GOP vs Obama's Bi-Partisan Congressional Meeting: Tax Cuts Or White House Gimmicks?

Tax Cut Battle Looms Over Bipartisan Summit As Obama Looks For Reset With GOP


President Obama, at a face-to-face meeting Tuesday with bi-partisan congressional leaders, will have his first chance since his party's Election Day "shellacking" to reset relations with congressional Republicans and potentially crack the impasse over the Bush tax cuts.

The White House dialed down expectations ahead of the summit, which had been postponed from earlier this month. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs described the meeting, which could last an hour or more, as "the beginning of a conversation" and predicted participants would not emerge with a "full agreement" on the tax cuts.

But with the cuts set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts -- affecting just about every taxpaying American -- Gibbs said Obama "absolutely" does not want to see taxes rise for the middle class.

"And if others in Congress don't want to see that, then ... we're going to be forced to make a series of decisions that prevent that from happening. That's going to be the basis for and the beginning of those conversations starting tomorrow," Gibbs said.

The meeting will be the first post-election test of whether the White House and the incoming Republican House majority are able to find common ground on virtually anything.

Republicans and Democrats agree that taxes should not rise on the middle class -- the sticking point is whether the wealthy should be included in that extension.

Republicans want the tax cuts extended for everybody. Democrats originally called for taxes to rise on those households making over $250,000 a year -- some Democrats have since started talking about increasing that salary threshold to $1 million a year.

Obama, who proposed a two-year federal pay freeze Monday, said that he hopes the sit-down Tuesday will mark "a first step toward a new and productive working relationship."

But the White House did not prescribe a compromise Monday, and top Republicans so far have shown little sign of budging.

The official blog for House Republican Leader John Boehner, in line to be the next speaker of the House, slammed Democrats on Monday following reports that they were standing by a partial tax increase.

"All this dithering and doubling-down only validates the American people's repudiation of Washington and politicians who refuse to listen," the blog said, urging Congress to "stop all the tax hikes and start cutting spending."

As for the possibility of only raising taxes on those making above $1 million, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a written statement to The Washington Post that any tax increase is a "horrible idea."

Still, he said, "it's not too late for both parties to work together." Some have said a temporary extension for the wealthy is possible.

Despite the drama over the tax cuts, the agenda for the lame-duck session of Congress is much broader. Gibbs said the ratification of the arms reduction treaty with Russia known as START is the other top item on the table for Tuesday's meeting.

And Congress is tasked with belatedly approving the fiscal 2011 budget or face a shutdown, and it must decide whether to extend long-term jobless benefits and repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays from serving openly in the military. Democrats also want to push a bill that would give some young illegal immigrants a path to legal residency provided they attend college or join the military.

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said the tax cuts debate could easily become a "game of chicken" between the two parties. He predicted that Congress would ultimately extend the tax rates for the middle class, but questioned whether the critical debate over the burden on the wealthy would spill into next year.

"Hopefully, tomorrow's meeting will come to some agreement," he said.


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Sources: Fox News, White House, Youtube, Google Maps

Michael Steele Challenges Obama To Veto Ominbus Spending Bill

Last weekend the U.S. Senate passed a $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill.

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U.S. Senate passes $1.1 trillion Spending Bill


The Senate passed a huge end-of-the-year $1.1 trillion omnibus spending measure Sunday afternoon by a vote of 57-35.

The chamber was forced to work for the second consecutive weekend after talks broke down late Thursday to move the massive spending package and Republicans continued to filibuster it. Senate Democrats overcame the opposition Saturday when the Senate voted 60-34 to end debate and clear the way for a final vote.

The bill, which includes $447 billion in appropriations for a number of cabinet departments and $650 billion for Medicare and Medicaid, combines six of the 12 annual spending bills Congress had been unable to pass separately because of Republican concerns that the measure is over-inflated and exceeds the cost of inflation in its government budget increases.

Republican fiscal hawks Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), as well as centrist Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), were among the Republicans who voted against it. Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.) voted against it while GOP Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.) voted in favor of it.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele reacted to passage of the omnibus bill by calling on President Barack Obama to veto it.

“Poll after poll have made it clear that this kind of irresponsible and excessive spending is unacceptable, but Democrats simply aren’t getting the message," Steele said. "Now the American people are looking to President Obama to stand true to this campaign promises of fiscal responsibility and stage an economic intervention on his spend happy colleagues by vetoing this bill. I encourage President Obama to stand firm against the peer pressure and ‘just say no’ to Congressional Democrats.”

Right after the vote, the Senate was expected to return to legislation to overhaul the healthcare system, with the goal of wrapping up work before the Christmas-week recess. Chances for reaching that goal, however, dimmed last week when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) failed to reach agreement on a proposal to vote on four healthcare-related amendments at the end of the week.

