White House Deficit Talks Coming Apart At The Seams

WASHINGTON -- The White House's proposed deficit talks with Congress appear to be unraveling before they've even begun.

House and Senate Republican leaders announced Tuesday that their sole appointees to the May 5th meeting would be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)--neither of whom are budget leaders and both of whom function largely as political mouthpieces for their party. GOP leaders also each opted to send only one appointee, instead of the requested four, to the meeting.

"I remain skeptical that the administration will take this effort seriously, especially after it all but ignored its previous debt commission and President Obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming to consider minimal spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year," Cantor said in a statement.

"A serious effort to get our fiscal house in order is sorely needed, however, which is why I believe this commission should commence with a clearly defined target and purpose, under a time frame to produce that result -- so that it doesn't end up in the graveyard of previous commissions that failed to improve our nation's finances."

At the same time, some Democratic sources said their own party's picks for the meeting aren't as credible as they could be. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) only named a total of four appointees instead of eight: Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Assistant Democratic House Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.). But it's not the numbers that are the problem.

Pelosi's picks for the talks make the meeting "look silly" because Van Hollen and Clyburn "are just going to do what Pelosi wants, and she's not interested in compromise," said a senior Democratic aide. "The picks for this task force all reflect a lack of seriousness."

Obama called for the bipartisan talks during an April 13th address on fiscal policy and announced that Vice President Joseph Biden would take the lead. During his speech, the president bashed the House GOP budget proposal put forward by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and said he would not accept more tax breaks for the rich at the expense of entitlements. Ryan, who was seated in the audience during the speech, later called Obama's remarks "excessively partisan."

GOP leadership aides say there is nothing fishy about their picks for the White House meeting. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said Republican leaders were "just trying to be efficient" by sending two appointees instead of eight; he called the White House's original proposal of 16 members "unwieldy." Boehner spokesman Michael Steel declined to comment on why Cantor was tapped instead of Ryan.

Kyl has played a role in past negotiations with the White House: He was the top negotiator for Senate Republicans in the tax-cut talks with the White House in December. But Kyl threw up several roadblocks to passing the START treaty as part of the tax deal--a top priority to Obama--and the final deal was finally hatched privately between Biden and McConnell.

Reid and McConnell both passed over members of the Senate's "Gang of Six" for the deficit meeting. That group has been working for months on its own deficit-reduction plan and has grumbled about the White House moving forward with its fiscal plan without factoring in the work the group has done.

The first meeting is set to take place at the Blair House, where a bipartisan group of lawmakers met with Obama for a largely unproductive health care reform summit in 2010.

Comments

[drshirl]

08:08 AM on 04/22/2011

Harry and Nancy like to make all the decisions just like the dictators they are.

[daikon]

07:59 AM on 04/22/2011

It is wonderful news that the negotiations are failing. Any so-called negotiations that take place under the shadow of a Repub threat not to raise the debt ceiling would not be legitimate negotiations. The outcome would be predetermined, and the Repubs would win much more than the Dems.

The Dems must scrap any negotiations that are aimed at placating the Repubs. Raising the debt ceiling is non-negotiable. Negotiating with thugs making threats would be a cave-in of the most craven kind. Any talks about reducing the defict and national debt must be completely decoupled from the the separate question of raising the ceiling. The moment the Dems begin pleading with and imiatating the Repubs, the game follows the Repubs' rules and will end in a disaster.

The only way to sincerely and realistically reduce the deficit is to follow economically sound policy, not policy driven by ideology (Ryan et al) and electoral strategy (Obama). Pelosi, Reid, and others must clearly and decisively call the Repubs' bluff. If the Dems are not serious, the Repubs will see through them and be unimpressed. Only if the Dems make it crystal clear that they will absolutely not cave in to extortion and political thuggery will the Repubs take their refusal seriously and back down. If the Repubs know the Dems are 100% serious, they will not dare to refuse to raise the ceiling unilaterally. Wall Street would punish them severely, and American voters would not tolerate their unpatriotic bullying tactics.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

06:55 PM on 04/21/2011

The deficit can be cut down, and my plan is simple. Serious, deep cuts to programs we do not need now are mandatory. NASA must be put on hold until we can undo the mess we have. Going after Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Rove for war crimes, BP, Black Water, Wall Street, freezing those assets, ending this war for oil, yes ending medicaiade, but offering single payer as an alternative using resources that are already in place. Ending oursourcing of jobs, exportd and imports to china, pakistan, mexico, we can bring jobs and wages back to the people while making us less dependant on the middle east for oil. If we make the kinds of changes now, we can be on a long road to recovery. If not and we play games, everyone loses.

