"Sessions v. Schumer
April 3, 2011 11:27 P.M.
By Andrew Stiles
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, squared off with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), aka "Senator Shutdown," his Left's lead agitator in the ongoing budget dispute, on ABC's "This Week." Both said they thought a government shutdown was unlikely, but agreed on little else.
Schumer said "progress is being made" in negotiations between House Republicans and Senate Democrats over a long-term resolution to avoid a government shutdown and cut spending for the remainder of the fiscal year. He said both sides were working of the same number ($33 billion), though Republicans have repeatedly insisted this was not the case. "They're working off that number," Schumer said. "Now we have to figure out what goes into the number and that's where the discussions are headed."
Democrats are hoping to limit the amount of cuts to domestic discretionary spending by pursuing gimmicky "savings" in mandatory spending and "unobligated balances."
Schumer continued his diatribe against the Tea Party, saying he had "no problem" with reporters overhearing him instructing his Democratic colleague before a conference call to refer to the Tea Party as "extreme" and to accuse them of painting House Speaking John Boehner (R., Ohio) into a political corner. "The one group that's standing in the way [of a deal] here is the Tea Party," Schumer said. "The American people are seeing the Tea Part for what it is: Extreme."
Sessions, on the other hand, dismissed as "Democratic spin" the notion that the Tea Party was "extreme" and having a negative impact on the Republican party. "It's absolutely false," he said. "Millions of Americans participated in the Tea Parties. Tens of millions support and believe what they're saying, and right fundamentally. Maybe they don't understand all the realities of Washington politics, but fundamentally they know this country is on a path to fiscal disaster."
"This Democratic leadership proposes nothing but to attack the people who are trying to get this country on the right course," he added, pointing out that House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) is set to release a "mature, serious budget" next week to tackle the fiscal crisis head-on, whereas President Obama's budget does nothing except raise taxes and increase spending on into oblivion."
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