The House voted Thursday to approve the half-dozen spending bills lumped into one package. That bill passed 221 to 202, with 28 Democrats joining all 174 Republicans present in opposing it. Republicans griped that the measure was too large and introduced late in the week to avoid public scrutiny, especially considering the nearly 5,000 earmarks worth $3.9 billion it contains.

The package includes the bill providing federal funding for D.C., the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill; the Commerce-Justice-State bill; the Labor-HHS-Education bill; the military construction-Veterans Affairs bill; and the State-foreign operations bill.

The only measure excluded was the bill funding the Pentagon. Leaders deliberately left it out so they could use it for a vehicle for other high-priority items the House would like to turn to this week. If Congress fails to pass the defense-spending bill by the end of the week when the current continuing resolution funding the government expires, it will have to pass an extension.

Democratic leaders will likely tack on all or part of the job-creation package Obama has requested, as well as an increase in the federal debt limit. Democrats also would like to pass a six-month extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits.


Sources: The Hill, MSNBC, Politico

$446.8 Billion Omnibus Spending Bill Clears The Senate

GOP Couldn't Stop Senate Spending Bill


Aided by Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, the Senate tied up some loose ends Saturday when Lieberman cast the crucial 60th vote that helped Democrats put an end to a Republican filibuster on an immense end-of-year spending measure. The bill will boost budgets at the Education and State Departments, among others.

The $1.1 trillion bill, which will be the subject of a final vote Sunday afternoon, finishes off the majority of the year's budget work, with only a Pentagon spending bill remaining. Republicans Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Richard Shelby of Alabama, and Susan Collins of Maine all crossed party lines to advance the bill, while Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri voted "no."






$446b Senate bill clears hurdle

A $446.8 billion omnibus spending bill cleared a last major hurdle Saturday even as Democrats and the White House struggled to find the votes to expand Treasury’s borrowing authority to finance the growing national debt.

Three Senate Republicans joined Democrats in mustering the 60 votes needed to cut off debate, and the leadership hopes to complete action Sunday, sending the measure onto President Barack Obama for his signature.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) is determined to next finish a long-delayed Pentagon budget bill before Christmas—the last major piece of the 2010 budget. Earlier suggestions that defense may be held back have been rejected. But with that train moving forward, House and Senate Democrats admit privately that internal divisions could force them into a short-term interim solution in financing on the debt.

It is the third weekend of the last four that the Senate has been in session, and Saturday’s Senate roll call stretched for more than an hour as Democrats called in their members to get to 60. “Shabbat Shalom” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, greeting photographers at the Capitol after walking from his home because of the Jewish Sabbath.

The underlying bill, impacting more than a dozen Cabinet departments and major science and regulatory agencies, continues a steady escalation of domestic appropriations, which have seen double-digit growth rates for many agencies under Obama.

It has often resembled a double-time forced march after the appropriations process largely collapsed in the last year of the Bush Administration.

In less than a year’s time, the president will have signed not just his $787 billion stimulus bill but two omnibus packages covering both 2009 and 2010. The Departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services, for example, will have gone from about $145 billion — as of last winter — to $163.5 billion for the coming year, a 13% increase worth $18.4 billion.

In the same time frame, much of the accumulated debt now facing the government is still owed to the economy and a structural deficit in place long before Obama took office. But the president’s aggressive spending makes him a target and threatens to split Democrats even as he must hold his party together behind healthcare reform.

The timing could not be more difficult. Treasury is fast approaching the point where it will have exhausted its borrowing authority to manage these liabilities. As part of the spring budget resolution, the House authorized a $925 billion increase in the current $12.1 trillion debt ceiling, but this has stalled in the Senate, and both chambers realize they will have to go back to the well again before the 2010 elections.

This has led to a proposal by the leadership to double up its efforts and in a single stroke raise the ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion to put the issue behind lawmakers before going before the voters.

It’s a mind-boggling number for many. “We used to think in billions,” complained Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona in Saturday’s floor debate. “Now we’re talking trillions and it’s just being tossed around as if it’s nothing.”

As first outlined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D—Md.), the leadership’s intent is to attach the debt measure to the same $626 billion defense measure that Inouye wants to see approved before the holidays. Included in that budget is about $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; Democrats were betting that this would create enough political momentum to carry the day — even with the debt provision attached.

But moderates in both chambers are anxious, and given the competing pressures to add jobs-creation funds and other year-end priorities, the ambitious debt strategy is at risk of collapse.

Vice President Joe Biden has stepped in, with Hoyer and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D—Ill.) taking the lead for their respective chambers. But if a deal is to be salvaged, it could demand more hands-on involvement by the president to bridge differences in his party.


