Paul Ryan’s Worst Nightmare Comes True as Bernie Sanders Is On The Budget Committee

[babylonsister]

Paul Ryan’s Worst Nightmare Comes True as Bernie Sanders Is On The Budget Committee
By: Jason Easley
Friday, October, 18th, 2013, 3:28 pm


Majority Leader Harry Reid has shattered Paul Ryan’s dreams of killing Social Security and Medicare by putting Sen. Bernie Sanders on the budget conference committee.

Sen. Sanders reacted to the official news of being appointed to the budget conference committee by saying, “I am excited about being a member of the budget conference committee and I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to end the absurdity of sequestration and to develop a budget which works for all Americans. In my view, it is imperative that this new budget helps us create the millions of jobs we desperately need and does not balance the budget on the backs of working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.”

In other words, Bernie Sanders opposes everything that Paul Ryan wants. Sen. Sanders has long been an outspoken critic of the Ryan budgets, and the Wisconsin Republican’s borderline obsession with privatizing Social Security and voucherizing Medicare.

more...

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/18/paul-ryans-worst-nightmare-true-bernie-sanders-budget-committee.html

[polichick]

1. Game on!

[raging moderate]

2. Yay, Bernie!

You know Bernie Sanders will do whatever he can to help the people who really need help.

[madokie]

3. No doubt about that

Bernie is on our side

[sheshe2]

4. Great news!

Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders have been working together for years to protect Social Security. Reid has stated everytime that he has been asked over the past few years that no cuts to Social Security will pass the Senate. It is likely that Reid put Sanders on the budget conference committee to act as the anti-Ryan.

Paul Ryan has claimed that he wanted a budget conference committee, and now he’s got it. What he has also got that he might not have expected was Bernie Sanders sitting across the table from him fighting against his efforts to destroy Social Security and Medicare.

Go Harry and Bernie!

[freshwest]

27. I`m so excited!

Sorry,. that's the first thing that came to mind!

[sheshe2]

28. I love the Pointer Sisters~

Thanks for the tune, freshwest~

[lark]

48. "Jump" is one of my all time favs!

Saw them in concert about 20 years ago, they totally rocked the house. We were dancing right by the stage with about 6 of our good friends. One of the Pointer Sisters liked my hubby and gave him a handkercheif she'd rubbed down her chest, along with a wink and a blown kiss. He was so proud, he's still got that frilly thing. LOL

[arcane1]

5. Hell yes!!!

[malthaussen]

6. I want tapes of their "discussions."

Oh, I would love to watch Bernie tear a new you-know-what for the smarmy Mr Ryan.

Of course, he is in a minority on that committee. In fact, he may be properly said to be the minority on that committee.

-- Mal

[QuestForSense]

13. 'Smarmy' describes Paul Ryan to a T

[Aerows]

30. I'll stick with that

because my description of Paul Ryan is R rated.

[JDPriestly]

7. Wonderful. Looks like this happened in October.

Bernie Sanders is great. He won't hesitate to let us know what is going on.

[babylonsister]

11. You're right; didn't even notice.

Apparently I'm not the only one who didn't know. Thanks!

[hfojvt]

16. they passed some sort of crap sandwich

I don't remember hearing much about it from Sanders.

If I remember Republicans got what they wanted - cuts to social programs, and a rollback of the sequester on the Department of Defense.

[rocktivity]

8. Yum!

rocktivity

[Little Star]

9. lol! Good.

[Blue Owl]

10. Eddie Munster pees his bed

n/t

[bluestate10]

12. Hopefully Sanders replaces a compliant Democrat. nt

[WillyT]

14. HUGE K & R !!!

[spanone]

15. great move harry....go senator sanders

[cntrygrl]

17. This is great!!

[dicksmc3]

18. Hooray for BERNIE!!!

Good to see someone with some compassion for the American people join this committee. Now, Ryan will be checked on all his efforts to derail the Social Safety Net... Good choice Senator Reid... Bernie will be there for all of us...

[diabeticman]

19. My wife is so happy she said I should post the Dance of Joy

kick some ass Bernie!!!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Since the article was from 10/18/13.

then this particular Conference Committee has probably now been dissolved as the Budget (and the subsequent Omnibus Appropriations bill) was passed and is now law.

