AuH20
03-17-2015, 01:09 PM
Screw the "seniors" and "the troops." I, for one, am tired of the hostage taking!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/politics/budget-battle-in-gop-is-test-of-governance.html?_r=1
WASHINGTON — The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military.
“This is a war within the Republican Party,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. “You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.”
The divisions will be laid bare Tuesday when congressional leaders unveil blueprints that hew to spending limits imposed by the budget battles of 2011.
Representative Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, and 69 other House Republicans signed a letter to Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, demanding that the budget at least match Mr. Obama’s defense request of $561 billion, $38 billion above the statutory caps. Caught in the middle are a new crop of freshman Republican senators who emphasized national security in their campaigns but are facing heavy pressure from their leaders to fall in line.
“It’s a disaster,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, one of those freshmen, said of the sequestration cap. “Thematically, we all agree sequestration must go.”
The strict caps “are one of the best things that’s happened to the finances of the country,” said Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a senior Republican on the Budget Committee.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not support lifting the caps. Lawmakers are scrambling to finesse the problem. Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, and Mr. Enzi are pressing for a place holder in the budget — a “deficit-neutral reserve fund” — that they say would allow Congress to come back in the coming months with legislation to lift the spending caps.
That number may not supersede the legally binding cap, he said, but it instructs the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to override the caps later this year.
“Don’t talk about national security,” Mr. McCain warned his own party. “Don’t complain about the president of the United States if we are going to stick to the sequestration numbers.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/politics/budget-battle-in-gop-is-test-of-governance.html?_r=1
WASHINGTON — The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military.
“This is a war within the Republican Party,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. “You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.”
The divisions will be laid bare Tuesday when congressional leaders unveil blueprints that hew to spending limits imposed by the budget battles of 2011.
Representative Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, and 69 other House Republicans signed a letter to Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, demanding that the budget at least match Mr. Obama’s defense request of $561 billion, $38 billion above the statutory caps. Caught in the middle are a new crop of freshman Republican senators who emphasized national security in their campaigns but are facing heavy pressure from their leaders to fall in line.
“It’s a disaster,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, one of those freshmen, said of the sequestration cap. “Thematically, we all agree sequestration must go.”
The strict caps “are one of the best things that’s happened to the finances of the country,” said Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a senior Republican on the Budget Committee.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not support lifting the caps. Lawmakers are scrambling to finesse the problem. Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, and Mr. Enzi are pressing for a place holder in the budget — a “deficit-neutral reserve fund” — that they say would allow Congress to come back in the coming months with legislation to lift the spending caps.
That number may not supersede the legally binding cap, he said, but it instructs the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to override the caps later this year.
“Don’t talk about national security,” Mr. McCain warned his own party. “Don’t complain about the president of the United States if we are going to stick to the sequestration numbers.”