Senate Votes to Set Aside 'Cut, Cap and
Balance' Plan Proposed by House GOP
Published
July 22, 2011
|
FoxNews.com
AP2011
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid of Nev., speaks to reporters following the Democrats' weekly policy
meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 19, 2011.
The Senate on Friday voted
to "table," or kill, a House Republican proposal to "cut, cap and
balance" the budget
that Majority Leader Harry Reid
called the single worst piece of legislation ever to hit the Senate floor.
The House Republican
"Cut, Cap and Balance" (measure) is now over. It's done, dead,"
Reid said after the 51-46 vote.
With its defeat, lawmakers
are still looking for a deal to cut federal spending while raising the nation's
$14.3 trillion debt ceiling. The Obama administration says the limit must be
increased by Aug. 2 or the country could default on its loans or otherwise be
forced to shut down services.
The Democratic criticism of
the plan, which would require a Balanced Budget Amendment to be voted on after
cutting federal spending and capping the amount Congress could increase future
expenses without corresponding cuts, infuriated GOP members who say it is exactly
what President Obama
asked for in a debt deal.
"The Democrat-led
Senate's failure to both produce a budget and pass the Cut, Cap, and Balance
Act of 2011 underscores the Democrats' irresponsible commitment to the status
quo," Sen. John Cornyn,
R-Texas, said in a statement after voting for the bill. "While the president
and Senator Reid refuse to produce a plan to deal with our debt crisis,
Republicans will keep working to meet the nation’s fiscal challenges."
"Senate Democrats have
defied the will of the American people who overwhelmingly support real spending
cuts, caps on future spending, and a balanced budget to create a better
environment for private-sector job growth," House Speaker
John Boehner said.
"Republicans are
standing with the American people and, as I’ve said before, will not pass a
bill that fails to cut spending by more than it increases the debt limit,
restrain future spending, or that raises taxes on families and job
creators," Boehner, R-Ohio, continued.
About 50 House Republican
freshman associated with the Tea Party
movement attended the Senate vote. They were among the drivers of the
legislation in the House.
With Friday's vote over,
senators quickly moved to vacate the floor. Cars were waiting outside to whisk
members to airports to take flights home.
Though the Senate was originally scheduled to be in session, Reid, D-Nev.,
noted that would not be the case and no votes would be taken before Monday
afternoon.
Reid said that the session
wasn't necessary because Obama and Boehner were working on a compromise
measure. He said he understands the plan addresses both taxes and revenue, and
therefore must originate in the House, giving the Senate no reason to work.
That deal -- built off the
plan from a month ago to reduce U.S. spending by $4 trillion over 10 or 12
years --- was said to include $3 trillion in spending cuts with promises of tax
reform in the next year.
The White House and speaker
have vociferously denied that a deal was done. But Boehner, speaking to
reporters before the Senate vote, expressed his dedication to continue, calling
himself "a happy warrior" even though he denied that an agreement was
at hand.
"There was no agreement, publicly, privately or
nowhere," he said, adding, "It's going to be a hot weekend here in
Washington, D.C."
Another person hot about
the talks was Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.. Speaking Friday before the
Senate vote, Feinstein expressed her anger about not knowing the numbers of a
deal. Feinstein, who rarely loses her cool, said she lost it on Office of
Management and Budget Director Jack Lew on Thursday, because Lew would not say
whether there was a deal at hand, even though the newspapers were reporting
progress.
Feinstein said she would
"venture a guess" that about 20 million people in her state benefit
from Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid and veterans benefits, and they need to know what the coming
cuts are.
"I represent a huge
state where huge numbers of people are dependent on us," she said.
"We always knew what was going on (with Presidents Bush and Clinton). None
of that (information) is available to us now, and that's not good. ... It
doesn't help you build a team."
Sources close to the budget
talks in Washington told Fox Business Network that the emerging Obama-Boehner
deal will likely incorporate a major gimmick to count more than $1 trillion in
budget savings over the next decade -- winding down the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq. The wars were being wound down anyway, but by assuming the costs of the
wars continue at current levels for a decade, Obama and Boehner can claim $1
trillion in savings. The headline number would also add hundreds of billions in
interest savings on the so-called war savings.
Further, the deal could
allow modest changes in entitlements, such as replacing the inflation measure
used in Social Security, but would otherwise extract little in savings over the
next 10 years from the real drivers
of the long term fiscal crisis, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/22/senate-votes-to-set-aside-cut-cap-and-balance-plan-proposed-by-house-gop/#ixzz1SqzseVbw
