Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate are teeing up rival bills aimed at shielding their members from blame when an $85 billion cut to federal spending takes effect on Friday.
The Senate will vote this week on two proposals to stop the cuts, known in Washington as the sequester, but neither version is expected to pass, according to Senate aides.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recognize their bills are dead on arrival, but are forging ahead in an effort to secure public support in the messaging war over sequestration.
The dueling votes could take place as soon as Wednesday, but a senior Democratic aide said Thursday is the more likely date. Each proposal must garner 60 votes to pass, and there is no Plan B.
The Republican plan would maintain the level of spending reductions but give President Obama more flexibility to minimize their impact on military preparedness and other vital government services, such as air traffic control and airport security screening.
Read More at The Hill . By Alexander Bolton.
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They ahold all be worrying about the blame for NOT cutting spending. The sequester cuts are a “meat axe” approach, to be sure, with no common sense applied, but they are MINISCULE compared to the cuts that NEED to be made
Something like 90%+ of the federal bureaucracy is not authorized by the Constitution. Massive departments that should never have been created in the first place need to be defended and dismantled to eliminate deficits and the national debt, AND to free us of the tyranny of their actions and th confiscatory taxes that fund them.
ANY politician that doesn’t work to slash the federal bureaucracy and get us back to a government that operates within the constraints of the Constitution is violating his/her oath of office and should be removed from office and tried for crimes against the people.
What they need to do is get a sampling of the American people all classes and colors and let them decide on what to cut . We could cut so much money that they are using to but votes, like foreign aid some food stamp, all the free hand outs to people that won’t work
Personally I can’t wait for Friday to come. I think the sequester is great. Obama wanted it because he thought the republicans would never go for such extensive cuts to the military but it backfired n him.
Now they have no choice. They have to start chopping. Best news I’ve heard and I am a woman, on social security and medicare and even if they had to take some cuts, it would be ok with me. There are only two things we need to do, get out of debt and more jobs. The FF’s, the teachers and the first responders are still going to get paid as they are paid by the local and state governments. I have cut my household expenses by more than 2 percent since obama has taken office so now he needs to cut. I will be euphoric Friday
That’s not chopping. It isn’t even whittling. They’re not even making a respectable scratch in the paint.
When they start dismantling the federal bureaucracy leviathan, then we can celebrate. Mobutu I’m afraid we’ll have to have a major revolt to replace the ruling class before that can happen.
I have NO idea where “Mobutu” came from in my post … I was typing “However”