Obama Threatens To Veto Tea Party-Backed ‘Cut, Cap And Balance’ Plan

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Obama administration says President Barack Obama would veto the "cut, cap and balance" plan proposed by tea party-backed House Republicans if it lands on his desk.

In a statement, the Office of Management and Budget says that setting arbitrary spending levels and a balanced budget amendment are not necessary in order to achieve financial stability.

The so-called "cut, cap and balance" plan is favored by some Republican freshmen in the House. It would allow the government to borrow an additional $2.4 trillion, but only after big and immediate spending cuts and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-threatens-to-veto-tea-party-backed-cut-cap-and-balance-plan/2011/07/18/gIQAdyxzLI_story.html

[Kingofalldems]

1. Kick and Rec one time for the teabaggers

[Zenlitened]

2. Good. The balanced budget amendment is a cop-out, nothing more. IT'S A COP-OUT.

[CountAllVotes]

3. a kick for the teepottters

:kick: & recommend.

[lib2DaBone]

4. kick We shouldn't even be having this budget cut conversation...

Austerity doesn't work. It didn't work in 1932 and it can't work now.

We need to invest $3 trillion in infrastructure to turn the economy around.. but things will have to get desperate before the average Repuke can wrap their tiny hostile brain around the truth.

As they say," I'm a Republican.. don't bother me with the facts.. my mind is made up.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Good.

[bluestateguy]

6. The bill will never make it to his desk anyway

So this is just all theatre.

[cstanleytech]

7. Exactly, they are imo trying to reduce the damage they are clearly going to take

this next election by claiming they tried to pass the amendment but were thwarted by Obama when the fact is if this really was a good idea they would and could have passed it under Bush when they had the majority in both houses.

[Deep13]

8. Yeah, that ought to be DOA.

A balanced budget amendment is a shitty idea.

[gordianot]

9. Notice the word "threatens" sounds like more than a threat.

Typical of what passes for modern journalism.

[jmowreader]

10. No one can get austerity budgeting to work

There's another problem: on the incredibly long list of things you can't trust a Republican with, a balanced budget (or, God forbid, one in surplus) is at the top of the list.

If the Republicans were serious about getting rid of the deficit, they would impose a temporary, emergency tax increase to 50 percent on the top bracket with corresponding increases on the lower brackets until the deficit is down to 15 percent of GDP. This'll give them leeway to spend on infrastructure, green energy and other things that create jobs (and jobs create other jobs--you hire people to build 20 miles of road through unfarmable land, and the next thing you know someone will build a chicken choking plant out there, fast food joints and stores will pop up around the chicken choking plant (because chicken chokers get hungry when they're cranking out drumsticks and chicken tenders), houses will be built, and so on and so forth...) but at the same time it's high enough it won't give the next Repuke president license to write unaffordable tax cuts or huge spending programs.

[Moostache]

11. Makes too much sense!

I have been a broken record for years about how to "fix" the budget deficit (the TRADE deficit is another issue altogether)...

1) repeal the Bush/Obama tax cuts - ALL OF THEM
2) INCREASE the taxes on the top marginal rates to Reagan levels (50%)
3) end ALL wars immediately - that which cannot be shut down and brought home in 90 days stays behind or goes the way of a Huey off the deck of an aircraft carrier

This gets us a long, long, long way towards balancing the budget, but the final lynch pin remains MEDICARE FOR ALL and an overhaul of both the eligibility and payment schedules to ensure that abuses are handled as criminal events and that the system is maintained for maximum human benefit above maximum profit motive.

BTW....the tax rates would STAY that high until no one ever mentioned "Social Security" and "cuts" in the same sentence...the Social Security Trust Fund is NOT a contributor to the national debt, its unfunded "loans" (ie. THEFT for vote buying by pols on both sides of the aisle for the last 30 years IS the issue)are a major problem.

People on the right in particular like to say that the fund is backed by a bunch of empty IUOs...WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! The fund is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government and THAT is what these fucking Tea-Bagging sons-of-bitches ARE messing with right now!!!

IF there was ever a threat to the solvency of Social Security, it has NEVER been greater than allowing these morons with pithy sayings and empty heads to get so close to the actual levels of power.

[TomCADem]

12. Censorship! Story Fails to Mention That WH Statement Discusses Impact To Medicare and SS

The actual veto threat specifically discusses the impact of a Balanced Budget Amendment on Medicare and Social Security, yet this story fails to mention this. But, if Mitch McConnell says that taxes kill jobs, this will certainly be quoted as a matter of god given fact.