Uh Oh! Quease time - Republican budget hawks boost Obama’s bipartisan deficit panel

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/107395-gop-hawks-boost-obamas-fiscal-panel
Republican budget hawks boost Obama’s bipartisan deficit panel
By Walter Alarkon - 07/07/10 06:00 AM ET

A White House commission tasked with winding down trillion-dollar deficits has won a boost from Congress’s leading GOP budget hawks, who say it is off to a strong start.

Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republicans on the House and Senate Budget committees have praised a proposal by the fiscal panel’s Democratic co-chairman, Erskine Bowles, to limit government spending and revenue to 21 percent of gross domestic product.

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Fourteen of the commission’s 18 members must approve recommendations before they can be sent to Congress for up-or-down votes. And since the panel includes six congressional Democrats, six members chosen by Obama and six Republicans, at least two GOP lawmakers must sign on to the final agreement for it to advance. Obama wants the commission to report out recommendations by Dec. 1.


Bowles and Obama have said that “everything is on the table” when it comes to the commission’s work.

Now, where did all this up-or-down bs crap come from? Why are the Senate and the House not supposed to openly debate the recommendations of the Commission? Is this supposed to provide cover? get the dirty work done fast on a Friday afternoon right before the holidays and AFTER the elections?

[xchrom]

1. This is the kind of support Obama likes.

What can you do?

[NoNothing]

2. To answer your question

This is a tactic that Congress takes when it finds it necessary to make decisions that are beneficial overall, but will be very unpopular for some members of Congress. It's a way to avoid the "prisoner's dilemma." They did the same thing with the military base closings. This way, the members who would oppose it for their own states can deflect blame onto the commission, and at least argue that the decisions were not politically biased on arbitrary factors like congressional seniority or log rolling.

[glitch]

4. I don't think "beneficial overall" even comes close to what's happening here. nt

[NoNothing]

5. Both the Obama administration

And the majority of Congress believe it would be beneficial to reduce the deficit. The problem is how to get there from here.

[BurtWorm]

3. Throw the bums out!! They're wasting our money!!

:grr: