Budget

Obama To Draw Contrast With GOP In Budget

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 5:43AM

President Barack Obama

Though required by law, White House budgets are largely political documents that tend to become more and more political as reelection time gets closer and closer.

This year's will technically be no different -- but the long-term stakes will be much higher than they usually are and clarifying that fact for voters will be key to President Obama's appeal in 2012.

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Paul Ryan

Are Republicans About To Commit Medicare Suicide?

Brian Beutler | February 7, 2012, 5:40AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks during a press conference on the debt ceiling in Washington, D.C. on August 1, 2011

It's shaping up to be spring 2011 redux. Just under a year ago, Republicans -- euphoric after a midterm election landslide, and overzealous in their interpretation of their mandate -- passed a budget that called for phasing out Medicare over the coming years and replacing it with a subsidized private insurance system for newly eligible seniors.

The backlash was ugly. But Republicans seem to have forgotten how poisonous that vote really was, and remains...because they're poised to do it again. This time they're signaling they'll move ahead, with a modified plan -- one that, though less radical, would still fundamentally remake and roll back one of the country's most popular and enduring safety net programs.

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Rick Santorum

CHART: Santorum Calls For Tiny (Huge!) Tax Cuts For The Poor (Rich)

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2012, 3:50PM

The Tax Policy Center in DC has released numbers Rick Santorum's tax plan -- the latest, and perhaps final, in a series of analyses of the leading GOP contenders' tax plans.

It's a variation on the theme underlying all of the Republicans' tax proposals -- its impact on the middle class is trivial compared to the massive tax cut it proposes for the wealthiest Americans.

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Budget

CHART: A Hidden Source Of Budget Deficits

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2012, 12:26PM

Dmitry Rukhlenko / Shutterstock

Before Warren Buffett and Mitt Romney enter a bidding war over who will volunteer more of their millions to reduce the deficit, the government could recoup many billions of dollars every year if Congress just made it easier for the Treasury to collect what it's already owed by law.

Meet the tax gap -- the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid.

Via the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the IRS has found that in 2006, taxpayers shorted the government by about $385 billion -- and an additional $65 billion was paid late. Back then, the tax gap was bigger than the annual budget deficit. With the economy still suffering, that's likely not true today. But closing it even partially would take substantial pressure off of strained federal programs, which have been under constant attack by the GOP for over a year.

As you can see, the tax gap is on the order of the government's biggest expenditure categories, and dwarfs the voluntary contributions Republicans suggest wealthy liberals like Buffett should volunteer to the Treasury.

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Medicare

The Bipartisan Political Alliance That Will Turn The Fight Over Medicare On Its Head

Brian Beutler and Benjy Sarlin | December 14, 2011, 9:08PM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

An unholy, unexpected political marriage between a Democratic senator and a House Republican firebrand will have implications beyond Capitol Hill -- and could conceivably alter both the political tenor of the 2012 elections and the long-term policy fight over the future of Medicare.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is teaming up with Paul Ryan, the House's top budget guy and the author of the GOP's controversial budget which proposes phasing out traditional Medicare and replacing it with a private plan. The two announced via The Washington Post that they'll be teaming up on a different version of that Medicare plan -- one that closely mimics plans offered by leading GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, and a proposal authored by former Sen. Pete Domenici and former Clinton budget director Alice Rivlin, which loomed large in the Super Committee's failed negotiations.

The move makes Wyden the first elected Democrat to endorse creating a premium-support system to compete with traditional fee-for-service Medicare, and for Ryan represents a de facto admission that his own plan was too radical to ever gain bipartisan support. That's bound to affect how congressional and presidential candidates approach the issue, which will feature prominently in next year's elections. But it raises a number of other questions, both about the merits of the policy and of the political calculus behind it.

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Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi Games Out The Long Fight Over Medicare And The Rest Of The Safety Net

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2011, 4:45AM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

Eight months is a long time in politics, but it will be eight months ago next week that House Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a budget that envisioned a massively scaled-down social safety net -- a smaller, privatized health care system for old people, to replace traditional Medicare; Medicaid financially constrained, and handed over to state governments; cuts to various other support programs that benefit the poor, the young, and the elderly.

That didn't sit well with voters. And in the months that followed, Republicans tried to contain the fallout by making federal deficits a central political issue while forcing Democrats to agree to real cuts to these programs -- all while refusing themselves to raise taxes, even on the very wealthiest Americans.

This too didn't go according to plan. The GOP upheld its vow not to raise taxes; Democrats insisted new tax revenue was a criterion for cutting benefits; and Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security avoided the scalpel.

At least for now.

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Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan Takes On Elizabeth Warren And The 99 Percent

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2011, 1:12PM

Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Democrats want the 2012 elections to turn on the question of which party has a better vision for the country, and to win the ensuing battle of public perception, both parties are putting the brightest shine they can on their particular designs.

On Wednesday, the GOP pitted conservative darling Paul Ryan against liberal hero Elizabeth Warren, with Ryan serving as a tribune to wealthy Americans and Warren as a populist fighter for working people.

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Super Committee

Hoyer To Super Committee: Go Big, Or We'll Come Back For Round Two

Brian Beutler | October 25, 2011, 2:16PM

The 12 members of the deficit Super Committee have been so tight lipped about their negotiations, that most of the clues about their progress come from Congressional colleagues -- most of whom are also in the dark about specifics.

At his weekly Capitol briefing Tuesday, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had a hard time pegging the panel's chances for reaching an agreement to achieve trillions of dollars in deficit reduction. But he insisted that if the panel failed to achieve significant savings, Congress will have to keep chipping away.

"People ask me, 'Are you optimistic?' I say, 'Look, I'm not optimistic -- I'm hopeful,'" Hoyer said. "I hope, because I think it's absolutely essential that we do so, that we succeed. Producing a product that is a big deal, not a small deal -- if we do a small deal, we'll have to revisit that."

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Mitt Romney

Romney Tweaks The Ryan Budget: Cut Social Security Benefits, Privatize Medicare (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2011, 11:41AM

Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Mitt Romney caught a lot of heat Tuesday for his comments about foreclosures. But in the same interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, he outlined a plan for the country's future that would please Paul Ryan, and conservatives hell bent on rolling back the social safety net.

Without noting that Social Security has been in good shape for about 20 years, Romney proposed making it solvent in the long term through a mix of benefit cuts, taking the option of imposing payroll taxes on higher-income earners off the table completely.

"Arithmetically, there are probably three ways of making Social Security permanently solvent," Romney said. "One would be simply raising taxes. I don't favor that one. Number two would be to increase the retirement age. Number three would be to have a little slower growth in benefits for higher income beneficiaries.... Some combination of those last two is the place we can go in my opinion to solve Social Security for future retirees."

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Ben Bernanke

Congressional Dysfunction Begins To Spook Old Pros

Brian Beutler | October 10, 2011, 5:05AM

U.S. Capitol building

Congress has always been Washington's whipping boy, particularly near election time. The antics get sillier, the pace shifts from glacial to gridlock, and the frustrated public gets daily reminders that lawmakers are often too mired in politics to function in the national interest.

That's not news.

What is news is that this time it's starting to scare the pros.

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Super Committee

Unemployed Activists Lobby Super Committee Members On Budget Cuts

Ryan J. Reilly | October 6, 2011, 11:36AM

Ginger Heatter had a full scholarship to Cornell and was working on her master's degree when the economy tanked.

It was quite an accomplishment for the New Jersey resident. She had dropped out of high school, married young and had a daughter at 21. Before the economic crisis, she thought she had her life on track: she got her GED, a bachelor's degree from Boston College. Now she's been unemployed for a year and not sure of what the future holds for her and her 15-year-old daughter.

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Budget

Key GOP Budget Cutter Exempts District From Belt-Tightening

Susan Crabtree | October 3, 2011, 5:55AM

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) just can't seem to stick to his new diet goal of abstaining from steering millions of federal dollars to his cash-strapped district.

Earlier this year, the chairman of the top House spending panel who made a career out of earmarking millions of dollars to district pet projects, joined the GOP budget austerity movement spurred by the Tea Party-fueled GOP takeover of the House.

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Budget

Defense Experts Press Congress for Smart, Targeted Cuts

Brian Fung | October 1, 2011, 1:59PM

Many congressional Republicans are refusing to address defense spending as part of the bipartisan negotiations on deficit reduction, but some members of the defense community are calling for proactive and fundamental changes to the Pentagon's budget, anyway. Why? The alternative, they say -- automatic cuts should the supercommittee fail to reach a deal -- would be much worse by comparison.

Although automatic cuts would be relatively mild by historical standards in dollar terms, they would likely fall the hardest on spending categories such as procurement and military R&D, experts said in a Thursday conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Immediate cuts in these programs would hinder the military's long-term competitiveness and affect the kinds of missions it could undertake in the future, they argued. They would also leave major structural problems, such as ballooning personnel costs, unaddressed.

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Medicare

Ryan: Republicans Should Double Down On My Budget

Brian Beutler | September 27, 2011, 2:06PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) wants Congress to retain control of the fees that the United States Patent and Trademark Office collects and divert them to other government programs.

In a speech at Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) offered a recitation of his controversial, alternative vision for the country's social safety net.

But despite the backlash Republicans have faced taken since they voted overwhelmingly in the spring to adopt his approach, Ryan says now's the time for conservatives and GOP candidates to renew their support for that vision, not to walk away from it.

[W]e took a few dings at first, we survived," Ryan admitted. "The Democrats' tried the same old scare tactics for a few months, and in the first special election that took place after our budget passed, we learned a costly lesson. We learned that unless we back up our ideas with courage, and defend them in the face of attacks, we will lose. But once we learned that lesson and started to get our message out... well, a funny thing happened: People listened. They learned that our plan did not affect those in or near retirement; that it guaranteed coverage options like the ones members of Congress enjoy; and that choice and competition would drive costs down and quality up. They also learned more about the Democrats' plans for Medicare, and they didn't like what they heard."

Ryan went on.

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Super Committee

Lost And Found: Papers Detailing Items On GOP Super Committee Wishlist

Susan Crabtree | September 23, 2011, 12:43PM

Image From Danny E Hooks / Shutterstock

In these times of secretive deficit super committee meetings, back-room pressuring on particular proposals and endless speculation on what the panel will wind up doing, it might be a good idea not to leave internal working deficit-reduction documents lying around the Capitol.

TPM got a hold of what appears to be an internal GOP Super Committee wish list -- a chart of working proposals for finding hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings. A source recently forwarded the documents after finding them lying on a table outside the Speaker's lobby at the end of August, just when members selected to serve on the joint-deficit panel were being announced.

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Barack Obama

Obama's Plan Is The Opposite Of Paul Ryan's Plan -- For Good Reason

Brian Beutler | September 20, 2011, 6:05AM

President Obama's first term has been marked by a tendency to take the liberal policy consensus on any issue, move five clicks to the right, and begin negotiations having already conceded quite a bit to conservatives.

His new push to pass a $447 billion jobs plan, and reduce out year deficits in large measure by raising taxes on the rich marks a significant departure from the status quo ante. And it sets Obama up for a risky, but important and necessary fight with Republicans over the country's future.

Put it all together and his plan would juice the economy in the near-term, and pursue a vision for the country that's just about the opposite of the GOP's. In effect, it serves as a rebuke to House Republicans -- and particularly House Speaker John Boehner -- who walked away from an equally far-reaching plan that would have been much friendlier to conservative interests.

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Jobs

How Obama's Jobs Plan Could Trigger Another Debt Limit Fight Before Election Day

Brian Beutler | September 19, 2011, 6:15AM

President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

If President Obama manages to get his entire jobs plan passed -- a big if, of course -- it will quicken the pace at which the federal government is burning through its new borrowing authority and could set up another debt limit battle with Republicans before Election Day 2012.

There are several variables at play, and another debt limit fight before the election wouldn't be a sure thing. But it's not out of the question, especially if economic growth between now and then is weaker than predicted.

