GOP Congress Signing Off on Two Year Budget That Would Empower Obama

[mystery-ak]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/27/gop-congress-looks-to-push-two-year-budget-that-would-empower-obama/

by Neil Munro27 Oct 2015

GOP leaders in Congress are preparing to rush through a two-year budget that would leave President Barack Obama with roughly $40 billion in extra domestic spending, plus an unfettered ability to attack undefended conservative causes via his regulations and management directives.

Last last night, Congress released the outlines of the 144-page deal, which is slated to last until October 2017.

Leaders are “clearing the barn” of high-priority spending disputes, said Daniel Horowitz, the senior editor at Conservative Review.

But GOP leaders and legislators “are refusing to use the power of the purse” to win voters’ policy priorities, he said. They “are essentially nullifying James Madison’s plan to give Congress the power of the purse,” Horowitz added.

If Republicans “will not fight [for conservatives’ goals with] the budget… it is systematic breakdown of [constitutional] checks and balances,” he said.

In practical terms, he said, GOP politicians “are allowing Obama in his most final, most dangerous year, to do whatever he wants to transform the country.”

The New York Times’ report says the deal “frees Mr. Obama from budget battles as he looks to secure his legacy in the remainder of his second term.”

“This budget and debt deal is being brokered by a lame duck speaker and a lame duck president,” said a Oct. 27 statement from Heritage Action For America.  “It represents the very worst of Washington – a last minute deal that increases spending and debt under the auspices of fiscal responsibility. If this deal moves forward, it will undermine efforts to unite the party by those promising to advance serious policy reforms.”

The closed-door deal is being derided online as “#ZombieBudget.”

But policy passivity allows GOP legislators to sidestep many contradictory demands from their donors and voters until 2017, Horowitz said.

The passivity, he said, is “just going to pour fuel on the [populist] fire” that has put two outsiders — real-estate magnate Donald Trump and brain-surgeon Ben Carson — far ahead of established GOP politicians in the 2016 race.

GOP and Democratic leaders hope to rush the $8 trillion budget deal through Congress in less than 48 hours, denying the public—or even congressional committees—any ability to debate the nation’s largest ever budget law.

That’s good for GOP leaders, who hope to elect Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
58%
as House Speaker, Oct. 29, or as soon as the budget deal is passed, said Horowitz.

That rapid process is expected to minimize the populist blowback from the GOP’s diverse base as—once again—the GOP leadership fails to fight for their voters’ priorities, he said. So far, said Horowitz, Ryan “is either silent or complicit in it” in the back-room deal.

The budget outlined early Oct. 27:

    Would hide one hugely unpopular increase of roughly $1.5 trillion to the federal government’s credit limit — dubbed the ‘debt ceiling’ — within the larger and unprecedented two-year $8 trillion federal budget. That’s much less politically painful that undergoing two debates to pass two one-year debt-ceiling votes.
    Would provide contractors and agencies with roughly $112 billion in extra domestic and military spending until October 2017, and give legislators the ability to claim the the extra spending will be offset by future spending cuts, as far distant as 2025.
    Would spend so much money— more than $1 trillion on defense, for example — and will be rushed through Congress so fast that few voters will notice how the deal imposes aa two-year delay on the 2011 “sequestration” budget-plan that has sharply slowed the growth of federal spending since 2011.
    Would eliminate most budget debates before the next presidential election, saving incumbents from casting election-year budget votes that would annoy donors, party loyalists or swing-voters.
    Would block a sharp increase in Medicare payments due from older voters.
    Would deny Congress the “power of the purse” for two years, while leaving Obama freer to push his last-year progressive agenda via regulations and management directives. For example, Obama has used his management power to accept more than 240,000 Central American migrants since 2010.

This surrender of congressional power would allow Republicans and Democrats to shrug their shoulders every time voters protest when Obama ticks another item off his political bucket-list — Accept Muslim refugees? Offer a new type of amnesty to illegals? Impose tougher curbs on energy use? Free domestic criminals? Convert another region into national park? Reduce military standards to boost weaker female soldiers or force salutes of sex-blurring cross-dressers? Expand Obamacare?

The draft deal does not include any mention of curbs on immigrants, migrants, refugees, work permits, border, parole, or sentencing, Planned Parenthood, or Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

It would also ensure that the new president—Republican or Democrat—could not pass a big budget during their first, and most important year in office.

That provision is welcomed by both parties because it would partially offset the loss of the presidential election. It could also be good for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
51%
’s GOP Senators in the Senate, who are expected to lose their majority because many Democratic-leaning States will pick Senators in 2016.

