Tag: Senate Republican

Senate Ends Budget Debate, Clearing Way for Passage

Senate Ends Budget Debate, Clearing Way for Passage

 
Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, spoke to members of the media on Tuesday.Alex Wong/Getty ImagesStephen Crowley/The New York TimesStephen Crowley/The New York TimesStephen Crowley/The New York TimesStephen Crowley/The New York Times

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Published: December 17, 2013 194 Comments

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan tax-and-spending plan designed to bring some normalcy to Congress’s budgeting after three years of chaos cleared its final hurdle on Tuesday when 67 senators voted to end debate on the measure and bring it to a final vote before it goes to President Obama for his signature.

The 67-33 vote easily surpassed the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster and made way for final passage with a simple, 51-vote majority, likely on Wednesday. Republican support was surprisingly strong after days of uncertainty fueled by political posturing and Tea Party opposition.

The budget plan would restore $63 billion to defense and domestic programs in fiscal 2014 and 2015 from the levels they would have received if automatic, across-the-board spending cuts were to resume in January. Over 10 years, the plan would decrease cumulative deficits slightly by trimming military and federal worker pensions, extending a 2 percent cut to Medicare providers into next decade and making other changes, like ending federal research for some fossil-fuel discovery efforts. Continue reading “Senate Ends Budget Debate, Clearing Way for Passage”

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”

Senate Reaches Bipartisan Fiscal Deal

Senate Reaches Bipartisan Fiscal Deal

Doug Mills/The New York Times

The House speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, arrived for a meeting on Wednesday morning.

By and
Published: October 16, 2013

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic and Republican leaders on Wednesday reached final agreement on a deal to reopen the government and extend its borrowing authority into February, with votes in the House and the Senate possibly to begin in the afternoon, according to aides familiar with the negotiations.

Senate Republicans have gathered for a final review, but lawmakers have given no indication they will block it. A government shutdown into its third week yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans other than some minor tightening of income verifications for people obtaining subsidized insurance premiums under the new health care law.

Under the agreement, the government would be funded through Jan. 15, and the debt ceiling will be extended to Feb. 7. The Senate will take up a separate motion to instruct House and Senate negotiators to reach accord by Dec. 13 on a long-term blueprint for tax-and-spending policies over the next decade. Continue reading “Senate Reaches Bipartisan Fiscal Deal”

Senate leaders near deal to end shutdown, raise debt limit

By Erik Wasson and Alexander Bolton – 10/15/13 06:49 AM ET

An emerging deal to reopen the government and raise the nation’s debt ceiling until February gathered political momentum Monday evening after Senate Republicans signaled they would likely support it.

Lawmakers and aides said the legislation would fund the government until Jan. 15 and extend the nation’s borrowing authority until February but leave ObamaCare largely untouched.

One senior Senate aide said it would raise the debt ceiling until Feb. 7 while another said Feb. 15 remains a possibility.

It would also establish a Senate-House budget committee to craft a replacement for the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, which would have to report its work product to Congress by Dec. 13. Continue reading “Senate leaders near deal to end shutdown, raise debt limit”

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