BUDGET

[jazzimov]

Can we focus on what matters?

the President's proposed budget means nothing. Nothing.

the Senate's proposed budget may give a little more insight, but it really means nothing. Nothing.

By Law, all financial considerations including the budget must start in the House. In the fucking House.

the President and the Senate can propose and pass all the budgets that they want , but it doesn't mean a damn thing until it passes the House.

Once the House passes a budget, then the Senate can vote. If they don't like what the House has passed, they can go into endless negotiations. The President has nothing to say.

Once the Senate and the House agree and vote positively, they send it to the President. The president may like some of it and hate some of it - but he does not have the luxury of a "line item veto" so he has to decide to take the good with the bad. If, for instance, a bill does lots of good things but also includes a Monsanto rider - he can either veto the entire bill and undo all the hard work that everyone had done to get that bill to his desk - or, he can sign the bill, including the stuff that he doesn't agree with.

So many people here are focused on Obama's budget, when it actually means nothing.

We need revenue increases, which means higher taxes on the rich. Republicans want to protect the 1% and will only support tax increases if we do away with SS and privatize it entirely. They don't want to save it, and they don't care about savings no matter what they say. They want to privatize it completely.

Obama is trying to call their bluff. But he really doesn't have a dog in this fight. Forget Obama's proposals. The Senate is where we can make a difference right now.

In 2014, we can retake the House and REALLY make a difference!

Right now, we're looking at closing down the government. Seriously, while some people are worried about perceived lower payments in the future, if something isn't done SOON the government will shutdown, and nobody will get any checks at all.

Period.

[dawg]

1. This was an unforced error.

Obama just wrote a thousand Republican Congressional campaign ads for 2014.

The "professional left" is demoralized and angry. I hope they will all still show up and vote for Dems in 2014, but they feel ignored and abused.

You are right, that any true budget must come from the House. But that just makes what Obama did all that more pointless and self-destructive. But it's too late to stop him now. The cat is already out of the bag and the damage is done.

All we can do now is focus on Congress and hope that this terrible idea doesn't somehow find it's way into law despite all the assurances that it will never happen.

[JaneyVee]

2. I shudder to think about how much campaign cash the GOP is going to reap from gullible seniors

in 2014.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

3. Erm, um, there hasn't been an actual budget passed since, well, forever

They've been getting along by passing continuing resolutions. Also, even after budgets are passed, actual appropriations have to be made to actually implement the budget.
But the thing to remember is this: as far as I know, no budget has been passed since the Republicans took over the House. There is no evidence I know of that they will pass one this year. Or next.
What will happen is another continuing resolution, once all the political theater has been taken care of. For SS, the thing to focus on is this: getting them to use the CPI-E, an experimental measure of inflation they came up with specifically for elderly people, that takes into account the greater amount they spend on health care. One thing Obama did by introducing the Chained CPI was to open up this whole debate. It doesn't have to end with Chained CPI. Everyone already knew the inflation adjustments SS uses were unrealistic. We now have a measure that is a much closer approximation of the actual reality faced by older folks. We can get them to use it.

[pscot]

5. The cola adjustments have been unrealistically low

As in essentially zero for the last five years. Has inflation been zero the last 5 years? You need to check ot the price of catfood. Last year Fancy feast was 3 cans for a buck. Now it's $.70 a can. If this keeps up, Ima have to switch to the dry stuff.

[idwiyo]

4. Thanks to Obama, republicans have great compain strategy for 2014 - "we refused to cut SS"

Good bloody luck trying to explain "x-dimensional chess" "rationalisation" to seniors and Independents in 2014.

Never mind the pure genius of being the FIRST president to propose cuts to SS.
DEMOCRATIC president.

Congratulations Sir, you just secured yourself a permanent place in history books.




Now, pardon me while I