Government Shutdown

Obama To GOP: Abide By Debt Limit Deal Or Else Face A Govt Shutdown Right Before The Election

Brian Beutler | April 18, 2012, 4:36PM

President Barack Obama during his 2012 "State of the Union" address

In a major escalation of a slowly building fight over funding the government, the White House has warned House Republicans, in no uncertain terms, that the government will shut down in September if the GOP does not adhere to an agreement they cut with Democrats in August during the standoff over raising the nation's debt limit.

"Until the House of Representatives indicates that it will abide by last summer's agreement, the President will not be able to sign any appropriations bills," writes Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, in a letter addressed to congressional appropriators Wednesday.

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Recess appointments

Obama's Recess Appointments Dilemma Is About To Get Worse

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2012, 5:25AM

President Barack Obama

Despite making several key, contentious recess appointments since Congress left town, the Obama administration is still operating with scores of vacancies, including an unexpected hole at the top of the Office of Management and Budget.

But their options for filing those vacancies are likely limited, unless President Obama is willing to dial his use of the recess appointment power up even further.

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Jack Lew

Hill Dems Celebrate As White House Chief Of Staff Is Replaced

Brian Beutler | January 9, 2012, 3:54PM

President Barack Obama and Bill Daley

It's well known in Washington that outgoing White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley had a dysfunctional relationship with Capitol Hill -- particularly with Democrats there. And early signs suggest the new Chief of Staff -- Jack Lew, who has run the Office of Management and Budget for over a year -- will by comparison receive a warm welcome.

"Folks up here will view Lew as a big improvement," says one highly placed Democratic Hill aide. "It's hard to see Lew making the same mistakes his predecessor did. Lew understands the way this place works."

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Barack Obama

Just The Facts: Republicans Falsely Claim Obama Seeks Biggest Tax Hike In History

Brian Beutler | September 29, 2011, 11:19AM

President Barack Obama

After President Obama unveiled his jobs and deficit reduction plans, he took to the road to draw a contrast between himself and the Republican politicians who want to end his political career. Obama's proposes to spend money now on hiring people and cutting taxes temporarily to spur further job growth, and pay for it in just over a year, in large part by raising taxes on wealthy Americans.

The Republican vision -- phasing out safety net programs like Medicare in order to maintain low tax rates on the same group of affluent people -- is far less popular. So in their own tried and true way, Republicans recast Obama's plan for "shared sacrifice" as "the largest tax increase in history."

What a difference! But also untrue.

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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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Social Security

OMB Director Lew: Social Security Isn't The Problem

Brian Beutler | February 22, 2011, 10:47AM

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

White House budget director Jack Lew writes some pretty strong stuff, just as the administration prepares to scuffle with the GOP over Social Security.

"Social Security does not cause our deficits," he writes in a USA Today op-ed. "According to the most recent report of the independent Social Security Trustees, the trust fund is currently in surplus and growing. Even though Social Security began collecting less in taxes than it paid in benefits in 2010, the trust fund will continue to accrue interest and grow until 2025, and will have adequate resources to pay full benefits for the next 26 years."

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John Boehner

OMB Director Lew: Government Shutdown Is Off The Table

Susan Crabtree | February 14, 2011, 4:25PM

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

Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew confidently dismissed the chances of a government shutdown this year, predicting that Republicans in Congress and the White House will be able to come to a consensus on cutting spending without such serious brinkmanship.

When asked how the White House and Republicans will reconcile their divergent spending views, Lew said only that a government shutdown is off the table.

"What we do have is an agreement on [between the White House and Republicans in Congress] -- is that it would not be prudent to shut the government shutdown," Lew told reporters Monday at a briefing focused on President Obama's budget blueprint.

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Jack Lew

No Recess Appointments For Obama During Election Season

Brian Beutler | September 30, 2010, 2:48PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

With Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu (D) and David Vitter (R) blocking a vote on the confirmation of Jack Lew, President Obama's pick to lead the White House budget team, speculation ran rampant this week that Obama might offer Lew a recess appointment.

Well, that won't be happening.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided he'd hold multiple weekly pro-forma Senate sessions during the election-season recess, which will prevent Obama from legally recess appointing his stalled nominees. The reason, according to top Democratic and Republican aides has nothing to do with recess appointments per se, but rather with protecting the rest of Obama's executive and judicial nominees.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Administration Officials Plead With Landrieu To Drop Hold On OMB Nominee Jack Lew

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 8:47AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is holding up President Obama's key economic appointee in critical fiscal times over a local issue his economic team has no control over, giving Republicans campaign ammunition and throwing a wrench into budget planning just as the Senate is set to go home for the elections.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other top administration officials have been pleading with Landrieu (D-LA) to release her hold on the nomination of Jack Lew to be President Obama's new Office of Management and Budget director. But Landrieu says she won't budge until the moratorium on Gulf Coast drilling is lifted.

OMB doesn't have jurisdiction over drilling, and Democrats are privately outraged someone from their own party would block such a critical nomination -- with several suggesting the state of gridlock in the Senate has reached an untenable level. What's more, the delay to install Lew creates big budgetary problems just as the administration is prepping for several major initiatives, including the 2012 spending blueprint.

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John Boehner

Boehner Gets Specific On His Plans To Halt Federal Regulation

Brian Beutler | July 27, 2010, 9:58AM

House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)

House Minority Leader John Boehner has offered specifics about his recent call for a moratorium on new federal regulations, and TPM's gotten a look at just what kinds of regulations -- other than the obvious ones implementing health care and Wall Street reforms -- Boehner's plan would block.

Boehner last week endorsed the REINS Act, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), saying at his weekly press conference that "any rulemaking where the estimated cost to Americans would exceed $100 million," should not go into effect "without Congress voting on it first." That's short of the full moratorium Boehner initially called for, but could nonetheless be a recipe for gridlock and ugly politics. That standard in the act would ensnare scores of new regulations every year, including both broadly popular, time-sensitive ones, and others over which remain substantial partisan disagreement.

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Peter Orszag

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag Stepping Down In July

Jillian Rayfield | June 22, 2010, 9:36AM

Peter Orszag

President Obama's budget director Peter Orszag will reportedly step down in July, after 18 months in the administration.

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Congressional Budget Office

Orszag: Health Care Reform Will Be Done in Six Weeks

Brian Beutler | September 23, 2009, 11:36AM

CBO Director Peter Orszag

The Senate Finance Committee continues to tussle over the question of whether to delay a panel vote on health care reform legislation by two weeks. But whatever happens, White House budget directer Peter Orszag says health care reform will be done in about six weeks.

"The goal would be, yes, over the next six weeks or so, maybe sooner," Orszag told Bloomberg.

That would leave plenty of time for the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the final bill--a hybrid of the Finance bill and the HELP committee's bill--before it goes to the floor of the Senate for a full debate. Of course, Republicans will do what they can to slow the process down.