Reid confronts Obama budget director on possible debt-ceiling deal

[chill_wind]

Reid confronts Obama budget director on possible debt-ceiling deal
By Alexander Bolton - 07/21/11 07:12 PM ET


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) confronted White House budget director Jack Lew during a Thursday afternoon meeting about secret talks on a deficit-reduction deal between the president and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

“I’m the Senate majority leader — why don’t I know about this deal?” Reid demanded as soon as the budget director walked into the historic Mansfield Room for a meeting with Senate Democrats, according to a lawmaker who witnessed the exchange. Reid has told Democrats and Democratic allies that he did not have any of the details of a reported $3 trillion deficit-reduction deal coming together between Obama and Boehner.

Lew shot back: “If there’s a deal, then the president doesn’t know about it, the vice president doesn’t know about it and I don’t know about it.”

Senate Democrats grilled Lew about whether the president was holding side talks with Obama, according to a source who attended Thursday’s meeting.

Lew was somewhat evasive in his answer, leading some Democrats to conclude that Obama is conducting backchannel talks with Boehner.


more:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/172895-reid-confronts-obama-budget-director-on-possible-debt-ceiling-deal

[yourout]

1. If he keeps going down the road he is on.....his own party may turn on him.

He seems to be daring us to primary him.

[David Gill]

2. Poison pill?

Nate Silver supposed: "Uninformed guess: today's #debtdeal rumor was a poison pill brought to you by a high-ranking Democratic congressman."

[TheWraith]

6. Well, when the facts keep continuously and massively contradicting the rumors...

That makes a certain sense. After all, how many times so far have we heard that they were REALLY close to a deal, were going to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, etcetera, then the talks broke down and we found out that they weren't even remotely close to such a deal?

[KittyWampus]

20. What does that mean in this context please "poison pill"? I'm not arguing. Sincerely interested

[Ruby the Liberal]

"about whether the president was holding side talks with Obama"

How very Freudian.

So President Obama is having side negotiations with Candidate Obama? Perhaps the latter can talk some damn sense into the former.

[chill_wind]

5. !

:-) I just saw that too.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Obama pulled this shit last Nov/Dec too. They cut "deals" behind everyone's back then put...

...pressure on the rest of the Democrats in the House and Senate to follow through. Nancy Pelosi along with many others didn't even know that Social Security cuts were on the table till she read about it in the media.

President Obama has his own little fucked up thing going on and while he's got no problems confiding in the likes of Boehner, he doesn't seem to quick to show his hand to his own party- until it's time for them to vote for it, that is.

A rather Imperial approach which has not gone down well for quite a while now...

PB

[Lorien]

11. Just like BushCo; drag it out , create a false sense of crisis, then ram it through

the House and Senate. We've seen this movie before, and it's one that ends very badly for us.

[ProSense]

14. "pressure on the rest of the Democrats in the House and Senate to follow through."

It's a good thing Obama doesn't have a spine!!!

[mzmolly]

19. Lieberman said no to the public option and we didn't

have the votes.

[chill_wind]

4. Related:

Growing number of House Dems want Social Security off the table
By Mike Lillis - 07/21/11 06:57 PM ET

Sixty-two lower-chamber Democrats – roughly a third of the caucus – endorsed a letter to Obama Thursday urging his opposition to an extension in a cut to the payroll tax, which funds the popular seniors benefit.

The lawmakers fear that such a cut “may be used as the first step in a larger battle to fundamentally dismantle Social Security.”

more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/172893-growing-number-of-house-dems-want-social-security-off-the-table

[arcane1]

7. "whether the president was holding side talks with Obama"...?

:shrug:

[KelleyKramer]

12. I think he meant Boehner instead of 'president', but...

if you take the quote as printed, that would mean Obama is negotiating with himself

Oh the irony!

[tnlefty]

8. Senate Democrats grilled Lew about whether the president was

holding side talks with Oba, according to a source who attended Thursday's meeting. What am I missing here?

:wtf:

[chill_wind]

15. edit- wrong place

[ashling]

9. "president was holding side talks with Obama" ?

" whether the president was holding side talks with Obama"

that must be some bubble! :rofl:

[chill_wind]

16. LOL.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. But, but, we are supposed to take their word that none

is on the table. This exchange, if true, tells me all I need to know.

[ProSense]

13. Reid is our only hope to

counter evil Obama and his twin:

"Senate Democrats grilled Lew about whether the president was holding side talks with Obama, according to a source who attended Thursday’s meeting."

Damn MSM!

:rofl:

[chill_wind]

17. Senate Democrats ‘Volcanic’ Over Deficit Deal Rumors (Roll Call)

By Meredith Shiner
Roll Call Staff
July 21, 2011, 6:07 p.m.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), a 24-year veteran of the chamber, called Thursday’s biweekly party luncheon “volcanic,” and others said the session was one of the most unpleasant in 20 years.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/senate_democrats_volcanic_over_deal_rumors-207575-1.html?pos=hftxt

A Senate leadership aide contested the notion that Thursday’s meeting was unpleasant.

“It was lively,” the aide said, adding that much of the frustration was directed at Lew and not at other Members. “Democrats were united in their message to the White House that any deficit deal must include revenues.”

Although it was easy to gauge the temperature of Senate Democrats, who were in the same place when reports of the Obama deal surfaced, it’s less clear how House Democrats received the news.

House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen said he had not heard of a deal struck Thursday afternoon, but he added that there had been a “meeting of the minds” about doing something larger.

“There are a lot of people who were very skeptical about whether that would happen, but I think both sides remain focused on that even as discussions about Plan B” continue, the Maryland Democrat said.

House Democratic aides said that given the composition of their Caucus, if Senate Democrats were upset, it is likely their colleagues across the Capitol would be doubly so.

[mzmolly]

18. “If there’s a deal, then the president doesn’t know about it...."

“If there’s a deal, then the president doesn’t know about it, the vice president doesn’t know about it and I don’t know about it.” ~ Lew's response.

So who the heck is leaking information about supposed deals?

[Cali_Democrat]

21. Obama is conducting back channel talks with Boner without Democratic congressional leadership

What a fucking nightmare this is.

[chill_wind]

22. All we know is Reid and Pelosi

are sounding totally out the loop right now.

Pelosi as of noon today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1539707&mesg_id=1539813

Hope 5:30 pm meeting cleared some things up.