A slower-than-expected economy -- or a double dip recession -- combined with the jobs bill's $447 billion price tag, means the federal government could run out of borrowing authority right about October 2012, according to one worst-case-scenario estimate. The deal to raise the debt limit last month was designed to give the government enough cushion to make it past the election before the parties would have to square off again. But that was before Obama introduced his new jobs plan, and before revised economic forecasts revealed the economy's in worse shape than economists believed earlier this year.

Here are the variables to watch that could come together to create an exquisitely timed political crisis:

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Government Shutdown

How Congress Could End Up In A Government Shutdown Fight After All

Brian Beutler | September 13, 2011, 9:17AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Could there be a government shutdown fight in the coming weeks despite the fact that Republicans have agreed with Democrats on a funding figure for the coming fiscal year, and GOP leaders say they've lost the appetite for another round of brinksmanship?

Yes.

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Unemployment

White House: Unemployment Will Average 9 Percent In Election Year

Brian Beutler | September 1, 2011, 2:10PM

Jack Lew, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

President Obama's mid-session budget review confirms what most private and government projections have recently concluded -- that the economy is considerably weaker than earlier forecasts held, and won't fully recover from the Great Recession for years.

Most troubling, both for the country and for Obama politically, is that near-term unemployment is expected to remain significantly higher than expected, averaging 9 percent in fiscal year 2012.

Obama's budget office initially calculated its economic forecast based upon data available through June. Even that data presaged an 8.8 percent average unemployment rate in 2011 and an 8.3 percent average rate next year. But the mid-session review got delayed, and when the Office of Management and Budget revised it to incorporate the data through the end of August, the picture became much gloomier. Unemployment will average 9.1 percent this year, and 9.0 percent next year, OMB concluded, and won't dip below 7 percent until 2015 at the earliest.

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Eric Cantor

With Hurricane Bearing Down Cantor Spox Says Disaster Relief Should Be Paid For With Spending Cuts

Brian Beutler | August 25, 2011, 12:40PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Looks like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will extend his requirement that federal disaster relief be paid for by cutting spending elsewhere in the budget to Hurricane Irene.

"We aren't going to speculate on damage before it happens, period," his spokesperson Laena Fallon emails. "But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts."

This isn't just to lay a honeytrap for Cantor. Human toll aside, hurricane damage can be very expensive, and if against all hope Irene hits hard, this sort of parameter could put a severe dent in federal programs that are already stretched quite thin.

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor: We'll Pay For Post-Quake Relief -- If We Can Find The Cuts (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 25, 2011, 9:46AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)

Never fear, earthquake-rattled citizens of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's home state: The federal government is coming to help you. If Cantor can find the cuts, that is.

Months after he took heat from fellow Republicans for his contention that the victims of the massive tornado in Joplin, MO should get federal aid only if Democrats in Washington agreed to cut the budget to pay for the relief spending, Cantor delivered a similar message to Virginians still cleaning up from a historic earthquake -- and hunkering down in advance of a massive hurricane.

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Grover Norquist

Norquist Calls Sen. Murray 'The Lady From Washington' Who 'Doesn't Do Budgets'

Brian Beutler | August 18, 2011, 8:53AM

Grover Norquist

All six Republicans on the new deficit Super Committee have all kissed anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist's ring. So now he's training his sights on the six committee Democrats -- not always politely. Here's the New York Times.

All six Republicans on the committee have signed the pledge not to raise taxes dictated by Grover Norquist, who heads Americans for Tax Reform. Now, Mr. Norquist said, he will focus on keeping the Democrats in line. "The Republicans are serious budget reformers; the lady from Washington," Mr. Norquist said of Mrs. Murray, "doesn't do budgets."

"The lady from Washington," is the only female member of Senate leadership in either party, and the second highest-ranking member, male or female, of the Senate Budget Committee.

DCCC

Democrats Look To Turn Paul Ryan Toxic

Benjy Sarlin | August 8, 2011, 4:29PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

In a line of attack usually reserved for scandalized politicians, Democratic officials are targeting Republican lawmakers for accepting donations from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

The DCCC are sending out press releases highlighting donations from Ryan's Prosperity PAC to 17 incumbent Republicans who voted for the House Republican budget. The releases include statements going after members for taking a "thank you check."

