At about 8:30 PM Eastern time, Harry Reid followed by Mitch McConnel announced on the House floor that the framework had been agreed to from which a Debt Ceiling bill could be passed.
A few minutes later, President Obama, from the White House, addressed the press stating that despite the important votes remaining before Congress, he wanted to announce that the parties have agreed to spending cuts that would cut one trillion dollars over the next ten years; and that these cuts would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since former Eisenhower's presidency. The President added that the cuts would be gradual so as not to hurt the fragile economy. Included in the cuts, adjustments to programs like Medicare would be
carried out.
The President said that a bipartisan committee would be established to further reduce the deficit and would include "everything" on the table but that he would continue to make his case for moving toward a balanced approach to finish the debt reduction job.
President Obama also said that although this is not the deal he would have preferred, he believes entitlement reforms and tax reforms could have been tackled right now but that most important was that a deal right now assures avoiding default and makes sure we do not face the same problems in six months.
Then the President thanked Americans for placing phone calls, tweets, et cetera; and said that finishing with the debt bill now will allow us to get back to other important issues such as creating jobs.
My Take: This bill does not represent a 'balanced approach'! The rich are not about to pay ANYTHING AGAIN!! Yes... President Obama did ask Americans to contact their representatives via phone calls, twitter messages, and emails... and yes... Americans did so in good faith in order to state their insistence on compromising between the parties... The Americans DID NOT, however, mean in any way for their responsiveness to indicate that the preference for compromise meant giving up already struggling middle class statuses, further harming the poor, and not asking anything at all for the rich! This type of 'compromise' is NOT in fact a compromise and is NOT in fact shared sacrifice and thus is NOT in fact the BALANCED APPROACH American Citizens were asking for... to the tune of approximately 70% of THE PEOPLE!!! In furtherance, the issue has NOT been completely resolved!!
What does this all mean? The fact that the issue has not been fully resolved and the fact that a bipartisan commission will be formed to complete the settlement could mean even worse news for the poor and the middle class! The bipartisan commission will be able to cut whatever and wherever they darn well please! The only thing I can hope for here is that the House and the Senate reject this bill and that the President is then 'forced' to invoke the 14th Amendment. This way, he will be able to order the Treasury to pay our debt and no cuts or anything else would be of consequence... This is what should have happened in the first... President Obama asked for a clean bill... As soon as they started about cuts... I knew, as did many others, that the US would wind up right where we are right now... waiting for the next day and a half or so to set the stage that may determine just how badly the not-so-well-off will suffer the actions of the rich... Oh... and one more thing... There is no way that cutting spending will not have an impact on the economy! That is a pipe dream! Perhaps this is why Representative Emanuel Cleaver called the bill a sugar coated Satan sandwich.
A few minutes later, President Obama, from the White House, addressed the press stating that despite the important votes remaining before Congress, he wanted to announce that the parties have agreed to spending cuts that would cut one trillion dollars over the next ten years; and that these cuts would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since former Eisenhower's presidency. The President added that the cuts would be gradual so as not to hurt the fragile economy. Included in the cuts, adjustments to programs like Medicare would be
carried out.
The President said that a bipartisan committee would be established to further reduce the deficit and would include "everything" on the table but that he would continue to make his case for moving toward a balanced approach to finish the debt reduction job.
President Obama also said that although this is not the deal he would have preferred, he believes entitlement reforms and tax reforms could have been tackled right now but that most important was that a deal right now assures avoiding default and makes sure we do not face the same problems in six months.
Then the President thanked Americans for placing phone calls, tweets, et cetera; and said that finishing with the debt bill now will allow us to get back to other important issues such as creating jobs.
My Take: This bill does not represent a 'balanced approach'! The rich are not about to pay ANYTHING AGAIN!! Yes... President Obama did ask Americans to contact their representatives via phone calls, twitter messages, and emails... and yes... Americans did so in good faith in order to state their insistence on compromising between the parties... The Americans DID NOT, however, mean in any way for their responsiveness to indicate that the preference for compromise meant giving up already struggling middle class statuses, further harming the poor, and not asking anything at all for the rich! This type of 'compromise' is NOT in fact a compromise and is NOT in fact shared sacrifice and thus is NOT in fact the BALANCED APPROACH American Citizens were asking for... to the tune of approximately 70% of THE PEOPLE!!! In furtherance, the issue has NOT been completely resolved!!
What does this all mean? The fact that the issue has not been fully resolved and the fact that a bipartisan commission will be formed to complete the settlement could mean even worse news for the poor and the middle class! The bipartisan commission will be able to cut whatever and wherever they darn well please! The only thing I can hope for here is that the House and the Senate reject this bill and that the President is then 'forced' to invoke the 14th Amendment. This way, he will be able to order the Treasury to pay our debt and no cuts or anything else would be of consequence... This is what should have happened in the first... President Obama asked for a clean bill... As soon as they started about cuts... I knew, as did many others, that the US would wind up right where we are right now... waiting for the next day and a half or so to set the stage that may determine just how badly the not-so-well-off will suffer the actions of the rich... Oh... and one more thing... There is no way that cutting spending will not have an impact on the economy! That is a pipe dream! Perhaps this is why Representative Emanuel Cleaver called the bill a sugar coated Satan sandwich.
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