[mystery-ak]

Ryan: Budget process 'stinks'

 By Ian Swanson and Scott Wong - 10/27/15 09:36 AM EDT

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is distancing himself from a pending budget deal ahead of his expected election this week as Speaker.

Ryan told CNN’s Manu Raju he doesn’t have a position yet on the deal negotiated by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the man he is likely to succeed.

“I'm reserving judgment on this agreement because, quite frankly, I haven't seen it yet on paper,” Ryan said of the budget bill, which was posted late Monday night.

But Ryan criticized how the deal to extend the government’s borrowing limit and increase spending came together, saying “this process stinks” in the interview televised on CNN.

He vowed to change the way the House does business and argued that it took Republicans far too long to come to a position on how to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

“Under new management, we’re not going to do business like this,” he said. “As a conference, we should have been meeting months ago to develop a strategy on this.”

It could be difficult for Ryan to oppose the budget deal, which would fund the government for the next two years.

Congress faces a Nov. 3 deadline to raise the debt ceiling and a Dec. 11 deadline to fund the government. If the budget deal falls apart, Ryan could face a major crisis the moment he takes the gavel.

At a closed-door House GOP conference meeting on Monday night, Ryan didn’t respond to a question from Rep. Curt Clawson (R-Fla.) about what he thought of the deal, according to a source in the room.

Clawson, a former business executive, told his colleagues that when he left his company he knew better than to make decisions that would harm his successor.

Then, Clawson turned to Ryan and asked him what he thought of the deal. The incoming Speaker didn't respond.

“He trashed the plan. Ryan didn't take the bait,” said a second lawmaker at the meeting. “Oh, it was hot!”

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a member of the Freedom Caucus who helped push Boehner out of Congress, upped the pressure on Ryan, issuing a statement where he said all candidates for Speaker should oppose the deal.

“Anyone who supports this legislation is complicit in supporting ‘the way things are’ in Washington. … Therefore I call on all candidates running for Speaker of the House to oppose this legislation and go on record showing they do not support this approach to governing.” Meadows said in a statement.

Boehner, holding what could be his final press conference as Speaker, defended the pact on Tuesday morning after meeting with his rank-and-file members.

“Listen, you got a bipartisan agreement in a town that isn’t know for a lot of bipartisanship,” Boehner said. “You’re going to see bricks flying from those that don’t like the fact that there’s a bipartisan agreement.”

“There isn’t any reason why a member should vote against it,” he added.

The House could vote on the budget deal as early as Wednesday — the same day Republicans are expected to choose Ryan as their next Speaker in a closed-door meeting. The full House is expected to vote for Ryan as Speaker later in the week.

Many Republicans are likely to vote against the budget deal, which Boehner negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Democratic leaders and the White House.

Emerging from a meeting of House Republicans Tuesday morning, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala) told reporters he will not vote for it.

It's "a very unfortunate way to run a democracy," he said.

Still, even conservative critics of the agreement say they expect it to pass Congress.

“I think every Democrat will vote for it and there will be enough Republicans in the conference that ultimately the deal will be passed. That doesn’t mean I agree with it,” said Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), a staunch House conservative.

Indeed, House Democrats began to line up behind the proposal on Tuesday, despite initial skepticism about the changes to Social Security and Medicare it contains.

After gathering Tuesday morning in the Capitol with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who helped negotiate the agreement, even the most liberal lawmakers suggested they would back the proposal.

"My biggest concern was how it was going to treat Social Security disability," said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, "and the questions I got answered so far have allayed some of my concerns.

"So I'm going to keep studying it," he added, "but at this point I don't have any fire alarms going off."

Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, didn't hesitate a moment when asked if he'll support the deal.

"Yes," he said. "Because we worked hard on it."

The proposal is also getting buy-in from Senate Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) formally threw his support behind the plan, saying it would “address priorities that help the middle class and helps us avoid a major threat to jobs and the general economy."

"Democrats and Republicans have come to a responsible agreement to put the needs of our nation above the Republicans' partisan agenda," Reid said.

The drumbeat of support is perhaps loudest from the White House, where an official said the two-year agreement passes President Obama’s “key tests” of lifting spending caps, known as sequestration, while shielding Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries from "harmful cuts."

"We urge members of Congress from both parties to take the next step and pass a budget based on this agreement," the official said.

This story was updated at 12:18 p.m. Alexander Bolton, Mike Lillis, Jordain Carney and Jordan Fabian contributed.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/258188-ryan-says-budget-process-stinks

[Longiron]

Well at least the TRUMP haters on here should be happy for once. BARRY got what he wanted from the RINOGOP and luv to support those people. 

[Bigun]

I just had a LONG exchange with my congressman's Chief of Staff over this. It did not end well!

[Scottftlc]

In today's American government, Congress is for ornamental purposes only.