Democrats have made Ryan's budget, which includes a plan to replace Medicare with a private voucher system, central to their national message in recent months. But the latest effort reflects a broader attempt to turn Ryan himself into a political villain -- the DCCC releases include a poll from June showing him among the least popular Republicans in the country, ahead of only Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.

Medicare

Cantor: We Can't Keep Medicare Promise For Young People

Brian Beutler | August 3, 2011, 4:00PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Republicans' pledge to never raise taxes is inviolable whereas the government's pledge to provide retirees with health care will have to be broken at some point, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. And we'll see evidence of this, he hinted, if and when the House of Representatives refuses to pass future deficit reduction legislation if it calls for bringing new tax revenue into the Treasury.

In a meeting with editors of the Wall Street Journal, Cantor said Americans must "come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many."

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Medicare

Paul Ryan To Dems: Show Us Your Budget...No, The Other One!

Brian Beutler | August 3, 2011, 12:12PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Before yesterday, Republicans on Capitol Hill liked to feign anger about Senate Democrats' failure to pass a budget in over two years.

Now that the debt limit deal is done -- and it's essentially a 10-year budget, with the force of law -- Republicans are...still attacking Democrats for...not passing a budget!

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Bush Tax Cuts

Wiggle Room For Grover? Norquist Can't Quite Say 'Hell No' To New Revenue

Brian Beutler | July 22, 2011, 9:50AM

Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist has walked the razor's edge in the debate over debt and deficits, warning Republicans not allow any deal that raises tax revenues to pass the House and Senate. But he can't quite bring himself to say that voting for such a package would run afoul of his inviolate pledge.

Here's Norquist in the New York Times today: "My position, and the implications of the pledge regarding such "temporary" tax cuts, is clear," he said referring to the Bush tax cuts which expire automatically if Congress does nothing. "If there were no vote in Congress and taxes rose automatically, then no politicians would have voted for higher taxes and no elected official would have broken his or her pledge."

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Balanced Budget Amendment

It's A Trap! The Hidden Pitfalls Of GOP's 'Cut, Cap, And Balance' Plan

Brian Beutler | July 18, 2011, 1:24PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Tuesday, the House of Representatives will vote on, and likely pass, a conservative Republican plan called "Cut, Cap, and Balance." The package will include some immediate, as-yet unspecified spending cuts, a statutory cap to keep spending below 18 percent of GDP, and a promised separate vote on a Constitutional amendment that requires Congress to maintain a balanced budget, but essentially forbids any future tax increases.

It would also raise the debt ceiling through 2012 -- an ancillary benefit for Republicans who are looking for any way to pin the consequences of a debt default, should one happen, on Democrats. Indeed, the GOP feigned shock and anger Monday when the White House, as expected, issued an official veto threat -- turns out President Obama's the one threatening to wreak havoc on the country.

Of course, later in the week, the Senate will follow suit, and there Cut, Cap, and Balance is expected to fail.

For Republicans, it's the perfect alignment of popular sounding policies -- "spending cuts" a "balanced budget" and, finally, an end to this debt limit brinksmanship -- minus the a scintilla of accountability or transparency. And for Republicans trying to make nice with conservative activists, it will give them cover to later vote for a much more modest plan to cut some spending, raise the debt limit, avoid default. But the details have been intentionally obscured by most conservatives, and they reveal the plan to be the most radical fiscal policy the GOP has aligned behind in years -- one that makes the Republican's current budget proposal to phase out Medicare appear moderate by comparison.

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Minnesota Shutdown

Lawmakers Still Hammering Out Details To End Minnesota's Government Shutdown

David Taintor | July 18, 2011, 9:36AM

Minnesota State Capitol

What seemed like a quick end to Minnesota's government shutdown is proving to take a bit longer.

Lawmakers worked over the weekend on language that reflects the budget deal Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers agreed upon last week. The deal is a compromise on a GOP budget offer made on June 30, just before the state's shutdown. It involves delaying more money to K-12 and borrowing money from future tobacco payments. Critics describe it as a quick fix, not a long-term budget solution.

