that undoes these cuts.’”
WSJ notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) rejected a potential plan over the weekend, pointing out that “Democrats say their biggest objection was that it would make it more difficult to reach their long-held goal: to replace some of the across-the-board sequester cuts with a broader budget deal that would include tax-revenue increases . . . .”
The Hill, adds, “Republicans say Reid imperiled a possible deal when he pushed to raise funding levels above the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act. ‘Now they want a spending bill that increases spending and dramatically will increase the debt,’ Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a McConnell ally, said on CNN's ‘State of the Union.’ ‘It’s a non-starter,’ he said. . . . Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) acknowledged Sunday that spending levels were a sticking point in the talks. ‘The dispute has been how to undo the sequester,’ Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS on Sunday . . . .”
In an editorial, the WSJ urges Republicans to continue to defend the sequester cuts, writing, “Democrats hate the spending caps and sequester because they squeeze their pet domestic programs, and two recent reports illustrate how much. The Congressional Budget Office's latest monthly update, for the first 11 months of fiscal 2013 through August, shows that total federal outlays are down $127 billion over the same period last year. This means that when the report comes in for the full fiscal year overall federal spending may have fallen two years in a row for the first time since the end of the Korean War. Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service has released a new report that shows the sequester caps are providing better fiscal discipline than any budget deal has since 1980.” And, the WSJ editors point out, “The 2011 Budget Control Act is reducing future deficits through spending cuts alone,” not with tax increases.
As Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN, "undoing the bipartisan spending cuts that both parties voted for and that President Obama signed in 2011 is “a non-starter.” Leader McConnell reiterated that “Senate Republicans will not accept anything that undoes these cuts.”
Tags: Democrats, seek increased spending, rollback sequester, big government spending, continuing resolution To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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