[babylonsister]

23. No, it hasn't. Committees do

the grunt work, it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Budget

While the budget resolution prepared by the Budget Committee sets out a broad blueprint for the Congress with respect to the total levels of revenues and spending for the government as a whole, these other Committees prepare the legislation that actually enacts specific tax and spending policies.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. The article wasn't about a "Budget Committee"

It was about the "Budget Conference Committee" where both chambers (House & Senate) pick members from each party to come together temporarily in order to reconcile 2 different versions of a similar bill (one that would have come from the House and one that would have come from the Senate)... The Committee is tasked with agreeing to a single combined version that the conferees agree upon to take back to their respective chambers to vote on.

From the article -

Sen. Sanders reacted to the official news of being appointed to the budget conference committee by saying, “I am excited about being a member of the budget conference committee and I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to end the absurdity of sequestration and to develop a budget which works for all Americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_conference_committee

The conference is the only way you have direct contact between a House member (Ryan) and a Senate member (Sanders).

Bernie is one of 22 members of the Senate Budget Committee and the article was noting that he was one of the ones selected to be on that joint (conference) committee for when they were doing the FY2014 Budget agreement. That conference should have been disbanded once its work was done. This doesn't mean he won't serve on a similar joint committee in the future but that is up to the committee leaders.

[1StrongBlackMan]

36. Yep ...

His service was part of the effort that produced the 2014 budget ... that (some) DUers have roundly billed as the worstest budget, ever.

It seems that Bernie accepts that in order to get a budget agreement, the parties must negotiate and compromise to get to agreement.

[dreamnightwind]

40. Committee works on a vote

and Bernie gets one vote. So that makes him a compromiser? More likely it just means that his position lost. I don't know how he voted, I remember though there was some dust stirred up when he threatened to withhold his support of a closure vote on the joint bill because it didn't include extending unemployment insurance for the long-term people.

[1StrongBlackMan]

41. So does Congress ...

That is, exactly, my point!

[babylonsister]

38. The blurb I provided

wasn't from the article but from the United States Senate Committee on the Budget.

[Myrina]

44. ^^ this ^^

Thank you.

[tblue]

21. About damn time!

But yay!

[rurallib]

22. Bernie will fight for me and my family

Ryan fights for the .1%

[elzenmahn]

24. Good Move, Sen. Reid!

I can't imagine Pauly's emotions everytime he sees Sen. Sanders across the table from him.

[Jeff Murdoch]

25. Go, Bernie, Go!

nt

[valerief]

26. Kick! nt

[adirondacker]

29. Should make for some interesting debate. Hopefully the public can be educated. nt

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

31. Not if Fox News can help it, but we can hope!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. FANTASTIC!

thanks, Harry Reid! Good thinking.

[Historic NY]

34. Ryan's going to end up with dilutional hyponatremia....

[Phlem]

35. Fantastic News!

I hope he can make a difference, and also props for Harry.

I don't know if he's trying to redeem himself but the last few moves have been good choices. Not holding my breath yet but I'm watching.



-p

[freshwest]

37. MUST. KICK. THIS. BEAUTIFUL. THREAD. AGAIN!

Social Democrats...

[santroy79]

39. AWESOME!!!!

[ProSense]

42. This was posted

here:

Sanders Named to Budget Conference
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023870099

Since then, there have been two bills voted on. Here are Sander's statement on the Senate budget and the appropriations bill:

Senate Sends Budget Bill to the White House

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 – The Senate tonight passed and sent to President Barack Obama a budget that averts another government shutdown, eases sharp spending cuts known as sequestration and spares Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from proposed cuts in benefits.

In what he called a difficult decision, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted with the 64 - 36 majority to pass the budget package but voiced disappointment that it does nothing to create jobs and continues tax breaks for profitable corporations.

The budget keeps the government running and avoids cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The threatened cuts in the retirement and health care programs were staved off thanks in part to a petition drive Sanders organized. As founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus, Sanders worked with seniors’ organizations and others to gather more than 700,000 signatures from opponents of the cuts.

The budget also restores some of the across-the-board spending cuts. “It will allow modest increases in funding for programs that are important to many Vermonters like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, low-income heating assistance and education,” Sanders said.