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Debt Ceiling

Boehner: No Debt Limit Solution Til After Vote On Balanced Budget Amendment

Brian Beutler | July 15, 2011, 11:03AM

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the debt limit fight, the theatrics will continue in the House of Representatives for another week or so.

Scores of House Republicans say they won't vote to raise the debt limit unless a Constitutional balanced budget amendment has been sent off to the states for ratification. And so whatever Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other Congressional leaders decide about the real path ahead, he'll hold votes next week on a major spending cut and spending cap plan that includes a hike in the debt ceiling, and, separately, on a balanced budget amendment. The latter would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate and, in its current form, stands little chance of passing either chamber.

The votes themselves will put some political pressure on Democrats to support the nominally popular balanced budget amendment, and will allow Republicans to claim they voted to raise the debt limit in the event that the government runs out of borrowing authority. But the so-called "cut, cap, and balance" approach is dead on arrival in the Senate.

At a Friday press conference after a meeting with the GOP caucus, Boehner let slip, subtly, that the plan will go nowhere.

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Minnesota

Lawmakers Reach Deal To End Minnesota's Government Shutdown

David Taintor | July 14, 2011, 7:45PM

Minnesota state Capitol building

After two weeks of government shutdown, Minnesota is on its way to being open for business. Lawmakers on Thursday evening announced they had reached an budget agreement to end the shutdown.

Earlier Thursday, Dayton agreed to compromise on the GOP's budget offer from June 30, just before the state's government shutdown. But he did so under certain conditions: that the GOP remove its policy issues from the budget, drop a 15 percent reduction to the number of state employees in all agencies and support a $500 million bonding bill.

Now that they have a deal, Dayton said the shutdown will end "very soon," according to local reports.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said the final details are still being worked out, but they have reached a "framework agreement," Minnesota Public radio reported:

Koch said the agreement includes delaying more payments to schools, and borrowing against the state's future tobacco payments. The agreement would raise $1.4 billion in new revenue.

Dayton met with Republican lawmakers for three hours Thursday. Appearing after the meeting with Koch and Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers, Dayton expressed the tough reality of the agreement. "No one's going to be happy with this, which is the essence of compromise," he said. That means, for the time being, the governor will shelve his plan to raise taxes on Minnesota's millionaires.

Read more at MPR.

Minnesota

Dayton Offers Compromise On GOP Budget Offer

David Taintor | July 14, 2011, 2:10PM

Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN)

Could the gridlock which has shut down Minnesota's government for two weeks finally be over?

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday offered to compromise on a Republican budget offer, the Star Tribune and others report, which the GOP submitted June 30 just before the shutdown. While Dayton doesn't like many proposals included in the offer, he said in a letter to Republican legislative leaders, "this is the only viable option that's potentially available."

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Debt Ceiling

Boehner: 'This Debt Limit Increase Is Obama's Problem'

Brian Beutler | July 12, 2011, 10:55AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Burned by the fact that their prescription for reducing the deficit and increasing the national borrowing limit either can't pass in Congress or doesn't cut spending enough to warrant, in their minds, a significant debt ceiling hike, House Republicans returned to the Capitol Tuesday to ratchet up their demands, and shirk responsibility for avoiding default.

"Where's the President's plan?" asked House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) at a press stakeout after a GOP caucus meeting. "When's he going to lay his cards on the table? This debt limit increase is his problem."

This is a massive departure for Boehner and the GOP, who before the debt limit brinksmanship became central to U.S. politics, regularly acknowledged that raising the debt limit was his, and Congress', imperative. Today, he and other caucus leaders answered President Obama's demand that the GOP figure out a way to raise the debt limit through 2012 by offering to toss non-starter Republican wish-list items back into the negotiating mix.

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Minnesota

Budget Panel Offers Framework To End Minnesota's Gov't Shutdown

David Taintor | July 8, 2011, 4:14PM

Minnesota State Capitol

There are few signs that Minnesota's state government shutdown -- now dragging on into its second week -- will let up anytime soon.

So a nonpartisan panel has offered an alternative, hoping cooler heads will prevail.
The panel -- composed of former Vice President Walter Mondale, former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson and other business leaders and academics -- believes that "everyone in Minnesota needs to contribute to the budget solution," according to a budget blueprint released Friday.

