� Previous | Main | Next �
April 01, 2011 4:47 PM
ABC News? Michael Falcone reports:
Democrats and Republicans are running in two different directions when it comes to the $33 billion figure that forms the basis for the ongoing negotiations on Capitol Hill about how much to trim from the federal budget this fiscal year.
?As I said yesterday, there is no number, there is no agreement on a number,? House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters on Friday. ?We?re going to fight for the largest spending cuts that we can get. And I?m hopeful that we?ll get it as soon as possible.?
But on Wednesday no less an authority than Vice President Joe Biden, who has been involved in the negotiations, said that two sides had agreed to that figure.
?We?re all working off the same number now,? Biden told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday evening. ?Obviously, there?s a difference in the composition of that number -- what?s included, what?s not included. It?s going to be a thorough negotiation.?
Biden did caution, however, that ?there?s no deal until there?s a total deal.?
And here?s how Sen. Dick Durbin characterized the situation on Friday: �?We're calling on Speaker Boehner to sit down and in good faith work with us. We?ve agreed on the number.?
ABC's Matthew Jaffe noted that Boehner did, indeed,�make the very same point�on Thursday, saying "there?s no agreement on numbers." But not long before, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had a different take: "Democrats and Republicans have agreed upon a number on which to base our budget cuts."
Sources familiar with the talks say that the $33 billion figure was, in fact, reached to by both sides but only as a basis for the still ongoing negotiations. In order for them to begin the process of trimming from departments and programs they needed a starting point.
The final number, sources say, is likely to be different -- possibly very different -- depending on how the parties work through the policy issues.
Boehner is under pressure from conservative and Tea Party affiliated members to cut even more. Last month the House approved a proposal to cut $61 billion from the budget during the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 31. If the two sides do not reach an agreement by April 8, they once again risk a government shutdown.
President Obama said on Friday that it would be he ?height of irresponsibility? to shut down the government.
?If these budget negotiations break down, we could end up having to shut down the government just at a time when the economy's starting to recover,? Obama said. ?That could -- that could jeopardize the economic recovery.?
ABC News? John R. Parkinson, Matthew Jaffe, Jon D. Garcia and Sunlen Miller contributed reporting to this post.
April 1, 2011 in John Boehner, Michael Falcone | Permalink | Share | User Comments (50)
Go ahead, Republicans, let the government shut down...continue to make it very easy to vote for Mr. O in the next election...
Posted by: natFrankie | Apr 1, 2011 5:23:26 PM
As history have shown repeatedly nothing good comes out of conservatism. Not in Afghanistan, not in Saudi Arabia and not here. Trickle down economics in the last 30 years have shown itself to what a Republican himself has projected to be a voodoo economics. It has bankrupted ordinary Americans and subsidized the top 2% who are not paying their fair of taxes!
Posted by: Zazu | Apr 1, 2011 5:32:39 PM
It is the height of irresponsibility to raise yet again the appalling debt ceiling. $33 billion in cuts is peeing into the wind, folks, add at least one zero after that and maybe we'd actually be doing something worth noting. Forget fighting over "who gets cut"; that would go on for eternity. Just cut everyone and everything 20% across the board; and start from the top down not the other way around...............
Posted by: paul mennick | Apr 1, 2011 5:47:49 PM
Republicans sound more like spoiled children every day, you can't negotiate with people that refuse to compromise any more than you can a hostage taker that wants to die. The republicans want the US to fail, it's been their plan all along.
Posted by: JR | Apr 1, 2011 5:51:24 PM
Don't Republicans KNOW our nation cannot keep a balance of needed services with such severe cuts? We also need increased revenues to bring down our annual deficit.
HALF the annual deficit is because of lost revenues, like missing tax payments from the unemployed + missing taxes from the continued Bush era tax cuts.
The Bush tax cuts were NEVER meant to be forever - they were passed with sunset clauses because Congress knew they were not sustainable.
Fix the deficit with one half cuts, one half tax increases.
According to Tax.com, our government could bring in a TRILLION dollars every year by simply taking away loopholes for corporations. Start there.
Posted by: green.goddess | Apr 1, 2011 6:15:11 PM
If the GOP/Tea Party upsets the apple cart enough for a government shutdown, and then the jobs growth quickly shuts down in America (Wall St. estimates a GOP budget will cut 1.5% to 2% off Americas growth this year), we'll have another wild swing back to the Democrats in 2012. At that point, we may be able to disengage much of our military, the economy may be at a rebound point, and we'll be able to look forward to a long FDR-like period of Democratic control.
