TPMDC Continuing Resolution: April 2011
Immigration
Anti-Immigration Groups Give GOP Free Pass on Border Security Cuts
US Border Patrol personnel at US-Mexico border fence
You might expect anti-immigration groups to be in an uproar over spending cuts contained in the recent budget deal, like a $226 million cut to Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology or $97 million in cuts to IT modernization programs at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, the cuts have generated barely a peep from border hawks, who have given the GOP a free pass even after years of campaigning for increased resources.
According to Rosemary Jenks, director of government affairs for NumbersUSA, her group is not protesting any of the reductions in spending. Nor will any Republicans be penalized in their annual grades for voting for them.
"For an administration that's decided it's not a priority, it doesn't make sense to throw money at them," Jenks told TPM in an interview before Congress agreed to a final spending deal.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Continuing Resolution, Homeland Security, Immigration
Barack Obama
Obama To Boehner In Budget Talks: 'You Think We're Stupid?'
President Obama speaks at a bipartisan White House gathering with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in the background.
As House Republican leaders struggle to sell their spending agreement, President Obama is privately crowing to supporters that he stood up the GOP on health care and won big time.
Republicans have made defunding Democrats' health care law a top priority, but at a closed-to-the-press fundraiser Obama candidly described to donors how he defeated their attempts. Perhaps not realizing his mic was on, Obama's private remarks were caught by CBS correspondent Mark Knoller, who was able to listen to through a live audio feed.
"I said, 'You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We'll have that debate," Obama said, describing his negotiations with Speaker John Boehner. "You're not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we're stupid?'"
According to CBS, Obama quoted himself as telling Boehner to "Put it in a separate bill," adding that "if you think you can overturn my veto, try it. But don't try to sneak this through."
Watch the CBS report below.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Continuing Resolution, Defunding health care, John Boehner, Repealing health care
John Boehner
Confusion Over Budget Numbers A Factor In House Vote
The last 24 hours saw an erosion of GOP support for Speaker John Boehner's spending deal, which required Democratic votes to pass on Thursday after 59 Republicans defected, thanks in no small part to confusion over just how much it cut.
The topline number heralded in the press after a deal was reached last week was $38.5 billion below current spending levels. But an analysis of CBO numbers by Politico's David Rogers on Wednesday, confirmed by TPM, showed the bill only reduced direct spending by about $350 million. The news rallied conservatives already skeptical of the deal, caused the National Review to reverse its endorsement of the deal, and sent Boehner scrambling to explain the bill's cuts to his base.
"It's fair to say it wasn't just constituents that were confused about all that was being published," Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) told TPM after voting against the bill. "I hope we get better at that and better at really drilling down and making sure people are all comparing apples to apples rather than applies, cherries, bananas, and oranges."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bill Huizenga, Billy Long, Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown, John Boehner, Steven LaTourette
Infrastructure
Lindsey Graham Offers Stirring Defense of Government Spending: "Will Allow Us to Create Jobs"
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
Questioned Wednesday about his threat to "tie the Senate into knots" over $50,000 for a South Carolina port left out of the shutdown-averting spending deal, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) launched into an impassioned defense of the role of government in job creation.
"If you're a Republican and you want to create jobs, then you need to invest in infrastructure that will allow us to create jobs," he said at a press conference with Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee on Social Security in response to a question from TPM. "Congress, Republicans and Democrats, talk about creating jobs. How can you create jobs by shutting a port down that 260,000 people depend on?"
Graham said the $50,000 study now on the chopping block was crucial to advancing a $350 million joint federal and state project to ready the port for larger ships. Without it, Graham said, President Obama would have difficulty meeting his goal of doubling exports within five years.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Budget, Continuing Resolution, Infrastructure, Lindsey Graham, Tea Party
Barack Obama
Obama, Van Hollen Back Bowles-Simpson As Counterpoint To Right-Wing GOP Budget
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
The Republican opening bid in the fiscal war of 2011 is to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid, and to lower tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.
The Democrats, by contrast, will enter the sweepstakes with ... the Simpson-Bowles recommendations?
