CurrentTV Countdown w/ KEITH OLBERMANN - 21 July 2011: Rumors swirled around the Capitol all day of a deal that would make the benefit cuts NOW, but only vaguely promise the added revenues later.
OLBERMANN on Twitter: "On Countdown David Shuster reports budget director describes means test, upped eligibility age for Medicare, adjusted COLA for Soc. Sec. Senator Sanders says Budget Director did NOT go into that much detail, but of what he's hearing 'Sorry Mr. President, no deal.'"
SANDERS: "That is not what Jack Lew said. He was very vague about the plan... and he did not give any details. But, clearly, what concerns me is that in recent weeks what we have seen is a White House in retreat. We have seen many Democrats, people on the Gang of Six, in retreat. Democrats are talking about this so-called chained CPI, which, if you're 65 today, when you're 75 in ten years, you'll be losing $560 a year; when you're 85, a thousand dollars a year in what you otherwise would have received. We ARE hearing about major cuts in Medicare and Medicaid...
- snip-
Look, what's going on here is pretty simple. The American people have been very clear. They believe in shared sacrifice. They believe that the wealthy and large corporations should contribute, that we should make cuts in military spending, that you can't balance the budget on the backs of working families, the children, the sick and the elderly.
What has been happening for months now is that the President and the Democrats have been on the defensive, the Republicans have been saying 'no, no, no;' the Democrats and the President have given more, more, more. So, I would not be shocked that that may be the plan that they will agree to.
Obviously, that would not be acceptable to many of us in the United States Congress. We did NOT come to Congress to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and programs that working families desperately need, while the wealthiest people in this country who are doing phenomenally well do not play a role in deficit reduction."DAVID SHUSTER on Twitter: "Apologies for botching the word "specificity" on TV. ugh. Still, Dems maintain WH fine with means testing medicare, adjusting SS cola."
From New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/us/politics/22fiscal.html?_r=1&hpCongressional Democrats, who had pressed for a debt-reduction approach balanced between new tax revenue and spending cuts, expressed alarm at the emerging proposal and some vented their criticism at Mr. Obama’s budget director, Jacob J. Lew, during a heated party lunch of Senate Democrats on Thursday.
“The president always talked about balance: there had to be some fairness in this, this can’t be all cuts,” said Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, as he exited the meeting. “The caucus agrees with that. I hope the president agrees with that, and I’m confident he will.”
But the president and Mr. Boehner were moving ahead with their plan, aides said, trying to nail down questions like how much new revenue would be raised, how much would go to deficit reduction, how much to lower tax rates and how to enforce the requirement for new tax revenue from people with high incomes should Congress not succeed in overhauling the tax code in 2012.
- snip -
The White House also denied that any agreement was imminent. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said: “There is no deal. We are not close to a deal.”
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
