federal budget

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What Sequester Is, and Why It Is Stupid
What Sequester Is,
and Why It Is Stupid
OPINION
Jan 31, 2013 11:33 AM CST

What Sequester Is, and Why It Is Stupid

Matthew Yglesias breaks down the looming spending cuts

(Newser) - Hey, politics watchers: Are you ready for another utterly avoidable budget crisis with the potential to arbitrarily wreck the economy? Well, good news! The "sequester"—a trillion dollars in spending cuts that no one actually wants—is barreling towards us, and apparently no one intends to stop it...

Congress: We're Not Avoiding Cliff Cuts

Democrats considering putting them off again, but many skeptical deal will emerge

(Newser) - Washington is bracing itself for a sweeping, painful set of across-the-board spending cuts, because lawmakers doubt they'll be able to come up with a deal to avert them, the Washington Post reports. While proposals are in the works to avert what's known as sequester, party leaders don't...

White House to Federal Agencies: Get Ready for Cuts

Budget office tells agencies to prepare for upcoming 'sequester'

(Newser) - In anticipation of the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts (the " sequester ") that kick in March 1 unless Congress makes a budget deal to avert them, the White House budget office told federal agencies yesterday to "intensify" their preparations. The agencies were asked to think up...

Gingrich to House GOP: Quit Threatening to Default

Instead, he suggests, focus on sequester, continuing resolution

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich has a message for House Republicans: Stop making empty threats. Congressional Republicans are saying they'll gladly default if President Obama doesn't agree to budget cuts as part of a debt ceiling deal, but that's "a fight they can't sustain," Gingrich said today...

Obama Praises Cliff Deal, Resumes Hawaii Vacation

He thanks Biden, congressional leaders

(Newser) - President Obama flew off to resume his family vacation in Hawaii minutes after delivering remarks praising the House and Senate for passing the fiscal cliff deal , the New York Times reports. In his remarks, Obama praised the work of congressional leaders and his "extraordinary Vice President Joe Biden" and...

8 Senators Rejected Cliff Deal
 8 Senators Rejected Cliff Deal 
Jan 1, 2013 7:55 AM CST

8 Senators Rejected Cliff Deal

3 Democrats, 5 Republicans said no to bipartisan plan

(Newser) - A deal to neutralize the fiscal cliff cruised through the Senate 89-8 in a late-night session and is headed for the House, whose session today begins at noon . The deal contains the first federal income tax hike in nearly 20 years, but the eight refuseniks weren't all Republicans, the...

Republicans Strike Back With New Budget Plan

Proposal would not raise taxes for wealthy Americans

(Newser) - House Republicans responded to President Barack Obama today, proposing a new 10-year, $2.2 trillion blueprint for avoiding the looming "fiscal cliff." The plan, sent to the White House by House Speaker John Boehner, was unlikely to win Obama's approval, but it does go part way toward...

Obama Playing Hardball on Taxes

He plans to seek $1.6TR extra from wealthy, corporations

(Newser) - President Obama is telling GOP leaders to read his lips: Some new taxes. The president plans to play hardball in budget negotiations with an opening figure of $1.6 trillion in tax hikes for corporations and the wealthy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The figure is far more than Republicans...

Obama Needs to Talk About Snuffleupagus
 Obama Needs to Talk  
 About Snuffleupagus 
Dana Milbank
Oct 10, 2012 1:56 PM CDT

Obama Needs to Talk About Snuffleupagus

Dana Milbank: Focus on the imaginary parts of Romney's plans

(Newser) - Barack Obama is focusing on the wrong Muppet. His campaign's new Big Bird attack ad may have garnered lots of attention, but "Big Bird is not the problem," writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post . "The problem is Snuffleupagus." Snuffy, if you don't recall,...