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Indiana

Indiana Dem Who Shut Down The Gov't (And Won) Calls On Obama To Follow His Lead

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 8, 2011, 5:56AM

State Rep. Patrick Bauer (D-IN)

The leader of the Indiana House Democrats -- who fled the Hoosier state along with his caucus and beat back a Republican majority led by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) in March -- told TPM Thursday that reports of entitlement cuts in the national debt talks could cost state legislators like him the chance to capitalize on the fights of 2011 in next year's elections.

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Minnesota

How Much Is Minnesota's Government Shutdown Costing The State?

David Taintor | July 7, 2011, 5:50AM

Minnesota state Capitol building

With state parks and rest stops shuttered, and the state lottery frozen, Minnesota's government shutdown is losing the state money.

But how much, exactly? Thursday marks the seventh day of Minnesota's deadlock over a projected $5 billion deficit. Because some of the people who would calculate those costs are currently laid off by the shutdown, Minnesota Management and Budget spokesman John Pollard told TPM it's difficult to come up with an exact number.

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Minnesota

No Sign Of Budget Deal As MN Lawmakers Dig In Their Heels

David Taintor | July 6, 2011, 6:00AM

Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN)

Minnesota lawmakers took the holiday weekend to cool off from the heated budget negotiations that led to the state's government shutdown last week.

But the time apart hasn't eased the deadlock. Lawmakers are grappling over how to close a $5 billion projected budget deficit. Republicans -- who control the state's legislature -- want to balance the budget with spending cuts, while Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton is looking to combine spending cuts with a tax increase on Minnesota's millionaires.

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Paul Ryan

Ryan On 'MediScare' Attacks: 'Here's The Deal On Our Medicare Plan: ObamaCare Ends Medicare As We Know It'

Brian Beutler | July 5, 2011, 1:06PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) just broke a land speed record for his pivot from decrying Democratic "Mediscare" attacks on the GOP budget to attacking Democrats for wanting to end "Medicare as we know it."

In an interview with WISN, a local ABC News Affiliate in Wisconsin, Ryan responded to the fact that his budget, endorsed by almost every member of the Republican party, is extremely unpopular.

"Whenever you lead and propose a solution to a complex problem, you're putting yourself out there to be distorted, to be demagogued to be lied about," Ryan said. "What's happening is the other party's chosen to try to scare senior citizens to try and get votes. Here's the deal on our Medicare plan: ObamaCare ends Medicare as we know it."

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Minnesota

Lights Out: Minnesota Government Shuts Down Without Budget Agreement

David Taintor | July 1, 2011, 5:30AM

Minnesota State Capitol Building

Minnesota lawmakers just couldn't get it done.

After many consecutive days of intense budget negotiations, the state's government has begun shutting down ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. That means state parks and rest stops are closed -- as well as other government services the court doesn't deem "core" functions of government. More than 22,000 state employees will be forced out of work.

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Minnesota

Hours Before State Government Shutdown, No Budget Deal In Minnesota

David Taintor | June 30, 2011, 6:04PM

Minnesota State Capitol

Minnesota lawmakers have just hours to avert a state government shutdown. And while talks continued on Thursday a deal did not yet appear close.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton again held meetings with Republican leaders Thursday, the Star Tribune reports. A couple of jibes against Democrats were launched via Twitter, but lawmakers have mostly maintained their "cone of silence" while negotiations are underway.

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Barack Obama

Reid: Actually Obama Will Meet With Senators On Debt Limit Wednesday

Brian Beutler | June 30, 2011, 1:29PM

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

Turns out President Obama will come to the Capitol to talk debt ceiling...just not today.

At a Thursday Senate press conference, scheduled minutes before it began, Democratic leaders called out their GOP counterparts, who invited Obama to the Hill without notice in order to swipe at him later for declining. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that Obama will come, along with the Vice President Joe Biden, to visit Senators on Wednesday.

"Next week, on Tuesday, we're going to have Sen. [Kent] Conrad who's worked really hard with the people on the Budget Committee to come up with a way forward on the budget," Reid said.

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