Sources: The Daily Beast, Politico

GM's Bankruptcy Filing: Sad Day For Free Enterprise Or Opportunity To Re-Emerge Successfully? Pres. Obama Elaborates

MSNBC

The Top 10 U.S. Largest Bankruptcy Filings:

GM’s filing for Chapter 11 protection is the fourth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and the largest for a U.S. industrial company. Here are the top 10 U.S. bankruptcy filings, according to BankruptcyData.com, with the date of bankruptcy and the company’s assets:

1. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Sept. 15, 2008, $691.06 billion

2. Washington Mutual Inc., Sept. 26, 2008, $327.91 billion

3. WorldCom Inc., July 21, 2002, $103.91 billion

4. General Motors Corp., June 1, 2009, $91.05 billion

5. Enron Corp., Dec. 2, 2001, $65.50 billion

6. Conseco Inc., Dec. 17, 2002, $61.39 billion

7. Chrysler LLC, April 30, 2009, $39.30 billion

8. Thornburg Mortgage Inc., May 1, 2009, $36.52 billion

9. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., April 6, 2001, $36.15 billion

10. Texaco Inc., April 12, 1987, $34.94 billion

WASHINGTON - General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, brought down by years of missteps and lost opportunities that dragged an American industrial icon to its knees.

President Barack Obama said the federal government would act as a reluctant caretaker of what was once the world's largest automaker and vowed a well-managed GM would emerge swiftly from the bankruptcy process as a profitable company.

“I recognize the importance of a viable auto industry,” Obama said at a press conference at the White House following GM’s bankruptcy filing. He said a collapse of GM would have been “devastating” for the U.S. economy and added that the government-led bankruptcy plan was “tough but also fair.”

The Obama administration plans to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government — for the price tag of about $50 billion in taxpayer money.

GM’s bankruptcy filing is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. The company said it has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets. The largest ever was Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Sept. 15 bankruptcy filing, followed by Washington Mutual Inc.’s bankruptcy filing 11 days later. WorldCom Inc.’s 2002 filing ranks third.

“The General Motors board of directors authorized the filing of a Chapter 11 case with regret that this path proved necessary despite the best efforts of so many,” a company statement said. “Today marks a new beginning for General Motors. ... The board is confident that this New GM can operate successfully in the intensely competitive U.S. market and around the world.”

Speaking at news conference in New York, where GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, GM's CEO Fritz Henderson said the new GM will be a leaner and quicker company that's more focused on its customers and its products.

Henderson said the new GM will be built from the strongest parts of its business, including its best brands and best products.

As it reorganizes, GM will rely on $30 billion of additional financial assistance from the Treasury Department and $9.5 billion from Canada. That’s on top of about $20 billion in taxpayer money GM already has received in the form of low-interest loans.

Warranties uninterrupted

The Detroit automaker said warranty coverage, service and customer support will continue uninterrupted, plants will continue to make cars and trucks, and employees and essential suppliers will continue to be paid. GMAC Financial Services said in a statement that it will continues to provide automotive financing to GM and Chrysler dealers and customers, and the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said workers' pension plans remain safe.

GM will follow a similar course taken by smaller rival Chrysler LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in April. A judge gave Chrysler approval to sell most of its assets to Italy’s Fiat, moving the U.S. automaker closer to a quick exit from court protection, possibly this week.

The plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new GM. The Canadian government would take 12.5 percent, with the United Auto Workers getting a 17.5 percent share and unsecured bondholders receiving 10 percent. Existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out.

Albert Koch, who helped Kmart Corp. through its Chapter 11 reorganization, will serve as GM’s chief restructuring officer.

Administration officials said they expect the bankruptcy court process to last 60 to 90 days. If successful, GM will emerge with a smaller work force, fewer plants and a trimmed dealership network.

"Our goal is to help GM get back on its feet ... and get out quickly," Obama said of the federal government.

GM revealed Monday that it will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others.

The Pontiac, Mich., and Wilmington, Del., assembly plants will close this year, while plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Orion, Mich., will shut down production but remain on standby. One of the idled plants will be retooled to build a small car that GM had originally planned to build in China.

Seven powertrain and parts stamping plants will be closed starting in June 2010, while an additional stamping plant will be idled but remain in a standby capacity.

Chrysler Chapter 11

GM’s filing comes 32 days after a Chapter 11 filing by Chrysler, which also was hobbled by plunging sales of cars and trucks as the worst recession since the Great Depression intensified. Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing now ranks seventh with $39.3 billion in assets.

The sale to Fiat means Chrysler could be out of bankruptcy within the government’s original timeframe of 30 to 60 days. Chrysler’s plan gives a 55 percent stake of the new company to a union-run trust for retirees. Fiat gets a 20 percent stake to Fiat that can ultimately grow to 35 percent. The U.S. and Canadian governments get smaller pieces.