So I'm rooting for a shutdown and a GOP-induced economic collapse. It will be good for the country in the long run.
Posted by: The_Mick | Apr 1, 2011 6:18:54 PM
Um last time I looked ABC the month of September only has 30 days, not 31.
Posted by: B. Johnson | Apr 1, 2011 6:25:37 PM
They created MOST of our $14 TRILLION DEBT (with more than $5 TRILLION coming from just the Speaker crazy pelsoi regime). They want to add another $1.65 TRILLION to that with their current year plan for that much of a deficit. And then they insult the American people by agreeing to ONLY $33 BILLION in cuts !!!!!!
The lunatic-left d-crat socialists are PATHETIC, in addition to being out-of-control, irresponsible and a threat to America.
November 2012 can't come soon enough for Americans to further TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY.
Posted by: TeaPartyPatriot | Apr 1, 2011 6:34:26 PM
Shut the government down.......cut spending especially to Obama's flakey programs.
Posted by: HereWeGo2012 | Apr 1, 2011 6:46:22 PM
Why do the Republicans have to cut everything today? Why are they in such a big hurry? One thing at a time! Geeesh! 33 Billion is a good start.
Posted by: justayreal74 | Apr 1, 2011 6:49:51 PM
33 billion in cuts...for a whole year.
3.7 billion in debt.... PER DAY.
Can anyone calculate just when we will crash?
Posted by: david | Apr 1, 2011 6:56:30 PM
RNC- Republican National Committee is 25 Million dollars in debt. Republicans/Tea Party can't keep their own budget in the black what make you think they have creditability?
Posted by: threeriverscrossing | Apr 1, 2011 7:36:09 PM
The party of no still can't
compromise, you know like Ike
and Nixon did.
Posted by: pln0006 | Apr 1, 2011 7:37:11 PM
Yea the GOP says no deal because the democrat budget deficit equals 1650 billion dollars so cutting 33 is like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic. The real way to get socialist spending under control will be throwing out the bankrupt democrat party in 2012.
Posted by: shepard145 | Apr 1, 2011 7:43:17 PM
Yea the GOP says no deal because the democrat budget deficit equals 1650 billion dollars so cutting 33 is like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic. The real way to get socialist spending under control will be throwing out the bankrupt democrat party in 2012.
Posted by: shepard145 | Apr 1, 2011 7:43:18 PM
The Democrats want to "bully" the Republicans into settling for pocket lint! Republicans must stand against "radical" Democrats who have never met a spending opportunity didn't like!!!!
Posted by: Voice_Reason | Apr 1, 2011 7:44:55 PM
Hey democrats, let's talk about some real spending cuts and quit the political posturing.
Posted by: LongT | Apr 1, 2011 8:03:11 PM
LOL!............ It's always funny to see all the Republican right-whiners complain about giving money to foreign countries after they've lost control of at least 2-of-3 parts of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives........ especially because during the period when they did control all three (White House, Senate and House; 2001 to 2007) the largest amount of all foreign aid that the USA hands out, during those years, went to Iraq: .............. 2005 U.S. Foreign Aid to Iraq = $9.5 billlion .......... 2006 Foreign Aid to Iraq = $10.6 billion .......... 2007 Foreign Aid to Iraq = $7.9 billion .......... 2008 Foreign Aid to Iraq = $7.4 billion.
Posted by: Georgie_Bushie | Apr 1, 2011 11:24:27 PM
This is a no brainer. Don't cut anything that is going to hurt the poor. And then cut across the board to everything else. Legalise drugs and tax the hell out of them. Then you eliminate the DEA which is a waste of money. Legalise prostition and tax the hell out of it. We do these things the country will financially be better in no time.
Posted by: cony007 | Apr 1, 2011 11:47:29 PM
Both sides are useless. 99.999% of politicians are one notch below child molesters. Neither party has any common sense. They are both dinasours. The US needs real change but it is not going to come from any party. Change can only come from the young people of America.
Posted by: cony007 | Apr 1, 2011 11:50:40 PM
Post a comment
Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=54fc2a98f6426d0f4f22af5970456adf
George Bush George W. Bush Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton Rudy Giuliani
No comments:
Post a Comment