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Budget-debt deals from 1995 & 1997

Government show-downs of 1995 and 1997

In 1995, under the leadership of Speaker Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Dole, the “Contract with American” pledged to cut spending and lower the rate of government spending. This lead to a fall, 1995 show down between the GOP Congress and President Clinton on the appropriations process and the debt limit increase. President Clinton vetoed appropriations bills because they cut too deeply or the rate of increase in spending was too low. The main political point made by the President were the cuts in Medicare part B premium and environmental programs. At the same time, the national debt limit needed to be increased. Congress held the debt limit legislation hostage. They threatened not to pass it until the President started signing the appropriations bill. Ultimately they passed a debt limit extension but added provisions for lower spending and a seven-year balanced budget plan. President Clinton vetoed the debt increase bill. The debt increase bill he vetoed was to extend borrowing authority through Dec. 12, 1995.

Treasury Sec. Rubin moved money from other funds to avert a borrowing crisis.

Ultimately, the Congress was able to come to an agreement on the debt and the government spending bills in late Jan. of 1996 lasting into March of 1996. Several government shut-downs occurred including furloughing employees within federal government agencies and departments. The final deal was agreed to in March to keep unfunded departments going and to raise the debt ceiling. The agreement allowed for a freezing of spending levels and a path to a seven year balanced budget plan.

In an effort to show the American public that the President was willing to move to the right, President Clinton said in his State of the Union address on Jan, 27 of 1996, “the era of big government is over.”

In the radio address from Jan. 27, 1996 during the major negotiations with the President on the debt, Sen. Judd Gregg (D-NH) said the following: “America has always offered the next generation more than the preceding generation. This is our tradition. Thus it is wrong—immoral, really—to be borrowing against our children’s future.”

In 1997, during the next debt show-down between Congress and the President, Speaker Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Lott were the main players. This began in the spring of 1997 when the debt needed to be increased again. Because of the sore feelings from the last negotiating round in late 1995 and 1996, the leaders were very suspicious of President Clinton and his advisors. As a result, the members of Congress took extra care to write the legislative language that resulted from the deal. The deal was basically agreed upon in mid May, 1997. However, the legislative language wasn’t created and voted on until the summer of 1997 and ultimately signed into law in Aug. of 1997. The debt deal was almost unanimous with the Senate passing the debt increase by a vote of 92 to 8.

Congress after the mid-terms

Now that the dust has mostly settled from Tuesday’s mid-term elections, Congress is starting to roll up its sleeves and begin to deal with the myriad of issues that face the two-legged lame duck session of Congress. The Reid/Pelosi lead Congress has scheduled the first leg of the lame duck session to convene Nov. 15 and the second leg will convene Nov. 29. The lame duck session has so much legislation to consider, it’s hard to know where to begin.

It is important to discuss a few dates to watch in Congress. On the morning of Nov. 16 the Senate Democrats and Republicans will elect their leadership for the 112th Congress. No real changes are expected to occur. Senator Reid (D-NV) will retain his seat as the Senate Majority Leader and will lead the new Senate with 53 democratic members. Senator McConnell (R-KY) will retain his role as the Senate Minority Leader with 47 GOP members of the Senate. The week of Nov. 15 will also include orientation for the 13 +/- new United States Senators. The House Republicans will elect their leadership on Nov. 17 and the House Democrats will do the same on Nov. 18. This will allow us to know by week’s end who will be leading the Congress next year. Speaker Pelosi has announced she will seek the top post for the House Democrats again, only this time the top post will be the Minority Leader. She as a few announced opponents in Cong. Shuler (D-NC), Cong. Boren (D-OK), Cong. Larson (D-CN), Cong. Clyburn (D-SC) and Stony Hoyer (D-MD). In Speaker Pelosi’s letter announcing her intention to seek the top post, she touts the accomplishments of the Reid/Pelosi Congress. She lists Health care reform, Wall Street Reform and restoring fiscal discipline to Congress by making “Pay as you Go” rules the law of the land. However, what her letter neglects to mention is because the “pay go” rules allow for so many big ticket items to be excluded from the rule, the Reid/Pelosi Congress was able to rack up about $3 Trillion in deficit spending.

While the Leadership elections in both parties of the Senate and the House GOP will mostly be votes of acclamation, the Pelosi announcement might pose a serious divide within the Democratic Party. This divide could also spill over into the work that will need to be done during the lame duck session of Congress. The leadership elections will take place during the same week that negotiations on major tax provisions, unemployment benefits and funding the government must be solved. Also during the same day as the House democratic leadership elections, the President has called a White House meeting being dubbed the “slurpee summit.” This is a White House meeting calling for the top four leadership posts in the House and Senate to attend. The President has extended the invitation to Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), John Boehner (R-OH), Harry Reid (D-NV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). This meeting could be a bit uncomfortable; especially if the House Democratic leadership elections are as contentious has they look to be on paper.

Stay tuned for next week’s piece which will outline the laundry list of legislative items the Congress must tackle during the upcoming lame duck session. Also see how the House leadership elections are playing out and if they are effecting the behind the scenes negotiations as far as legislation that needs to be considered during the two-legged lame duck session.