The third of the one-time Big Three, Ford Motor Co., has also been stung hard by the sales slump, but it avoided bankruptcy by mortgaging all of its assets in 2006 to borrow roughly $25 billion, giving it a financial cushion GM and Chrysler lacked.

Ford issued a statement Monday saying it "remains absolutely committed to continuing to make progress on our transformation plan without accessing emergency taxpayer assistance from the U.S. government."

GM will move forward with four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — and cut four others. The company plans to cut 21,000 employees, about 34 percent of its work force, and reduce the number of dealers by 2,600. GM said it was finalizing a deal to sell Hummer, and plans for Saturn are expected to be announced within weeks.

“There is still plenty of pain to go around, but I’m confident this is far better than the alternative,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. “It’s a new beginning, it’s a rebirth, it’s a new General Motors.”

Republicans disagreed. "Does anyone really believe that politicians and bureaucrats in Washington can successfully steer a multinational corporation to economic viability? It's time for the administration to fully explain what the exit strategy is to get the U.S. government out of the board room once and for all," said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

GM, whose headquarters tower over downtown Detroit, said it believed the filing was not an acknowledgment of failure, but a necessary way to cleanse itself in an orderly fashion of problems and costs that have dogged it for decades.

GM shares fell as low as 27 cents in Monday morning trading, their lowest price in the company’s 100-year history. The News Corp. unit that oversees the Dow Jones industrial average said GM will be kicked out of the index on June 8 and be replaced by Cisco Systems Inc. The index’s rules prohibit it from including companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy filing represents a dramatic downfall for GM, which was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, who brought several car companies under one roof and developed a strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose.” Longtime leader Alfred P. Sloan built the global automaker into a corporate icon.

GM first sought help from the Bush administration and Congress last year as it was in the midst of being staggered by $30.9 billion in losses and seeing its cash resources shrink by more than $19 billion.

Consumers, worried about the economy and the future of GM, shied away from the company’s cars and trucks even after President George W. Bush promised loans and Obama followed through with billions more in assistance — plus a stiff set of new requirements GM was ordered to meet.

When GM failed to do so by a March 31 deadline, Obama forced out CEO Rick Wagoner and replaced him with Henderson.

Wagoner served at the helm since 2000 and was the face of GM when he first flew on a company jet to ask Congress for aid. After a firestorm of negative publicity, Wagoner rode in a hybrid Chevrolet Malibu from Detroit to Washington for a second set of withering questions before lawmakers.

(MSNBC reports on GM's Bankruptcy filing.)

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(President Obama elaborates on GM's Bankruptcy filing and explains the Government's role in this process.)

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Sources: MSNBC, Bankruptcydata.com, Day Life, Reuters, Google Maps

President Obama Places Wasteful Federal Spending on the Chopping Block!

With Bi-Partisan help from Senators John McCain (R) and Carl Levin (D), President Obama has pledged in his most recent weekly address to the nation that he will soon begin the arduous task of cutting millions upon millions of dollars wasted in Ineffective Government programs.

He states there will be "no sacred cows or pet projects spared" in this venture of enforcing Federal Fiscal Responsibility.

This includes "Pet Projects" (Porkulus) that have benefited many Congress Members and State Legislators for decades from Lobbyists.

Hint, Hint: Much like several of the lawmakers from North Carolina.

However notice he didn't say anything about cutting programs which were established to help enrich the lives of the American citizens across the board regardless of their socio-economic status or ethnicity such as:

Unemployment Benefits, Pre-School Funding, Head start Funding, After school, Medicaid, Medicare, Pell Grants, Student Loans, Food Stamps, Foreclosure or Loan Modification help, Job Training, Illiteracy Prevention, G.E.D. Assistance, Legal Aid, Fair Housing, Public Schools, Title I Funding, Medical Research, Mental Health/ Counseling, Foster Care/ Adoption Assistance, Child Care Assistance, Broadband Internet for Rural areas, Ex-Offender Re-Entry, Voting Rights Education, Teen Pregnancy Prevention/ Family Planning, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Senior Citizen Meals, Urban Planning for Inner Cities, Affordable Health Care, Health Care Reform, VA Benefits, REAL Disabilities Rehabilitation, High Speed and Light Rail systems, Green Energy, Weatherizing Homes, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, IRS Debt Settlements, Federal Whistle Blower Protection, etc.,

Good for you President Obama!

We appreciate you looking out for the future of our children and grandchildren.

President Obama's Weekly Address.

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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Washington Post, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, Flickr, WRAL, Charlotte Observer, democracy-nc.org