A member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders faulted the bill for doing nothing to create jobs. “At a time when Americans are clear about the need to create millions of new jobs, this bill does nothing about high unemployment. In fact, it doesn’t even help the 1.3 million Americans who are about to lose their unemployment benefits,” Sanders said.

He also had hoped the agreement would do more to lower deficits by closing tax loopholes that benefit profitable corporations and wealthy individuals. “I am disappointed that my Republican colleagues continue to protect corporate loopholes which are costing us about $100 billion every single year,” Sanders said. “At a time of growing income and wealth inequality, this budget doesn’t ask the wealthy and profitable corporations to pay a nickel more in taxes,” he added.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-sends-budget-bill-to-the-white-house

Statement on Funding Bill Passage

Thursday, January 16, 2014

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement tonight after the Senate voted 72-26 to approve a House-passed $1.1 trillion bill to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal 2014:

“This is most certainly not the budget that I would have written. At a time when one out of four corporations pays nothing in federal income taxes and income inequality is exploding, this budget fails to ask the richest Americans or most profitable corporations to pay a nickel more in taxes.

“Having said that, this bill makes some significant improvements to the status quo. It adds $1 billion to Head Start to help some 90,000 kids get the early education that they need. This bill will increase funding for home heating assistance, which is very import for senior citizens on fixed incomes and families with young children in Vermont.

“While this is not the bill that I would have written, the alternative – another government shutdown – would have been catastrophic for our country and for the economy.”

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/statement-on-funding-bill-passage

[Thav]

43. Now the GOP will want

to be able to filibuster committee appointments.

[JEFF9K]

45. Time to end the Ayn Rand Paul Ryan fraud.

[Potomac Oracle]

46. Bernie may not be a GOOD THING!!!

Ok, Bernie will fight to preserve Social Safety net programs. But he does so using false premises. He says stuff like this..."...and does not balance the budget on the backs of working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.”

The underlying assumption is that there needs to be a trade off to get to a balanced budget. He also assumes "deficit spending" must be held to a minimum so that our grandchildren won't be burdened. He further implies that Federal taxes are already to high and cannot be increased to fund Social Safety net Programs and, therefore, there must be, negotiated adjustments to benefits to reduce program costs.

NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

We need Bernie to act as if he understands monetary sovereignty.

"Incidence of monetary sovereignty[edit]
Currently, nations such as the USA and Japan, which have autonomous central banks and borrow in their own currencies are said to exercise a high degree of monetary sovereignty. On the other hand, the European Union nations, have ceded much of their monetary sovereignty to the European Central Bank.[2]

<b>Other monetarily non-sovereign entities</b>
In the United States, a Monetarily Sovereign government, there exist many monetarily non-sovereign entities: villages, cities, counties, states, businesses and individuals. None use their own sovereign currency, so having no sovereign they:

1. Do not have the unlimited ability to create their sovereign currency
2. Can run short of currency (unlike Monetarily Sovereign governments, which cannot run short of their sovereign currency)
3. Require income in order to pay their bills (unlike Monetarily Sovereign governments, which require no income). Thus, taxing, borrowing and austerity (deficit reduction) are not necessary though for political reasons, a Monetarily Sovereign nation may borrow and levy taxes and enforce austerity."

http://goo.gl/ymq71S

Bernie has to understand that the Federal government NEVER NEEDS TO TAX OR BORROW TO SPEND. There is no need for budget trade offs as long as Congress appropriates funding. That's all that's needed for the Federal Government to complete the act of spending. Yes, an appropriation...not tax revenue.

Taxation in our system manages inflation...it drains some of the money out of our economy when it appears to be overheating.
Bernie has to understand that until the Federal gov spends its first fiat dollar as payment for goods and services, there are no funds for commercial banks to lend, or for anyone to pay the tax demanded by the state.

Bernie needs to act as if he knows these things instead of mouthing the lies about balancing the budget. Bernie needs to understand that deficit spending adds resources to the economy. Cutting spending reduces net savings in the economy and prolongs recessions.

So yah, it's great he's on the Budget Conference Committee, however, it will be tragic to have him concede to Republican demands for compromise on spending when the Federal government can never run out of its own currency.

He needs an economic adviser who thoroughly understands the concept of Monetary Sovereignty.

[uppityperson]

49. Welcome to DU. You have me curious, who did you support for pres last election? Who

do you support for the next one? Thanks.

[blackspade]

47. best news today!