[indjoe]

05:20 AM on 04/21/2011

The best thing is just too just stop talking too
all the republican altogether, and watch them fall
apart as people start seeing how they are gutting
the american stander of living.

[daikon]

07:12 AM on 04/22/2011

Absolutely! Fan! Thank you for saying this. Too many Dems are falling for the WH propaganda and the pretty rhetoric in Obama's speech and naively believing that budget cutting in the midst of a recession will help the economy, but it won't. Just look at the worsening recession in Britain after the Tories cut the British budget. Cutting budgets in a recession is a form of punishment inflicted on the middle class and poor to make them pay for the gambling and misdeeds of the financial class. The Dems are supporting the plutocracy. These budget talks must be called off immediately. It's time to face down the repubs instead of caving in.

Both of these budget-cutting plans (though the Repub one is worse) will lower the standard of living and actually *raise* the deficit. This is a trap being set by the Repubs, and Obama, by trying to act as a Repub.lite and slashing programs that are helping the economic recovery, is walking right into the trap. It would stop the recovery, and he would lose much of his base with this move to the right, and conservatives will never vote for him, no matter what he does.

Pelosi needs to stand up and tell Obama, "No more preemptive caveins to the Repubs! Let them not raise the debt ceiling. If they stupidly don't, it will destroy the Repub party for ten years." And it would. If Obama caves, it will destroy the Dem party instead.

[drshirl]

08:10 AM on 04/22/2011

If you are so smart - why arn't you rich? .....John Maynard Keynes

[REDTARA3704]

06:09 PM on 05/17/2011

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YES AND I LOVE WATCHING THE GOPERS FALL APART, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[dieselis]

11:31 PM on 04/20/2011

No one wants to redirect our nation back to sensible management. It is completely understandable since things haven't been managed sensibly in 35yrs. Jimmy Carter was the only president to go after the budget deficits with an axe and look what the Federal Reserve Banking Corporation did to his administration. 20% interest rates and he's labeled the worst president of the last 50yrs,well second worst. Carter was green vegetables and no one apparently wants to eat their green vegetables. He took an axe to the military budget and was labeled weak. Well there's nothing weak about pulling the brass out of $20,000.00 Lincoln Town Cars and making them drive $5500.00 Chrysler K cars. Canceling the B1 Bomber program which Reagan quickly refunded and every other military whim you could think of yes,the brass got their $22,000.00 Lincolns back. Ronald Reagan is hailed the best president of all time however, all anyone has to do is crunch the numbers and its clear he was the beginning of the end with run away deficits that didn't matter. The trouble is they did matter and that was the time to address the problem not 20 something years later. Then you elect a Black President and he fowled it all up in 2years. Everything is his fault and the GOP the slick grinning Cheshire cats that they are have enough believing it to turn the tide in their favor.We have no real Statesman to stand for whats right.

[Sarah Elizabeth Duran]

09:07 AM on 04/21/2011

Would we as America be able to recognize a "real Statesman" if we saw one? I am watching a news report on the styrofoam cups that are used in the cafeteria on Capitol Hill, and it is all about pointing the finger at Democrats or Republicans..."who's fault is it?". All the time with the blame game. Like 2yrs old blaming each other for running in the house and ignoring the broken vase. I think we are too worried about where the blame lies to be able to see any individual making a stand on what's right. I feel it's hopeless... I'm moving to Nicaragua ;-)

[faultroy]

10:51 PM on 04/21/2011

I agree it is a bipartisan problem, but don't feel hopeless. While it is messy, a lot is getting done. And I honestly believe our country will be the better for it. Your children and grand children will thank you.

[daikon]

07:59 AM on 04/22/2011

I sympathize with you. Both Ryan's and Obama's plans are failures. They will backfire by hurting the economic recovery and reducing revenues, thus actually increasing the deficit and national debt. Obama's advisors are mostly Wall Street insiders, such as Geithner and Daley, who believe that if Wall Street has recovered we don't have to worry that much about unemployment or the poor recovery for most of Main Street. Therefore Obama's proposals are basically the same as the Republicans', though less draconian and with a bit of taxation on the rich -- something, however, that he's caved in on before.

Please don't feel hopeless! If you have time, google and take a look at the People's Budget recently proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It was defeated in the House by the Repubs, but it has a Main Street-first orientation instead of the Wall Street-first orientation that the Repub plan and the Obama plan generally have. If enough people read this people-first budget, they would see that there is a practical way to reduce the budget without making as many cuts, a way that a majority of Americans might support if the msm would report on it properly.

