If Kent Conrad supports the Deficit Commission’s recommendations does that make those recommendations ‘bipartisan’? I don’t think it does. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that that commission couldn’t come up with recommendations that can win bipartisan support. The two parties disagree too much. For me to support the report, I’d need to see either Dick Durbin or Jan Schakowsky supporting it. They aren’t. I like the hardship exemption for the raising of the Social Security retirement age and I support doing away with preferred tax rates for capital gains and dividends. I think a 15-cent hike in the gas tax is a good idea, and I like this (at least in theory):
…the report recommends a legislative trigger that would raise taxes automatically unless a comprehensive overhaul is approved by 2013.
But, the proposal focuses too much on public sector benefits and not enough on the costs of private sector health care. It lowers corporate taxes and income taxes on the rich at a time when they owe all of us for the carnage they produced in our jobs markets and retirement security.
We need some kind of deal to address the structural budget deficit. I was willing to wait an see what the commission produced before I dubbed it the ‘Catfood Commission.’ But I am not impressed with what they produced. It’s not something I would vote for. So, I can’t endorse it.
Booman these are pretty crazy times right with the talk of deficits, likely extension of the tax cuts for the rich, and inability to pass START, unemployment benefits and raise the debt ceiling. Right now, the worst case scenario for each is looking reasonably likely. You’ve been one of Obama’s most ardent supporters on the blogosphere- is there any scenario with respect to these and other items on the agenda right now that will cause you to lost confidence in the President (of course we all support dems, since the GOP is insane so please udnerstand that’s not what I’m getting at). Seems like the blogosphere is particularly unfriendly to Obama right now (even Josh Marshall is disgusted right now by how Obama is continually outplayed politically) and yet I haven’t heard a resounding defense from the usual suspects like you and Al Giordano.
You raise some good points. The left blogs seem to be going through a phase of Obama hasn’t pulled the rabit out of the hat and so he has failed.
The end of the year isn’t here yet and it is too soon to say if legislation will pass.
There’s a lot of crystal ball reading going on. Obama will betray the left etc. and he will gut Social Security.
The Food Safety bill passed. That took over a year as it waited for the Senate to stop blocking it. Didn’t hear much about it in the blogs.
Which is precisely why I come here- because Booman seems to have his head on straight and rightly points out successes like the food safety legislation. But I’m interested in finding out from Booman where the limit is- and maybe there isn’t one- maybe no matter how bad the deals Obama cuts are, we all have to act like adults, grit our death and go out there and focus on the significant accomplishments of the Obama administration. But I’m getting the sense that what comes next from the Obama administration may be so vile that even Booman and Al Giordano, at the very least, won’t be writing posts criticizing FDL and others as not understanding washington, how change happens, etc. Now, I’m not expecting Booman to pen a “Obama lost me” type post, but I would greatly appreciate his insight, since I’m having my own existential crises with the Obama adminstration right now.
It is not law because it is a bill involving taxation, and it did not originate in the House, which per Constitution it must. So, the entire bill is null and void, and the amount of time spent on it entirely wasted, and now the House W&M Committee Dems are annoyed at the Senate Dems. So nothing will pass.
What a clusterfuck. These guys are idiots. Who is the parliamentarian in the Senate, who keeps track of bills? Not only did they omit the severability clause in the Health Care Bill but now this OBVIOUS and TRANSPARENTLY CLEAR violation of constitutional order.
Amazing.
The key person to watch is not Conrad but Durbin among the Congress members. And among the outsiders, it is Andy Stern.
Their votes on the report more than any other will show how deep the betrayal really is.
The final report is no better than the Chairs’ mark. And in some respects worse.
Tax cuts for the rich and tax hikes and pay freezes/cuts for the middle class. About par for Washington. The best government money can buy.
If that passes and is signed into law, I am not supporting Obama. I don’t give a fuck about anything else. Allowing the huge tax cuts to remain for the rich is not acceptable, for a short period, a long period, or any period.
It’s sobering, to say the least, to contemplate this whole package eventually being implemented. But tell me, did I miss something? Is this anything more than a spin vehicle right now? It’s not even a congressional committee, it’s just a panel, and a pretty biased one at that.
Instead of talking about the worst-case scenario, let’s talk about the best-case scenario. You like a couple of the recommendations. So they can be incorporated into the eventual bill and they can be truthfullycredited to the wisdom of this panel. Remember how Obama is always saying he wants ideas from the Republicans?
There was a tidbit I read elsewhere that said something like this:
-Since the commission didn’t pass a final report, nothing will be voted on by Congress. Additionally, Harry Reid had said that the Senate would vote on the commission’s recommendations ONLY in the event that the commission produced an actual bill with legislative langauge. Since the commission did not do so, there’s nothing to vote on.
Where the problem lies with this commission is the ideas they’ve put on the table will appear down the road in future budges. Since Conrad has endorsed the report and chairs the Senate budget committee, he’ll toss a few nuggets in to the next budget.
All told, it’s more failure we can believe in.
I cannot endorse it for the reasons you identify. But the even more important question is why the media and political elite are even discussing deficit reduction as if it were the primary problems facing our nation when our unemployment rate is nearly 10%, economic growth remains anemic, and nearly 100,000 home foreclosures are occuring every year. As a progressive, those are much bigger priorities to me than addressing long term deficits.
Sorry, dumb question here, but, “Catfood Commission” is yours? It’s been making the rounds.