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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (80573)	3/8/2010 12:51:45 PM
From: TideGlider	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224756

Congressional Report: Deficit Will Be Much Worse Than Obama Says Monday, 08 Mar 2010 07:11 AM Article Font Size A new congressional report released Friday says the United States' long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama's grim budget submission last month. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama's budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That's $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration. The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration's. That's because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House. The deficit picture has turned alarmingly worse since the recession that started at the end of 2007, never dipping below 4 percent of the size of the economy over the next decade. Economists say that deficits of that size are unsustainable and could put upward pressure on interest rates, crowd out private investment in the economy and ultimately erode the nation's standard of living. Still, the Feb. 1 White House budget plan was a largely stand-pat document that avoided difficult decisions on curbing the unsustainable growth of federal benefit programs like the Medicare health care program for the elderly and Medicaid, which provides health care to the poor and disabled. Instead, Obama has created an 18-member fiscal reform commission that's charged with coming up with a plan to shrink the deficit to 3 percent of the economy within five years. But the Republicans to be named to the panel by congressional GOP leaders are unlikely to go along with any tax increases that might be proposed, which could ensure election-year gridlock. "While the president is intent on ramming through Congress a new trillion-dollar health-care entitlement, he appears far less concerned with addressing the looming crisis of entitlement spending already on the books," said Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the Budget Committee. "Instead, he delegates this task to a 'Fiscal Commission' — which would not even report until after the next election." The report says that extending tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 under GOP President George W. Bush and continuing to update the alternative minimum tax so that it won't hit millions of middle-class taxpayers would cost $3 trillion over 2011-2020. The tax cuts expire at the end of this year and Obama wants to extend them — except for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making $250,000. For the ongoing budget year, CBO predicts a record $1.5 trillion deficit. That's actually a little better than predicted by the White House, but at 10 percent of gross domestic product, it's bigger than any deficit in history other than those experienced during World War II. The new report predicts that debt held by investors, including China, would spike from $7.5 trillion at the end of last year to $20.3 trillion in 2020. That means interest payments would more than quadruple — from $209 billion this year, to $916 billion by the end of the decade. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (80573)	3/8/2010 1:16:55 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 224756

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - President Obama has once again called on Congress to get moving on passing a health care reform bill. On Sunday, Congressman Michael Arcuri of Utica says he intends to vote no on the Senate's version of the bill as it stands now. Multimedia Watch The Video Related Content•President Obama to make healthcare compromises •Obama tries health care again, talks education Arcuri spoke to NEWSChannel 2 Sunday and mentioned the best way to bring about health care reform is to slow down. He said, "I think the President wants action, but many people that represent moderate districts such as myself think that hey, you know, we need to take this thing and do it in a more incremental way, and we continue to think that." Congressman Arcuri says the American people do not understand and are overwhelmed by the amount of legislation contained in this one all encompassing bill. "One of the best ways to get the American people on board, is to do it in such a way that they understand," Arcuri said. "This isn't like talking about foreign policy where people don't understand the intricacies of foreign policy. People understand the intricacies of their own healthcare plan and the amount of time that they get to see their doctor and spend with their doctor. They know healthcare." Arcuri says he definitely can see a problem in the coming weeks getting the number of votes in the House needed to pass the Senate's version of the Healthcare Reform Bill. However, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius told David Gregory Sunday Morning on Meet the Press, she feels otherwise. "I think we'll have the votes to pass comprehensive health reform," Sebelius said. "A bill has passed the house with a majority, a bi-partisan majority, a bill has passed the Senate with a super majority, which has never been before, what we're talking about, as the President has said, is finishing the job." Arcuri says too many House Representatives have way too many concerns over the Senate's version of the bill for it to pass. "There's a problem with a group that have problems with the abortion question in it," he said. "There are people that have a problem with the expense piece of it, how much it's going to cost. There are people that have a problem that it doesn't have a public option." Arcuri believes the House should break it all down and send certain separate bills to the Senate and have them vote on each one, for example. "Yhe Medicare negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies section of the bill - that will bring prescription prices down and that will save us money on the Medicare Part D. It's a great piece," he said. "Let's see the Senate vote no on that. We need to do those pieces, let the American people see, let them understand what we're doing." "A lot of this is about public relations, in terms of getting the American public to understand and appreciate the reform that we're trying to do and believe the reform will make it more affordable to continue their healthcare."

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (80573)	3/8/2010 1:41:02 PM
From: longnshort	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224756

Dan Rather said Obama couldn't sell watermelons. Where's Sharpton? Jesse Jackson ? you ?