[Malik Skyy]

10:38 PM on 04/20/2011

Cantor is a funny guy, the way he claims that they had to drag Obama kicking and screaming to have him publicly address debt reduction. Obama’s strategy was to stand clear and watch republicans do what republicans do best--opened mouth and insert foot. You are now about to witness the raft of the seniors. for your viewing pleasure pop corn is recommended.

[LibRule]

10:05 AM on 04/21/2011

I see yopu are laughing as much as I am. They thought they were Winning (you should say this like Charlie Sheen does) getting the Ryan budgt through largely unscathed. Wait until the public fully comprehends just what they want to do! They will lose their old white voters (and that is most of the tea party), all of the true fiscal conservatives (who won't stomach tax cuts for the rich) and be left with only social conservatives-at which point the green party could probably elect more representatives. This is going to get funny.

[ktomas]

08:36 PM on 04/20/2011

Good for 'em; all this talk about bi-partisanship was a load of nonsense anyway. Let the fur fly!

[Stephen Babin]

10:38 PM on 04/20/2011

Obama keeps trying to work with the Republicans don't cooperate & are stubborn.

[wdw808]

10:41 PM on 04/20/2011

good for them

[daikon]

08:14 AM on 04/22/2011

Spot on! Fan! You can't negotiate with terrorists and bullies. It only leads to even more extortion threats. There would be no end to Repub demands if the Dems negotiated with a threat to bring down the world economy being used as a bargaining chip. Throw the bums out. If the Dems just say No!, there's no way the Repubs will refuse to raise the debt ceiling. They'd be hanging themselves with their own noose. Let them swing.

Mr. Obama, the preemptive cave-ins end NOW! If you want to keep caving in again and again and really believe America wants to reelect a cowardly leader who won't with his actions stand up for the middle class or for the core values and commitments of his party, then please step down and run as an Independent and let a Dem who can say No run as the next Dem candidate.

[Randolph Greer]

08:34 PM on 04/20/2011

Both parties want to take their positions into the 2012 election. For Democrats, this is a great strategy! And Republicans in the states think they can steal the election from the Democrats by election fraud . Both sides are confident of victory ! Why in the hell negotiate ?

[Stephen Babin]

10:42 PM on 04/20/2011

The Republicans have made it clear with Ryan bill that they want to help make the rich
richer & screw the rest, especially the poor & senior citizens & students & sick
& lower middle class.

[wdw808]

10:42 PM on 04/20/2011

agreed

[Satchamosowner2000]

06:54 PM on 04/20/2011

It's called, "Re-arranging chairs on a ship that's going down." Lol!

[68Namvet]

07:16 PM on 04/20/2011

Yes - and with the republicans going around opening up the portholes that are under water to get more fresh air!

[trespanieli]

05:17 PM on 04/20/2011

Oh, like we didn't see this coming!

[drshirl]

08:12 AM on 04/22/2011

Wait until gas is $5.00 - $6.00 (or higher) by the end of the year. There will be a revolution against the WH. Betcha.

[LazarusRises]

05:12 PM on 04/20/2011

Eliminate ALL of W./O.'s tax breaks & reduce the deficit by $400B per year.
Increase max rate for top 2% to 51%, reducing deficit by $300B.
End all 3 wars & save over $200B.
Cut Defense back to 2000 levels + an adjustment reflecting inflation during the last 11 years. Save approximat­ely $300B.
End corporate welfare for oil, corporate agri businesses & gasohol & save $100B or so.
Increase corporate tax $300B per year so corporatio­ns pay approximat­ely as much of total tax revenue as they paid in 50s-60s.

That amounts to virtually the entire deficit. Leaves the government intact & with some fine tuning, we can begin to reduce the debt & rebuild our infrastruc­ture. The approach can be somewhat flexible to provide some stimulus or anything else. However, unless we bring the deficit under immediate control & punish companies which export jobs rather than reward them, we are destined to become poorer & poorer & see our middle & lower income classes become corporate slaves.

It is less than pointless cutting $38B by cutting all Social & Safety mechanisim­s to save the rich from paying historical­ly fair tax rates.

[68Namvet]

07:09 PM on 04/20/2011

Excellent - F and F'd As I have said:

First, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Immediately withdraw ALL troops from both countries. Maintain air and satellite surveillance and a small (no more than 5,000 member) special forces strike group for short duration operations to destroy any found Al Qaida training or operations bases.

Second - close 90% of the over 1000 military bases worldwide - and reduce the forces of the remaining bases by 90%. (Seriously - would we be any less likely to attack - say North Korea - if they attacked 4,000 troops as opposed to the 48,000 we have there now?)

Third, cut the defense budget by at least 50% (making us spend more than the other top five industrialized countries defense budgets combined instead of over 44% of all nations combined). This would return between $3.5 to 4 trillion to the U.S. treasury in the next decade.

