Congress and White House Near Deal on Budget: cuts to Medicare and Social Security Disability

[hill2016]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/us/politics/congress-and-white-house-near-deal-on-budget.html

While congressional aides cautioned that the deal was far from certain, and the Treasury Department declined to comment, officials briefed on the negotiations said the emerging accord would call for cuts in spending on Medicare and Social Security disability benefits.

“We have worked assiduously to protect the privacy and confidentiality of those discussions,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, because the negotiators have been operating under the principle that no single item would be agreed to until every issue under discussion had been settled.

My guess is that this was leaked by either side to blow up this deal. Now good luck getting anyone on either side to vote for the deal.

[djean111]

1. Wish I was surprised. n/t

[arcane1]

2. But $80 billion is available for the next generation of bombers.

We suck.

[hill2016]

3. the current fleet of

strategic bombers was designed and built half a century ago.

Would you drive in a car that old?

[arcane1]

5. Yes, I would. 25 years isn't that long. 747's are even older.

Besides, how much bombing do we really need to do?

[hill2016]

7. yeah but

these plans are twice that old.

The whole point of having a strategic bomber is as a deterrence not to actually bomb anyone. Just like the submarines. If you have to use them they have already lost their purpose.

[arcane1]

13. We seem to have a very effective deterrence already.

Outspending our allies and enemies combined. Not to mention thousands of nuclear missiles that can reach any point on the globe.

[hill2016]

16. that's only

one leg of the nuclear triad.

In a nuclear exchange you want to preserve your capacity for second and even third strike capabilities.

[hifiguy]

19. Why?

Most of the human race will be incinerated in the first one or two rounds.

I suppose someone has to fight to the end to be King of the Ash Heap of The Dead and we wouldn't want that not to happen, would we?

[hill2016]

23. probably not true.

many nuclear weapons will be sent after military targets such as nuclear launch sites, aircraft carriers, command and control nodes, etc. Others will be sent to knock down incoming nuclear-armed planes. You'll be sending multiple missiles to the same target.

True, people in big cities would probably get killed first (DC, NY, etc).

But what kills most people is probably the nuclear winter.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

10. I'm against the cuts

But FYI, half a century is 50 years, not 25.

[arcane1]

12. D'oh! So it is!

[Adrahil]

20. Modern kodels of the 747 have changed a lot from the original. Nt

[zipplewrath]

6. B1-b, B-2, and the B-52

I think you're thinking exclusively of the B-52. There are two others in the fleet. Admittedly, both of those are in the 30 year category. The current plans have the B-52 lasting until 2040.

[hifiguy]

18. This is the fact.

And just who are we planning for nuclear war with, anyway?

[KeepItReal]

25. We are still flying B-52 and B-1 bombers in bombing campaigns

The B-2 Stealth Bomber is a baby by comparison.

We don't need another $Trillion F-35 boondoggle.

The Pentagon needs to prove they can source a viable, mission capable weapon system at a reasonable price first.

[former9thward]

32. As someone who used to do it, I know the bombers are maintained

far, far better than cars are. And 50 year old cars are fine if they have been maintained.

[yeoman6987]

4. I want specifics before saying what we spend money on.

[Victor_c3]

22. It's all about priorities

There aren't parades and holidays for people who take care of our populations.

Could you imagine having a mattress sale on a holiday called "SSDI appreciation day"? That doesn't sound even close to patriotic by my book.

If you hate bombing and destroying other countries (and great deals on mattresses) then you obviously hate America!



(I hope I don't need to add the sarcastic smiley to this)

[workinclasszero]

28. And the Air Force is buying 400000 dollar

Helmets. There's a post about that in GD.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. A deal that cuts spending on Medicaid and SS disability needs to be blown up. n/t

[zipplewrath]

9. Tax Cuts?

There's so much here that's not said. The GOP always wants tax cuts. Can there really be any sort of agreement without some sort of tax cut?

[gratuitous]

11. And once again, the nation's wealthy are spared!

Hosannas ring out from the Upper West Side to Beverly Hills!

[abelenkpe]

14. +1000

[Vinca]

15. Break out the Fancy Feast, Grandma.

[workinclasszero]

29. I prefer kibbles and bits

eom

[Jim Lane]

31. At a chain grocery store, house brand is usually cheaper than Fancy Feast. (n/t)

[hill2016]

33. I always buy

house brand if there's one available.

[Jim Lane]

34. You'll be well prepared for retirement if this deal goes through. (n/t)

[Vinca]

37. My vet, who shops at the same supermarket I do, told me never to buy their house brand.

He said Fancy Feast is fine. You might think he's got stock in the FF company or something, but his clinic sells the higher priced pet foods so it wasn't like he was trying to make a buck off me. Apparently he has some experience with cats not getting the correct nutrition from the house brand at this particular store.

[hifiguy]

17. The Catfood Commission will yet

wind up getting its way. But there are always more hundreds of billions for the MIC.

[LongTomH]

21. I know Bernie will come out against this! It's up to us to make sure people hear what he has to say

The media will all dance around this issue.

[Downwinder]

24. The NRA can take up the slack

and send a gun to everyone on SSDI.

[randys1]

26. System is broken, nothing will surprise me anymore. No one person being elected or not

elected is gonna fix it anytime soon.

[PatrickforO]

27. Secrecy and betrayal of the American people.

[ruffburr]

30. Are they-

Going to supply cyanide tablets or just let people starve and freeze to death when they can't afford rent or food, To say these Republican politicians are complete Assholes is quite possibly the biggest understatement ever made! Spoiled narcissistic entitled self aggrandizing moronic Assholes.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. Thanks Obama

[tweetybird]

36. increasing denials of ssdi

How can more increasing medical exams save the government 5 billion? It sounds to me that even if SSDI benefit amounts are not cut, the increase in medical exams would result in more denials for initial claims as well as possibly in a continuing disability review. If the doctor doing the review is one that is contracted by the social security administration there will probably be more denials. This disturbs me as with some disabilities there can be good and bad days and what you look like on the outside doesn’t tell the whole story.