{"id":189,"date":"2013-02-19T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T16:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=189"},"modified":"2013-02-23T18:04:54","modified_gmt":"2013-02-23T23:04:54","slug":"potus-throws-support-behind-nonexistant-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/potus-throws-support-behind-nonexistant-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"POTUS<\/span> throws support behind non-existant Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Obama,<\/a>

Oba\u00adma, Where\u2019s the Bill?<\/p><\/div>\n

The Pres\u00adi\u00addent this morn\u00ading appeared at a cam\u00adpaign-style event designed to lay out his views on the sequester<\/a>,<\/span> across-the-board cuts to mil\u00adi\u00adtary and non-enti\u00adtle\u00adment domes\u00adtic spend\u00ading sched\u00aduled to take effect on March 1.<\/p>\n

To sum\u00adma\u00adrize, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent believes that these cuts are a bad thing, that they should be replaced with a \u201cbal\u00adanced\u201d com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of tax increas\u00ades and more tar\u00adget\u00aded spend\u00ading cuts, and that if the cuts do occur, it will be the fault of Con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal Repub\u00adli\u00adcans, who want to \u201cdou\u00adble down\u201d on \u201charsh, harm\u00adful cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

His remarks con\u00adtrast\u00aded his char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adi\u00adza\u00adtion of the GOP<\/span> plan with that of Sen\u00adate Democ\u00adrats and his own. The only prob\u00adlem is, nei\u00adther the Sen\u00adate Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic sequester alter\u00adna\u00adtive bill nor his own bud\u00adget exist.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s begin with the Sen\u00adate Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic plan. The Pres\u00adi\u00addent said this morn\u00ading, \u201cI know Democ\u00adrats in the House and in the Sen\u00adate have pro\u00adposed such a plan \u2014 a bal\u00adanced plan, one that pairs more spend\u00ading cuts with tax reform that clos\u00ades spe\u00adcial inter\u00adest loop\u00adholes and makes sure that bil\u00adlion\u00adaires can\u2019t pay a low\u00ader tax rate than their salary \u2014 their secretaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prob\u00adlem is that what he knows just ain\u2019t true. Sen\u00adate Democ\u00adrats have not yet pro\u00adposed a bill, break\u00ading for a recess after dis\u00adcussing the out\u00adlines of a pro\u00adpos\u00adal at their par\u00adty lun\u00adcheon last Thurs\u00adday. That dis\u00adcus\u00adsion<\/a> report\u00aded\u00adly did not pro\u00adduce a con\u00adsen\u00adsus. While lib\u00ader\u00adal Sen\u00ada\u00adtors seem pre\u00adpared to acqui\u00adesce to the out\u00adline of a pro\u00adpos\u00adal, at least two mod\u00ader\u00adate Democ\u00adrats who are up for re-elec\u00adtion next year \u2013 Mark Begich (D\u2011AK<\/span>) and Mary Lan\u00addrieu (D\u2011LA<\/span>) \u2013 may well oppose it.<\/p>\n

All of this is, of course, irrel\u00ade\u00advant, since none of us yet knows what the \u201cit\u201d is. What we do know is that the Sen\u00adate entered into a unan\u00adi\u00admous con\u00adsent agree\u00adment<\/a> under which Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic leader Leader Har\u00adry Reid (D\u2011NV<\/span>) and Repub\u00adli\u00adcan Leader Mitch McConnell (R\u2011KY<\/span>) will be rec\u00adog\u00adnized to intro\u00adduce bills deal\u00ading with seques\u00adtra\u00adtion next Mon\u00adday or Tues\u00adday. Once the bills are intro\u00adduced, the Sen\u00adate can vote on whether to begin debate on one or both.<\/p>\n

The fact that nei\u00adther bill exists did not deter the Pres\u00adi\u00addent from announc\u00ading his pref\u00ader\u00adence for the non-exis\u00adtent bill that Sen\u00ada\u00adtor Reid will intro\u00adduce over the non-exis\u00adtent McConnell measure.<\/p>\n

Speak\u00ading of non-exis\u00adtent bud\u00adget pro\u00adpos\u00adals, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent also said this morn\u00ading, \u201cNow, for two years, I\u2019ve offered a bal\u00adanced approach to deficit reduc\u00adtion that would pre\u00advent these harm\u00adful cuts.\u201d That would be quite impres\u00adsive, indeed, since the seques\u00adtra\u00adtion pro\u00advi\u00adsion was not writ\u00adten until August 2011 and was only a hypo\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty until Decem\u00adber of that year, after the so-called \u201csuper-com\u00admit\u00adtee\u201d failed to pro\u00adduce a deficit reduc\u00adtion pro\u00adpos\u00adal. So it would have been impos\u00adsi\u00adble for the Pres\u00adi\u00addent to have advanced a plan to avoid sequestration\u2019s \u201charm\u00adful cuts\u201d in Feb\u00adru\u00adary 2011.<\/p>\n

Nit-pick\u00ading aside, Feb\u00adru\u00adary 4 was the dead\u00adline by which the Pres\u00adi\u00addent was to sub\u00admit his new bud\u00adget. It is now more than two weeks over\u00addue and the Pres\u00adi\u00addent this morn\u00ading gave no indi\u00adca\u00adtion of when it will be released. As a result, his state\u00adment that \u201cthe House and the Sen\u00adate are work\u00ading on bud\u00adgets\u201d is also erro\u00adneous. The Con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal bud\u00adget process does not start until after the Con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal Bud\u00adget Office com\u00adpletes its analy\u00adsis of the President\u2019s bud\u00adget which, sad\u00adly, will not exist until some unspec\u00adi\u00adfied date in the future.<\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t expect the Pres\u00adi\u00addent to acknowl\u00adedge his respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty for stalling the bud\u00adget process. Still, a detailed pro\u00adpos\u00adal from the White House as to the government\u2019s fis\u00adcal path over the next decade would pro\u00advide a use\u00adful point of ref\u00ader\u00adence as Con\u00adgress con\u00adtem\u00adplates whether to allow seques\u00adtra\u00adtion to take effect on March 1 and as it con\u00adsid\u00aders what to do about fund\u00ading for gov\u00adern\u00adment agen\u00adcies, which expires on March 27.<\/p>\n

To be sure, we know that the Pres\u00adi\u00addent is more com\u00adfort\u00adable with bor\u00adrow\u00ading, tax\u00ading and spend\u00ading than are Repub\u00adli\u00adcans. We know that Repub\u00adli\u00adcans object to rais\u00ading tax\u00ades, espe\u00adcial\u00adly just weeks after Con\u00adgress locked in high\u00ader rates for top earn\u00aders and pay\u00adroll tax increas\u00ades for all wage earners.<\/p>\n

But deci\u00adsions of this con\u00adse\u00adquence require more than polit\u00adi\u00adcal rhetoric. Detail is essen\u00adtial. My guess is that the Pres\u00adi\u00addent can come up with a bud\u00adget that includes some good ideas. It would be nice to see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pres\u00adi\u00addent this morn\u00ading appeared at a cam\u00ad\u00adpaign-style event designed to lay out his views on the sequester, across-the-board cuts to mil\u00adi\u00adtary and non-enti\u00adtle\u00ad\u00adment domes\u00adtic spend\u00ading sched\u00aduled to take effect on March 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sequestration"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t