The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: mystery-ak on April 26, 2014, 03:19:46 pm
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-aloofness-hits-new-height-on-budget-sparks-hill-anger/article/2547714# (http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-aloofness-hits-new-height-on-budget-sparks-hill-anger/article/2547714#)
Obama aloofness hits new height on budget, sparks Hill anger
By Paul Bedard | APRIL 25, 2014 AT 1:23 PM
President Obama's refusal to write a fiscal 2015 budget in line with pre-approved spending caps and his team's take-it-or-leave-it approach with budgeteers and appropriators is angering lawmakers and threatens to undercut his second-term agenda -- even with Democrats.
Congressional sources said that since Obama submitted his budget, which busts through spending caps on defense, neither he nor his budget advisors have met with key members to spell out the administration's priorities or at least indicate what programs they don't want cut.
Instead, they said Obama is forcing them to be the “bad guys” and make cuts, said the aide of a key Obama ally. “He’s abdicated his responsibility, and now it’s up to us to clean it up,” said the aide.
For some House and Senate members of both parties, Obama’s aloof approach and dismissal of Congress has reached new levels with his budget. “He knew what he had to come in at. We had a government shutdown over the issue. And he still spent more,” said the source.
In other administrations, the president and his team have met with members of the budget committees, authorizing committees and appropriators to discuss priorities. That, said the sources, hasn’t happened in years, and now some are considering retaliating with blunt spending cuts on the president’s agenda.
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Any Dem who fights Obama on this is probably not enough of a radical leftist to fit in that party these days. Maybe Obama is culling the established "DINOs" herd from the far left, too, much as the far right is culling the current GOP herd.
Imagine how far Obama would test the boundaries of the presidency knowing both sides of congress were against his agenda. I don't see Obama as the type of president to tell the other side they won, and he'll work with them, now, as a lame duck.