For the uninitiated, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles co-chaired the White House's fiscal commission, and personally recommended a series of conservative leaning policy proposals for reducing deficits and debt over the long-term. They floated their proposals after the commission itself was unable to reach a consensus. Among their proposals were reducing top tax rates and simplifying the system by eliminating loopholes and giveaways in the code.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Alan Simpson, Barack Obama, Budget, Center for American Progress, Chris Van Hollen, Continuing Resolution, Erskine Bowles
Budget
Harry Reid Defends Spending Deal: "We Stayed True To Our Values"
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
As Americans pore over the newly released details of the bipartisan $39.9 billion in cuts agreed to last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid is defending the deal as a success for Democrats.
"While both parties may agree, in principle, that a budget is more than simply a collection of numbers, our priorities couldn't be more different," Reid said in a statement. He went on to list a number of areas where the GOP failed to secure their demands, repeatedly declaring that Democrats "stayed true to our values," and used the agreement to highlight key differences between the parties.
"Throughout this debate, we stayed true to our values," he said. "The American people noticed, and they're glad we did. By clear majorities, our constituents are glad we stood up for health reform, for women's health, for cleaner air, and on and on."
Topics: Budget, Continuing Resolution, Harry Reid
Continuing Resolution
Newly Released Spending Deal Targets Health, Environment, Energy
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republicans and Senate Democrats have posted details of the bipartisan spending agreement that staved off a shutdown, providing a first look at where the $39.9 billion of cuts come from on a program by program basis.
Republican priorities can be seen throughout the agreement, with reduced funding for enforcing environmental regulation, scientific research, health care, and education all leaping out.
One of the hardest hit institutions is the Environmental Protection Agency, whose power Republicans have sought to curtail in recent years through a variety of legislative means. The agency will receive $1.6 billion less in funding than current levels, a 16 percent drop, including a $49 million reduction in climate change programs and $149 million cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In a press release, Senate Appropriation Committee Democrats noted that the EPA cuts, while tough, were nearly $1.6 billion less than Republicans' original proposal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also saw a $142 million reduction in funding and is prohibited from creating a Climate Service.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Continuing Resolution, Education, Energy, Environment, Harry Reid, Health Care, John Boehner
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama: Budget Agreement 'Good News For The American People'
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama promoted last night's budget agreement, which averted a government shutdown.
"This is an agreement to invest in our country's future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history. Like any compromise, this required everyone to give ground on issues that were important to them. I certainly did," said Obama.
"Some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful - programs people rely on will be cut back; needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances. But we also prevented this important debate from being overtaken by politics and unrelated disagreements on social issues. And beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect the investments that will help America compete for new jobs - investments in our kids' education and student loans; in clean energy and life-saving medical research.
"Reducing spending while still investing in the future is just common sense. That's what families do in tough times. They sacrifice where they can, even if it's hard, to afford what's really important."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Abortion, Barack Obama, Budget, Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown, Health Care, Paul Ryan, Roundup, Tea Party, Tea Party Express
John Boehner
How John Boehner's Tea Party Balancing Act Avoided a Government Shutdown
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
For Speaker John Boehner, the announcement of a deal funding the government caps one of the most dangerous period of his tenure as leader of his party, a long negotiation that tested his control of his members and his reputation with a general public that has yet to form a clear opinion on his leadership.
While he avoided a potentially disastrous shutdown, only time will tell whether he kept his hold on his party. Already some conservative Republicans are expressing their dismay at the deal.
"I think a lot of us are quite disappointed at the level," Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told TPM.
"We really wanted more advancement on the life issue than was in the final package," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told reporters after the deal was announced. "I think there's a significant number of no votes."
But others expressed relief at the saga being over: "I think that you're going to see overwhelming support for this," Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR) told TPM.
The dueling quotes reflect long-simmering tensions between veteran Republican legislators like Boehner and an emergent conservative grassroots that helped deliver a strong majority in 2010 only two years after landslide defeat. Balancing their needs against each other and the responsibilities of governing have proven an all-consuming task for the Speaker that has defined his tenure as leader of the House GOP.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown, John Boehner
Government Shutdown
House GOP Women Dodge Questions on Abortion at Press Conference
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
Looking to counter a press conference earlier Friday by Democratic women in the Senate lambasting the GOP over their refusal to drop provisions blocking women's health funding, Republican women in the House held a gathering of their own on Friday afternoon. But the presser proved a frustrating affair for the members, who were asked over and over again without success to explain if they agreed with the policy riders or not.
In their opening remarks, the 15 congresswomen present each sought to frame the battle over a continuing resolution as one about spending, with several saying future prosperity spurred by lower debt would benefit their daughters and granddaughters -- seemingly a direct rejoinder to Democratic accusations that the GOP was targeting women and children. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said that the Democrats' spending was "economic child abuse."
