The major components of the debt deal are these:
IMPORTANT
STEPS TO BE TAKEN and MUST BE DONE by THESE DATES
Aug. 16-Super committee (SC) membership named by
Congressional Leaders
Sept. 14-Vote in Congress on a disapproval resolution of the
1st traunch of the increase $900 B.
Sept. 16-1st meeting of the SC (must give 48 hrs notice)
Oct. 14-Date by which other committees can report their recs
to the SC
Nov. 23-SC must report (3 days later to file a report with
min. views, supplemental views)
SC can report to the House and Senate-placed on the
Calendar- or refer it to committee(s)
Dec. 2-Placed on the Calendar (if not referred to a
committee(s)
Dec. 9-Committeee(s) must report w/o amendment If they fail
to report, motion to discharge is privileged and limited to 20 minute of debate
Dec. 23-Must vote on the SC recs.
House debate limited to 2 hours
Senate debate limited to 30 hours
(If the SC fails to report by 11/23 the joint resolution
looses it privileged status in Congress. Same is true if Congress fails to vote
on it by Dec. 23)
THREE STEP DEBT CEILING INCREASE through
December of 2012
· 10 yr spending caps
· Guaranteed Congressional vote on the Const. Amendment to
balance the budget
· A 12 member Super-committee of Congress to recommend $1.5 T
in savings
Congressional failure to find the $1.5 T in savings causes a sequester (cuts)
but.....
The sequester CAN'T touch these
programs:
Pell grants
Social Security
Postal Service
Class Act (Voluntary long-term health care benefits created in ObamaCare)
Most unemployment benefits
VA benefits
SNAP (food stamp program)
SCHIP (state children's Health insurance program)
TANF (Temp. assistance to needy families)
All "emergency designations"
All "unanticipated circumstances" (new term coined in this bill)
Congressional concessions for disaster relief
Medicare only by 2%
The sequester DOES touch these programs:
The Department of defense gets 50%
of the cuts
All other non- Defense programs not listed above get cut 48%
Medicare gets cut 2%
Most of the sequester language comes
from the Budget enforcement Act of 1985 (BBE) and pay-as-you-go from 2010.
These two budget restraints were in place and Congress was able to operate within
their parameters since the mid-1980's. How did that work out for us?
The Leaders will announce the names
of the super-committee members by August 16. Let's hope these members are
serious about reigning in our debt and won't be members of Congress from back-in-the-day
who helped get us to the point we are today with out of control spending.
This week in Congress they will
debate bills dealing with mortgage fraud and predatory lending practices. Also,
today the President will announce his plan to increase taxes by $200 Billion
dollars, which was included in the Budget resolution passed last week in
Congress. GradeGov will keep you updated as to the progress of these bills and
the announced tax increases as they make their way through the halls of
Congress.
This can be found on page 2 of the 9
page section-by-section provided by the House Rules comm. to explain the debt
deal that is now PL. The language with two former Budget committee directors. Here
is the link:
I am sad to report that the language
means exactly how it reads. The Budget Chairman Sen. Conrad and Cong. Ryan have
a deal to add $34B to the appropriations spending levels. It is Christmas in
August!
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Sec. 105. Amendments to the Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974
This section provides for amendments to the
Congressional Budget Act of
1974. Specifically, section 314 of that Act is amended to allow the Chairman of
the
House and Senate Budget Committees to make budgetary adjustments to reflect the
adjustments in spending limits. Research: Grade Gov, Radio Patriot, American Freedom by Barbara