Ryan&#39;s Plan Is a Deficit-Hiking &#39;Con Game&#39;
 Ryan's Plan Is a 
 Deficit-Hiking 
 'Con Game' 
paul krugman
Aug 20, 2012 12:05 PM CDT

Ryan's Plan Is a Deficit-Hiking 'Con Game'

Paul Krugman: He's 'style over substance'

(Newser) - Paul Ryan is a media darling: Pundits can't stop praising his "seriousness." But the truth is that "Ryanomics is and always has been a con game," scoffs Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Ryan claims to be a deficit-slasher, but let's crunch the...

Ryan Zinged on Foreign Policy Inexperience

Ryan defenders say he is same as Obama in 2008

(Newser) - Paul Ryan may be a budget expert and domestic policy wonk, but a huge responsibility of the executive branch is foreign policy, and critics are already landing punches on Ryan's meager resume on international issues, reports Reuters . "I think his (Ryan's) experience as a vice presidential candidate...

Democrats: We're Not Budging on Defense Cuts

Obama takes hard stance on defense cuts, taxes for wealthy

(Newser) - Democrats are digging in on two controversial points that could reverberate across the economy: The $550 billion in defense cuts kicking in next year and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 per year. President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and other top...

Obama: 'Radical' Ryan Budget a 'Trojan Horse'

Ryan shoots back that Obama is 'disappointing'

(Newser) - Barack Obama plans to savage the House GOP budget proposal today, calling it "thinly veiled social Darwinism," according to a draft of the speech he'll deliver. "It’s a Trojan horse," Obama will say. "Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it's really an attempt...

Paul Ryan's Budget Is Worse Than Pink Slime

Paul Krugman: It's history's 'most fraudulent' budget

(Newser) - Never mind that it's "inconceivably cruel" to cut taxes for the rich and aid for the poor: Perhaps the biggest problem with Paul Ryan's latest budget is that it's "surely the most fraudulent budget in United States history," writes Paul Krugman in the New ...

GOP Rolls Out Budget With Huge Tax Cuts

There would be just two brackets, with the top at 25%

(Newser) - House Republicans rolled out a new Paul Ryan-penned budget proposal today that calls for a drastic tax-code overhaul, major changes to Medicare and Medicaid, and deep cuts in domestic spending, all while softening a set of automatic defense spending cuts set to hit in January. The budget would scrap our...

GOP Rep: I'd Need to Shoot Senators to Pass Budget

John Sullivan of Oklahoma apologizes after violent comments

(Newser) - A House Republican apologized yesterday after Talking Points Memo spotted a clip of him saying he'd have to shoot some senators to pass Paul Ryan's budget. "I live with some senators, I yell at them all the time, I grabbed one of them the other day and...

Obama's Budget Sets Up Fight With GOP

He wants to beef up domestic spending, raise taxes on rich

(Newser) - The major news outlets are getting details of the budget plan President Obama will unveil on Monday, and it sounds like it's designed to set up election-year comparisons with Republicans. Two big themes: It calls for higher taxes on the rich and big spending on roads and manufacturing projects....

Congress Dodging Earmark Ban: Watchdogs

Lawmakers attach special funds to budgets to direct cash homeward

(Newser) - Congress' ban on earmarks doesn't seem to be stopping members from channeling money to home-state projects. These days, instead of tacking such projects on to bills, legislators are creating "slush funds" that ultimately serve the same purpose, watchdog groups tell the New York Times . Included in the Army...

Starbucks CEO to DC: No Donations for You!

Howard Schultz wants budget answers before opening his wallet

(Newser) - Maybe he should just refuse coffee to politicians. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is pleading to other corporate execs to stop contributing to political campaigns until the president and Congress come up with a realistic way to cut budget deficits, reports Politico . “This is a time for citizenship, not partisanship,...

Special Interests Gave 'Super Committee' Members $3M

Donors have a stake in spending cuts

(Newser) - The 12 members of the new budget super committee have received more than $3 million over the past five years from special interests directly affected by potential cuts, an AP review finds. The money came from groups linked to defense contractors, labor unions, and health care providers, and buffered the...

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