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Politico...
Barack Obama faces
new budget pressures
By David Rogers
2/7/11
As key senators met Monday evening on a bipartisan deficit reduction
plan, President Barack Obama faced increased pressure to articulate a
strategy for himself and his party, already so edgy about spending cuts
that many Democrats seem prepared to ignore the consequences for policy.
Indeed, Obama and House Republican leaders share this much in the
coming budget wars: Both are racing to catch up with the train. And
just as the president must contend with panicky Democrats, Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio) faces tea party freshmen wanting to more than double
the $32 billion in reductions now proposed by the GOP for the last
seven months of this fiscal year.
Wednesday’s House Republican conference will be a first test of just
how powerful these demands are. But some observers believe that if the
House were to stay close to the $32 billion range, Republicans might be
able to push through the package in the Senate, where Democrats face
their own deadline for action in March.
As now drafted, the House bill promises pro-defense lawmakers in both
parties stable funding for the military — not unlike what Democrats
proposed in December as part of their own omnibus measure. And while
the domestic spending cuts are deep and controversial, Senate Democrats
voted by a 2-1 margin just last week in favor of an amendment cutting
$44 billion from unobligated funds to pay for a small-business-backed
amendment to the health care law.
All of these cuts, however disruptive, are dwarfed by the $1.5 trillion
deficit projected for this year. And with the Treasury expected to
exhaust its borrowing authority by the end of May, this has spurred
bipartisan efforts to resurrect the recommendations of last year’s
presidential debt commission.
“Getting something actually accomplished around here is very, very
hard,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told
POLITICO prior to Monday’s meeting. “But there are really serious
efforts under way. That’s for sure.”
Read the full story at Politico:
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