Senate Passes Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 - Troops Going to Syria
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| Thumbs Down on Increased $80 Billion in "Discretionary" Spending |
The House is not in session today. It will reconvene on Monday, Nov. 2, at Noon.
The Senate is not in session today, It will reconvene at 10 AM on Tuesday.
The Senate is not in session today and will reconvene at 10 AM on Tuesday when it will resume consideration of S. 1140, Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) legislation to overturn the Obama administration’s “Waters of the U.S.” regulation. Last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed for cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1140.
Regardless of a limited filibuster by Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, last night, the Senate voted 63-35 to invoke cloture (cut off debate) on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015
The Senate later voted 64-35 to waive a budget point of order against the bill.
The Senate then voted 64-35 to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1314, thus sending the budget agreement to the president for approval.
President Obama released a statement Friday morning saying he would sign the bill “as soon as it reaches my desk.”
The Washington Post reports: "The agreement is the result of tightly held negotiations between congressional leaders in both parties and the White House to increase spending and suspend the debt ceiling through March 2017 in order to avoid default. The deal will lift the so-called sequester spending caps and increase discretionary spending by about $80 billion over two years, an amount that will be split equally between defense and domestic programs.
"To offset this cost, negotiators tapped a number of sources, including making changes to Medicare and Social Security, auctioning off government-controlled wireless spectrum, selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and tightening tax rules for business partnerships.
" . . . the legislation will limit a historic premium increase for some Medicare Part B beneficiaries, set to go into effect next year, for services like hospital care and doctor visits.
"The agreement also will prevent a potential 20 percent across-the-board cut to Social Security Disability Insurance benefits scheduled to take place next year, by transferring resources from the main Social Security fund and making changes to the program. The cost-saving revisions include allowing some recipients who can still work to receive partial payments while earning outside income, and expanding a program requiring a second medical expert to weigh in on whether an applicant is legitimately disabled."
The Post also noted, "President Obama is sending a small number of Special Operations forces to northern Syria, marking the first full-time deployment of U.S. troops to the chaotic country.
"The mission marks a major shift for Obama, whose determination to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been balanced by an abiding worry that U.S. troops not be pulled too deeply into the intractable Syrian conflict.
"The latest deployment will involve fewer than 50 Special Operations advisers, who will work with resistance forces battling the Islamic State in northern Syria but will not engage in direct combat, Obama administration officials said."
Tags: H.R. 1314, Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, increased, discretionary spending To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 12:49 PM - Post Link
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