Tag: Marco Rubio

Key Support For Budget Deal; Deficits Would Rise

by The Associated Press

December 11, 2013 5:13 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — A newly minted budget deal to avert future government shutdowns gained important ground Wednesday among House Republicans who are more accustomed to brinkmanship than compromise, even though it would nudge federal deficits higher three years in a row.

There was grumbling from opposite ends of the political spectrum — conservatives complaining about spending levels and liberal Democrats unhappy there would be no extension of an expiring program of benefits for the long-term unemployed.

Yet other lawmakers, buffeted by criticism after last October’s partial government shutdown, found plenty to like in the agreement and suggested it could lead to future cooperation. The plan was announced Tuesday evening by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and quickly endorsed by President Barack Obama. Continue reading “Key Support For Budget Deal; Deficits Would Rise”

Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal

Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal

Published December 11, 2013 FoxNews.com

Conservative groups pushed back hard against the proposed federal budget agreement announced Tuesday, arguing that the tentative deal unravels hard-fought spending cuts.

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis, the lead negotiators on the agreement, detailed the specifics of the proposal at an evening press conference.

The proposal would restore about $63 billion in funding that had been cut by the so-called sequester. Officials said the increases would be offset by a variety of spending reductions and increased fees elsewhere in the budget totaling about $85 billion over a decade, leaving enough for a largely symbolic deficit cut of $23 billion over the next decade. Continue reading “Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal”

Conservatives balk at budget deal

Conservatives balk at budget deal

By: Ginger Gibson
December 10, 2013 07:03 PM EST

Jeff Sessions is pictured. | AP Photo

‘I don’t think anything is a sure deal in the House or the Senate,’ Jeff Sessions said. | AP Photo

It’s a familiar tale: Negotiators strike a fiscal deal, conservative lawmakers express resistance, conservative groups threaten primary opposition and headaches ensue for Republican leadership trying to get something through Congress.

It happened during the fiscal cliff. It happened during the government shutdown. And the same elements are starting to appear, possibly creating a repeat scenario as a budget deal takes shape.

As Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) were only a few hours from announcing a budget deal Tuesday night that would replace some of the sequester and set spending levels for the next two years, conservatives concerned about the debt already are starting to sound alarms — specifically about busting the so-called caps under the sequester that set spending levels at $967 billion for the remainder of fiscal 2014 under the Budget Control Act. Many conservatives view the sequester cuts as harsh but necessary. Continue reading “Conservatives balk at budget deal”

UPDATE 4-U.S. budget deal could usher in new era of cooperation

Reuters

UPDATE 4-U.S. budget deal could usher in new era of cooperation

Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:30am IST

* Democrat Murray, Republican Ryan announce two-year accord

* Approval could quell government shutdown threats

By Richard Cowan and David Lawder

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – A bipartisan budget deal announced in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, though modest in its spending cuts, would end three years of impasse and fiscal instability in Washington that culminated in October with a partial government shutdown.

While praised by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the agreement faces a challenge from some House conservatives and will require support of the minority Democrats to pass.

The backing of President Barack Obama, who also hailed the agreement as “a good first step,” should help round up votes of his fellow Democrats. He urged Congress to quickly pass it.

Obama and most congressional leaders long ago abandoned talk of larger but increasingly elusive “grand bargains” that would significantly slash the nation’s deficit. Continue reading “UPDATE 4-U.S. budget deal could usher in new era of cooperation”

Capitol Leaders Agree to a Deal on the Budget

The New York Times
December 10, 2013

Capitol Leaders Agree to a Deal on the Budget

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
House and Senate Reach a Budget Deal: The agreement would raise military and domestic spending over the next two years but prevent another government shutdown.
 
By

WASHINGTON — House and Senate budget negotiators reached agreement Tuesday on a budget deal that would raise military and domestic spending over the next two years, shifting the pain of across-the-board cuts to other programs over the coming decade and raising fees on airline tickets to pay for airport security.

The deal, while modest in scope, amounts to a cease-fire in the budget wars that have debilitated Washington since 2011 and gives lawmakers breathing room to try to address the real drivers of federal spending — health care and entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security — and to reshape the tax code.

For a Capitol used to paralyzing partisan gridlock, the accord between Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, was a reminder that even fierce political combatants can find common ground. Mr. Ryan praised the deal in the most elementary terms as a way to “get our government functioning at its very basic levels.” Continue reading “Capitol Leaders Agree to a Deal on the Budget”

%d bloggers like this: