Majority of senators oppose deep Social Security budget cuts

[The Straight Story]

Majority of senators oppose deep Social Security budget cuts

By Jenny Mandel
[e-mail]

More than half of the Senate signed a letter urging leaders to reject proposed funding cuts to the Social Security Administration that agency officials have said could result in serious service cutbacks and a staff furlough.

Fifty-two lawmakers joined Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., last week in urging leaders and appropriators to approve SSA funding at the $9.5 billion level described in President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request.

The Senate version of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill would fund SSA administration at about $400 million less than the president's request, and the corresponding House version would trim about $200 million.

The spending bill is unlikely to reach the floor this year, meaning it will be left to the next Congress to decide on a fiscal 2007 funding level. While the letter reflected support from more than half the Senate, that may not be sufficient to ward off cuts like those in the Senate measure if an appropriations bill is taken up in the new year.

Appropriators will continue to be up against tight spending caps, and 60 votes would be required to override them. If the 51 Democrats in the 110th Senate all support an override, that would require nine of their colleagues to cross the aisle.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35564&dcn=todaysnews

[papau]

1. What happen to a continuing resolution and a supplemental in January?

There is no need to pass any of the budget bills.

There is right wing crap hidden in those bills that should not become law - like the anti-eco and anti-the poor changes that have little to do with the budget.

Let's just do a continuing resolution and then do a supplemental - the procedure has been the usual procedure ever since the GOP went to war on the middle class and on any and all Democratic values as they suck up to the rich. Indeed it is all you can do until real compromise becomes a concept the GOP is willing to live with.