(Source: gradegov.com)

You have power no one is telling you about

You have power that no one is telling you about. It works this way. Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid are planning to call Congress back in session AFTER the November elections. This rare Lame Duck session will be called so they can try and pass Immigration, Cap ‘N Trade, tax increases, Card Check…just to name a few. They hope the session will be a real “doozie”. You see, even if you vote your Member of Congress out of office in November, he/she still keeps the job until Jan., 2011.

But………there are 6 U.S. Senate seats that are different. They are the seats where appointed Senators were selected to fill vacancies like the one created when Pres. Obama won. They are CO, DE, FL, IL, NY & WVA. The state election law in each of these states (except NY) says that once the Nov. elections take place the winner of the Senate race becomes the Senator right away, and doesn’t wait until January to be sworn-in.

So……….your vote on November 2 could change the next Congress, but also could effect what happens in the Lame Duck session. If you are voting in 1 of the 5 states where they currently have “Special Senate seats” you will be making history with the power of your vote. Tell your friends and family that vote in the states of Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois and West Virginia about their unique opportunity.

Watch this 90 sec video on the lame duck session:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWBYpI8yv-Y

Keep the Faith!

GradeGov

Does Congress deserve the “hat trick” award…………NOT!

This 111th Congress is preparing to break records in ways that could make a grown man cry…………………..tears of disappointment.

First, this Congress has decided for the 1st time in the history of Congress passing Budget resolutions not to pass one, not even through at least 1 body of Congress. Without a Budget resolution, the Members of Congress have no spending restaints………….HUM…………..does this sound like a good idea to you?

Second, this Congress may decide not to pass ANY of the 12 regular appropriation bills on the House floor before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. They are looking to pass a CR or Continuing Resolution. This process simply extends the current bills for a period of time at the current spending rate. These  12 appropriations bills fund the entire Federal Government, broken down into the various Departments and Agencies. Without floor debate on these departments and agencies, how can Members of Congress know if the money the Government is currently spending is working……..HUM……..this doesn’t sound so good to me.

Finally, the Congress has been temporarily exending expiring authorization bills and federal programs until after Thanksgiving this year. HUM…..that seems weird to kick-the-can down the road on dozens of bills for them to purposely expire when Congress is supposed to be in adjournment for the mid-term elections. But what if they won’t be in adjournment and what if the Speaker and Majority Leader are planning a “doozie” of a lame duck session which would do their work after the November elections with no ramifications from the electorate?

Watch the video and see for yourself. In the meantime, I thought the “hat Trick” was an award for achievements and feats that come in threes that were good things……………YIKES!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWBYpI8yv-Y

Congress is planning a lame duck session-watch out!

Congress is teeing up a lame duck session the likes of which I don’t think any Congress watcher has ever seen. What this means for you and me is that after we vote out or in our Member of Congress at the Novemeber polls, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid will call Congress back in session for a lame duck session. This session will occur in Mid to late November and could  include all sorts of mischief in the form of tax legislation, cap and trade, immigration and much more. Even if we have voted them out of office, they still keep their jobs until Jan, 2011. This lame duck session could be a real “doozie”, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWBYpI8yv-Y

Summary of Climate change bill from the Senate

This is a written summary submitted by the Kerry/Lieberman press conference today in the U.S. Senate on the introduction today of the American Powere Act-5/11/2010

The American Power act will transform our economy, set us on the path toward energy independence and improve the quality of the air we breathe. It will create millions of good jobs that cannot be shipped abroad and will launch America into a position of leadership in the global clean economy.

Our approach sets an achievable national pollution reduction target and refunds the money raised right back to American consumers and American businesses. This is not a plan that enriches Wall street speculators. And this is certainly not a plan to grow the government. It is a plan that creates jobs and sets us on a course toward energy independence and economic resurgence. It is time for Democrats, Independents and Republicans to come together to pass legislation that will create American jobs and achieve energy security, while reducing carbon pollution by 17% in 2020 and by over 80% in 2050. Our plan is based on 5 principles:

1. consumers will come out on top. The act sends 2/3rds of all revenues not dedicated to reducing our nation’s deficit back to consumers from day one. The rest is spent ensuring a smooth transition for American businesses and investing in projects and technologies to reduce emissions ad advance our energy security. In the later years of the program, every penny not spent to reduce the deficit will go directly back to consumers

2. We need energy made in America. Today we spend almost 1 billion dollars every day on foreign oil, much of which is sent to regimes that are hostile to our nation and our interests. This is money we should be investing here at home. The act invests in technology to harness domestic power supplies and reduce our dependence on foreign oil

3. America nees to regain its competitive edge and lead the global clean energy economy. America enjoys an adundance of home-grown energy sources: coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables. Each will play a critical role in our clean energy future. By investing in innovation across all energy sources,  we will create millions of jobs rebuilding our energy infrastructure as we reinvigorate our manufacturing base, which will be called upon to produce the clean energy technologies of tomorrow

4. We need a new approach to reducing emissions that recognizes the different needs of our different idustries. The Act includes separate, targeted mechanisms for the 3 major emitting sectors: power plants, heavy industry and transportation. Each approach is tailor-made to ensure a smooth transition into our collective clean energy future

5. The system must be simple, stable and secure. We only address the largest sources of carbon pollution and we provide predictability to businesses and consumers through a hard price collar and the creation of a single, clear set of rules. Our carbon market structure eliminates the possibility of manipulation, which will mean a secure, well-functioning market system