How the sequester happened

On Friday, the deadline for the federal spending sequester passed without an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on what portions of the federal budget to cut. Many may wonder exactly what the sequester is and how the nation reached the point where $85 billion will be cut from federal spending with no one in Washington taking responsibility.

The sequester has its origins in the debt limit debate of the summer of 2011. As the nation’s credit rating was downgraded and the federal government neared the end of its ability to borrow, President Obama pressed Congress to raise the debt limit. In exchange for doing so, House Republicans insisted onspending cuts. By 2011, President Obama was spending nearly a trillion dollars per year more than 2008, President Bush’s most expensive year, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. Nevertheless, President Obama and the Democrats fiercely resisted any attempts to rein in spending. For their part, Republicans were equally tenacious in their opposition to tax increases.

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/week-review-the-sequester-takes-effect?cid=db_articles

GOP revolt blocked Boehner attempt to limit spending

Speaker Boehner (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia)

According to a report by Dick Morris, Republican rebels scuttled a last minute attempt by Speaker John Boehner attach an amendment to the fiscal cliff deal that would have tied spending cuts to the tax increases. If the amendment had passed, it would have sent the bill back to the senate which would have had to vote to accept or reject it.

Bloomberg and CBS News also reported on Boehner’s attempt to tie the tax increases to spending cuts. According to CBS, the amendment would have required 217 Republican votes to pass. The final bill garnered 85 Republican votes and was passed primarily with Democratic support.

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http://www.examiner.com/article/gop-revolt-blocked-boehner-spending-amendment?cid=db_articles

Fiscal cliff deal points country toward Obama recession

President Obama meets with congressional leaders in November. (VOA/Wikimedia)

The fiscal cliff deal that House Republicans and President Obama agreed to on New Year’s Day means that a return to recession is almost inevitable.  The House voted Tuesday night to approve the deal, officially named the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which essentially gives President Obama and the Democrats everything that they wanted.

 

The Wall Street Journal notes that the deal, the biggest tax increase in 20 years, is being cynically spun as a tax cut for the middle class.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Even though income tax rates only increase on income above $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers) there are no tax cuts for anyone and all Americans will pay more in taxes in 2013.  Additionally, because joint filers can only earn $250,000 each before the higher rates take effect, the marriage penalty is being returned.

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/fiscal-cliff-deal-will-lead-to-the-obama-recession?cid=db_articles

 

Poll has good news for both sides in fiscal cliff debate

Obama and Boehner in 2010. (White House)

A new poll released on December 10 byBattleground is being touted to show President Obama’s edge in the fiscal cliffnegotiations. While it is true that the poll shows that 60 percent of voters favor the president’s plan to raise taxes on Americans who earn more than $250,000, other items in the poll are not as favorable for Obama. Sixty-five percent of respondents also favor increasing taxes on large corporations even though the U.S. corporate tax rate is already the highest in the world.

In the same poll, 69 percent opposed raising taxes on small businesses that earn more than $250,000. The problem is that many small businesses are privately held by individuals who earn more than $250,000.

Seventy-six percent favor cutting government spending across the board, a position that President Obama is at odds with as he tries to negotiate for the ability to unilaterally increase the debt limit to avoid spending cuts. Sixty-nine percent of respondents opposed making significant cuts to the debt limit.

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/fiscal-cliff-poll-has-good-news-for-both-sides?cid=db_articles

GOP should vote ‘present’ on fiscal cliff

Obama and Boehner in 2010. (White House)

The Republicans face a lose-lose proposition on the fiscal cliff. Even though PresidentObama ruled out a compromise on tax rates long before the election, a new poll byBattleground released on December 10 indicates that most voters favor raising taxes on Americans who earn more than $250,000 and large corporations. Further, Examiner’s analysis of exit polls showed that a majority of voters favor increasing taxes on the wealthy. These results have been consistent with other polls for some time. As late as yesterday, the president was still indicating his refusal to compromise on tax hikes for the wealthy according to CBS.

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson is almost certainly right that President Obama does not really care if the country goes over the fiscal cliff. If there is no compromise prior to January 1, then President Obama will get the tax increases that he wants on the wealthy. It is also likely that he will get credit for enacting tax cuts when the Democrats push through a bill to return tax rates to their pre-cliff levels for all but the top income brackets. Republicans will have no choice but to vote for the tax cuts on middle and lower income brackets unless they want to be blamed for increasing taxes.

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/fiscal-cliff-poll-has-good-news-for-both-sides?cid=db_articles

Senator: Obama doesn’t want fiscal cliff deal

Isakson

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson wrote yesterday that he is concerned that President Obama is not sincerely negotiating to avoid the fiscal cliff. The comment, written in Isakson’s weekly newsletter to constituents on Dec. 7, echoed a statement made earlier this week on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd.

Isakson wrote, “I am concerned that the president is not acting in good faith and actually wants us to go off the fiscal cliff, let tax cuts expire, cut defense spending and then turn around and cut taxes on just a few later on in order to gain exactly what he has wanted all along while looking as though he has single-handedly rescued the country.”

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/ga-senator-says-obama-may-not-want-fiscal-cliff-deal?cid=db_articles

Obama remains confrontational after election

Elizabeth Cromwell/wikimedia

President Obama won a narrow election victory over Mitt Romney earlier this month, but if voters expected the president to take a more conciliatory tone and seek a middle ground with Republicans, they are likely to be disappointed. In spite of the fact that President Obama is the only president to have been reelected with less support than he won in his first election, he has doubled down on the policies that cost him much of his popularity in his first term.

One of the first actions taken by the Obama Administration after the election was to reopen talks with the committee drafting the United Nations arms trade treaty. According toReuters, the talks on the treaty will resume on March 18. The treaty was scheduled to be signed last July, but opposition from groups concerned that the treaty would infringe on Second Amendment rights led the Obama Administration to table the treaty until after the election.

 

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http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-seeks-confrontations-after-election?cid=db_articles

Reasons to NOT vote for Barack Obama

realjames016/wikimedia

Early voting has already started in many states for this year’s elections. In the rest, Election Day is now only two weeks away. The number of undecided voters is dwindling as most have already decided on which presidential candidate to vote for. This column is directed toward these undecided voters as well those who lean toward President Obama.

The most obvious reason not to vote for President Obama’s reelection is the economy. Even though the economy has officially been recovering for the recession for more than three years, most Americans still do not feel the recovery. Unemployment remains high. The poverty level is higher than it was when President Obama took office. Despite an increase in the U.S. population, fewer Americans are working today than when President Obama was inaugurated. In August, twice as many Americans went on food stamps as found jobs according to Forbes.

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/reasons-to-not-vote-for-obama

Obama rejects compromise on taxes to avoid fiscal cliff

Obama Administration officials recently confirmed that President Obama is prepared to veto any legislation addressing the looming “fiscal cliff” that does not accede to Mr. Obama’s demands for tax increases on upper-income Americans. The “fiscal cliff” is a bundle of tax hikes scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013 unless Congress and the president take action.

(Elizabeth Cromwell/Wikimedia)

On October 17, the Washington Postreported that the president’s plan is to wait until after the election, which he presumes he will win, and use his victory to force the Republicans to agree to tax hikes. Since they took control of the House of Representatives in 2011, the Republicans have allied with the Tea Party to resist calls by President Obama and the Democrats to raise taxes to pay for increased federal spending and deficits.

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/president-obama-rejects-tax-compromise-to-avert-fiscal-cliff