John Boehner Lengthens The Wick On The Austerity Bomb
Source: Talking Points Memo
In a White House meeting with President Obama and other Congressional leaders Friday, House Speaker John Boehner traced a procedural path for reaching deficit reduction targets next year, while avoiding immediate, and deeper, budget tightening in January.
The outline, provided by Boehners staff, indicates that Republicans have conceded that theyll have to meet President Obamas call for significantly higher revenue. But its shy on details about where those revenues would come from and what concessions Republicans would require from Democrats in return.
Since tax and entitlement reform are too complex to complete this year, the Speaker noted, our goal for this year, in the coming weeks, is to settle on long-term revenue targets for tax reform as well as targets for savings from our entitlement programs, according to a Boehner aide. Once we settle on those targets, the Speaker proposed, we can create simple mechanisms, in statute, that would achieve those revenue and spending goals. They would be in place unless or until more thoughtful policies replace them. The Speaker recalled the presidents call for a balanced approach to the debt problem a combination of revenues and spending cuts and said the framework Republicans have proposed is consistent with it.The framework suggests that automatic budget cuts and tax increases scheduled for the new year would be removed and replaced with a different kind of enforcement mechanism that would include both higher taxes and lower spending.
With negotiations still in their earliest stages, its unclear what the revenue target will be. It also remains to be seen whether the target will be measurable by congressional analysts, or whether Republicans will ask for a dynamic scoring, a dubious supply side analysis which assumes certain tax reductions partially or completely pay for themselves via higher economic growth.Likewise, the framework does not contain details about the nature and extent of the entitlement cuts Republicans are seeking.
Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/boehner-obama-tax-entitlement-fiscal-cliff.php
Dubster
(427 posts)MightyAfrodite
(157 posts)he may just get that bomb shoved up his ass!
msongs
(67,406 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)this is the case, then the President caved! There needs to be clarification here! I think Obama needs to explain what went on instead of Boehner giving his side. Those tax cuts needs to expire now instead of kicking negotiations down the road. I can't believe it if he gave that to Boehner.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Jazzgirl
(3,744 posts)1StrongBlackMan is the winner in this race! We must make sure we push this down so no one remembers!
benld74
(9,904 posts)judesedit
(4,438 posts)harun
(11,348 posts)Not happening.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)bamacrat
(3,867 posts)His is the Speaker of the House. He has considerable power. He has a chance to move the republican party and achieve his Christie moment. O better not cave, and I think he will get more of what he wants than not. But this is Boehner's chance to be human. Will he take it, probably not once Cantor and the other dumb fucks bully him into submission by refusing him tanning beds or spray, but damnit. Why the hell can the pukes not just be Americans? They are being the most anti/un-American bunch of assholes ever.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)is a transfer payment system. Reducing benefits without reducing the taxes that pay for them is a shallow scheme to redirect that money to other spending. Health care costs in America could easily be half what they are were the profit motive eliminated or tightly regulated. Reducing national security state cost by half, nationalizing health care and eliminating the Bush tax ripoff would pretty much solve the government's money problems and make life better for those who actually pay the bills.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)Last edited Fri Nov 16, 2012, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)
This is what I want to happen.... We hold out and hold out and hold out.....like William Wallace: Hold it!......Hold it!...............Hold it!.............................Hold it!............................................
CHARGE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>OVER THE CLIFF!
WITHOUT GIVING THEM ANYTHING! NOTHING! DIDLEY-SQUAT!
Who's with me???????
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)But, this time he is fucked!!
If he doesn't back down, we go over the fiscal cliff!!
GERONIMO!!
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)dtom67
(634 posts)seems like they are planning on just creating another fiscal "cliff" for the next congress.
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)and, believe me, I am NO fan at all - he almost seems sane in comparison to the rest of his GOP colleagues in the House.
Trying to manage that bunch is not just like herding cats, but more like herding rabidly insane cats. Cantor is more representative of the House GOP, but even the rabidly insane cats are just wily enough to recognize that Cantor's overt insanity is less palatable - except to all but the MOST RW of RWNJs - than Boehner's more "normal" obstructionism, so Boehner is their "face." Boehner actually has very little room to maneuver right now.
But I can truly say that I have no pity at all for him. He made his very uncomfortable bargain years ago. Now he's stuck with these wackadoodles. Hopefully, he will ride to the bottom with the lot.
I'm fine with simply letting ALL the Bush tax cuts expire if the Rethugs don't give, as are most, I believe. The GOP will be scrambling frantically to re-instate many of the automatic spending cuts if they do not blink beforehand and we do go over the so-called "fiscal cliff." And, IMO, the Prez will have a stronger negotiating position to achieve what he wants at that time, as well as having more good Dems to work with in Congress than he has now.
Boehner and his GOP are between a rock and a hard place right now and I love it. They were SO sure that their guy would win this election that they didn't think things out properly. Now they are hoist on their own petard. I LOVE it!
Pryderi
(6,772 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,147 posts)Austerity candle, ever-present.