Budget Fight: FY2014 Sequestration

[Larry]

The optimist in me hopes that this means maybe we can actually have honest negotiations on a budget.

The cynic in me laughs at the stupid optimist.

[Gallen5862]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/12/house-pushes-through-ryan-murray-budget-deal/

 

House budget bargain faces Senate filibuster; Republicans line up to oppose

 

But in the Senate, Republicans queued up to oppose the pact. Senate Democrats need at last five Republicans to cross over for the budget bill to pass, but so far not one has publicly endorsed the plan. What’s more, Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, said Senate Republicans plan to filibuster the bill.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration said passage of the House bill was “a positive step forward for the nation and our economy.”

“This bill does not include everything the president called for, but it marks an important moment of bipartisan cooperation and shows Washington can and should stop governing by crisis and both sides can work together to get things done,” a White House statement said.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agreed that the bill was modest but called it a step in the right direction.

They said it reduced the deficit and restored some of the across-the-board spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies, which lawmakers claimed were haphazard and had hampered economic growth. The bill raises spending caps by $63 billion — from $967 billion under sequestration to $1.012 trillion in 2014 and $1.014 in 2015 — and reduces the deficit by $23 billion over 10 years.

It also raises some fees, including higher security costs for airline passengers, requires new federal workers to pay more for retirement benefits and lowers the cost-of-living adjustments for military retirees younger than 62. It also prevents a 20 percent cut in payments for doctors who treat Medicare patients.

[Larry]

I have trouble believing that a proposal which cleared the House by such a wide margin would face a unanimous Senate filibuster.

But then, yesterday, I would have thought that the idea of the House being so bipartisan would be inconceivable.

[Gallen5862]

The Senate Republicans are still angry about the filibuster rule changes. The Republicans have refused to yield time back. The first judge was approved after the 30 hours of debate. Then Harry Reid put the next appointment up. The Republicans again insisted all 30 hours be used up. The Senate is expected to have to work saturday. Senator Mcconnel says the republicans will refuse unanimous consent requests etc. They will refuse to yieid back time. They want to show the Junior democrat members who thought the new rules would speed up the senate will actually slow down. The Senate Republicans have used the debate time o rail against the rule changes.Senate Coommittes can not meet while the senate has debates going on uness the Republicans give unanimous consent. Harry reed says he can't help the hurt feelings but hopes the Republicans want to finish up so can adjourn for Christmas. The House has already started their break. 

Senate Republicans can also make the Bill be read on the senate floor. It requires unanimous consent not to read the bill.

[twa]

they could always vote to change those rules as well 

[Gallen5862]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bipartisan-budget-deal-clears-senate-procedural-hurdle/2013/12/17/4cb0bc38-6726-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html?hpid=z1

 

Bipartisan budget deal clears Senate procedural hurdle

 

 

A bipartisan deal to roll back sharp spending cuts known as the sequester easily cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as enough Republicans joined Democrats to gain the votes needed to proceed to a final passage.

Senators agreed 67 to 33 to end debate and proceed to final vote on the budget agreement. Twelve Republicans joined with the 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus to proceed to a final vote, which is now expected to occur Wednesday evening.

The agreement, brokered by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), is intended to end nearly three years of acrimony over the budget in Washington. It would cancel half the sequester cuts for the current fiscal year, replace them with other savings and allow Congress to avert another government shutdown in January.

More worrisome for advocates of the agreement, two key Republican allies in the fight against the sequester — Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) — said late last week that they, too, would vote against the measure. Although the agreement would cancel a hit to the Pentagon budget set for January, an outcome Graham and Ayotte have been campaigning for months to prevent, the pair complained that the deal also would dial back cost-of-living increases for the youngest military retirees.