But despite charging Democrats with falsely claiming negotiations were hinging on social issues, the members appeared uncomfortable even bringing up the policy riders in question by name. Not one member recited the words "Planned Parenthood" in opening remarks and only one member, Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, even mentioned the word "abortion." Several addressed Democratic charges that policy provisions regarding women's health and abortion were holding up a final deal only in the most indirect terms.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Abortion, Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown, Jean Schmidt, Marsha Blackburn, Planned Parenthood
Government Shutdown
GOP Freshman Allen West Slams Republicans For Exploiting Troops in Shutdown Fight
Rep. Allen West (R-FL)
Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a veteran who left the military after admitting to abusing an Iraqi policeman, is now slamming the GOP for exploiting the troops in the government shutdown fight.
The House passed a bill on Thursday funding the military for the next six months and keeping the government open another week, but Democratic leaders rejected the measure over its inclusion of $12 billion of additional cuts. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has accused Democrats of hurting troops, but West said in a statement to CBS on Thursday that he was "disgusted at the perception that Leaders in my own Party...are now using the men and women in uniform" even as he voted for the measure himself.
"The House Majority has now placed the funding for the Department of Defense and the funding for the troops down as a bargaining chip," West said. "In the last 100 days, the House Majority could have passed at any point in time a separate stand alone Appropriations for the Department of Defense and the funding for our men and women in uniform."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Allen West, Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown
Blake Farenthold
GOP Frosh On Government Shutdown: Planned Parenthood Rider Makes Up For Smaller Cuts
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX)
A Republican freshman member of the House says that riders on the continuing resolution bill -- like the one that bans funding for Planned Parenthood -- could make up for the fact that the GOP didn't cut a full $100 billion from President Barack Obama's budget proposal.
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) told TPM that the showdown is over two things: "keeping our promises to the people that elected us to cut spending and implement some policy changes."
Topics: Barack Obama, Blake Farenthold, Continuing Resolution, GOP, Government Shutdown, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Planned Parenthood
Government Shutdown
House Passes Republican Short-Term Funding Bill Amid White House Veto Threat
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
The House passed on Thursday a temporary funding resolution that would keep the government open for a week, fund the military through the end of the fiscal year, and cut $12 billion from current funding levels. The Republican-backed bill passed largely on partisan lines, 247-181.
Annualized, the cuts would total close to half a trillion dollars and Democrats have already declared the measure unacceptable. Earlier Thursday, the White House issued a veto threat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opposes the bill. The government will shutdown if all sides fail to reach an agreement to fund the government before the end of Friday.
Republican leaders portrayed the measure as a means to protect soldiers from losing pay in the event of a government shutdown, but the White House labeled it "a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise," while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared it a "cynical ploy" to hide behind the troops heading into a shutdown. President Obama suggested he would be open to passing a "short-term, clean Continuing Resolution" instead as a precursor to a final negotiated bill funding the government through the rest of the fiscal year. PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Barack Obama, Continuing Resolution, Government Shutdown, Harry Reid, John Boehner
Government Shutdown
Government Shutdown Looms As Boehner Balks
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) said lawmakers have yet to reach a budget deal after he and other congressional leaders met with President Obama this morning, upping the ante in the spending standoff and increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown by the end of the week.
"While there was good discussion, no agreement was reached," said a readout on the meeting from Boehner's office.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Appropriations, Barack Obama, Budget, Continuing Resolution, Daniel Inouye, Government Shutdown, Hal rogers, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Senate Democrats
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama Promotes Energy Policy
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama discussed his proposals for energy policy, to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and encourage the use of clean energy.
"Part of this strategy involves increasing our oil exploration right here in America. In fact, our oil production last year reached its highest level since 2003, and we want to encourage more safe, responsible drilling where we can," said Obama.
"But the truth is, drilling alone is not a real strategy to replace our dependence on foreign oil. And that's because even though America uses 25 percent of the world's oil, we currently have only about 2 percent of the world's oil reserves. Even if we used every last drop of all the oil we have, it wouldn't be enough to meet our long-term energy needs. So, real energy security can only come if we find ways to use less oil - if we invest in cleaner fuels and greater efficiency."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Budget, Continuing Resolution, House '12, Jobs, John Boehner, Redistricting, Roundup
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