Forth - invest $2 trillion in infrastructure building in this country, and use the remaining $1.5 to 2 trillion to pay down the debt.

Fifth - Audit the FED. Close the FED. Have the Treasury and Congress take over their Constitutional requirements to control the U.S. money supply.

[68Namvet]

07:10 PM on 04/20/2011

And:

At some point, we are going to learn that HIGHER tax rates drive more economic growth than lowering taxes.

Simply put, in today's economic times, with historical­ly low taxes, there is little or no incentive for corporatio­ns or wealthy individual­s to shelter their incomes with re-investm­ent into their businesses or portfolios­. If you look at history, the greatest economic growth of the nation came when marginal tax rates were much higher than today's. In Eisenhower­'s time, the marginal income tax rate topped at 91% - and growth was good. Under Bush (the lessor) it was reduced to 35% and growth was non-existe­nt.

It's a simple idea really, either you put your excesses back into the business, re-invest, hire more people and produce more, or you lose your money to taxes. And, since we're talking about marginal rates, the tax only applies to what you make over say $1 million or $10 million - other than that - you pay as does everyone else.

This is history. It worked well under Eisenhower - at 70% it worked well under Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter - Reagan began raising rates on the middle class and reducing top rates to 50% - and the redistribu­tion of wealth began. It's time to reverse this trend while we still have some modicum of a middle class left.

[dhinds]

07:46 PM on 04/20/2011

Run for Congress.

[LazarusRises]

08:31 PM on 04/20/2011

Thank you for finally answering!!! I have been repeating this for some time. It is not really that complicated. This is a rough sketch. It can be amended anyway you want to provide for funds to begin paying down the debt & rebuilding our infrastructure.

[Dogwithoutaleash]

05:01 PM on 04/20/2011

"I remain skeptical that the administration will take this effort seriously..."

Translation: He is not doing it our way, so that means he is the one not taking it seriously.

[Left on Red]

05:05 PM on 04/20/2011

It is the Greed Over Principle Party who isn't taking things seriously. One of their two delegates is Jon "Not meant as a factual statement" Kyl. And the other is the sniveling whiner Eric Cantor.

Nothing more needs to be said.

[TimeMaster]

05:00 PM on 04/20/2011

The talks are not coming apart, they are going ==> Nowhere.
"I remain skeptical that the administration will take this effort seriously, especially after it all but ignored its previous debt commission and ... consider minimal spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year," Cantor said in a statement.
What's needed is a letter writing grassroots effort to tell these "Idiots" to just sit down and make a deal. They act as if it is a "you win - I lose" if any side gets something the other side doesn't like or agree to. Does anyone else think this is silly, childish and unproductive for the country?
Another example of you get what you vote for, I want to see college diplomas, or at last a GED for most of these guys. They don't even have the sense to stay on track for more than a week.
Why not hold a lottery or random drawing and send 5 people from each party to work out a deal, since the ones selected don't know what they are doing anyway. If that doesn't work, just go to a local daycare and get a few toddlers to work out the final compromise. It would probably end up with better results than these elected oafs.

[edejan]

05:38 PM on 04/20/2011

Haha...faved.

[Kachina Lively]

04:17 PM on 04/20/2011

I Will Say It, Again! ASK AMERICANS how they wish to spend their tax dollars! Take it out of the hands of those corrupted by self~interest, Corporate Interest & Foreign interest! American money must be spent on US! Our systems & infrastructures are falling apart. We are losing brillance & genius due to the cost of education. Men, women & children are homeless, hungry, jobless or dying due to no insurance or money. Yet, our Government continues sending & spending billions to foreign regimes that hate Americans. What is wrong with our Politicians? Have they abandoned US, too?

[edejan]

05:39 PM on 04/20/2011

They are totally disconnected from the people who elected them. Once they get to Washington, they become part of the "in" crowd that throws money at them for their votes. They only remember their constituents when elections are coming up. It's time we voters wised up.

[littleblackcat]

05:41 PM on 04/20/2011

Of course.

The politicians do not care what happens to the people. They are interested only in their own welfare and since the system is now structured so only the rich can run for office, the rules are put into place so the rich get the benefits and the rest of us get spit on. (Change that second letter to a consonant found earlier in the alphabet, if you like.)

Until the people collect their courage as the Egyptians and the Libyans have done, and overthrow the corruption in this nation's political system, nothing is going to change.

[FatFeline]

04:07 PM on 04/20/2011

The talks came apart the moment Obama decided to make his deficit speech an election speech.

[Left on Red]

05:06 PM on 04/20/2011

Please, as if the sniveling whiner Cantor doesn't put himself out there every day to bash anything and everything the administration does.