MACTV News: Senate Majority Leader Statement on the Republican dorminance in the House, Edit by Aaron Ochieng

Video shot by Menelik Zeleke

MACTV News: US House poised to pass Republican spending cuts, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

* Republicans vote to block Internet, EPA rules

* Republicans take aim at Planned Parenthood

* Social Security says it may furlough workers (Adds new material throughout)

By Richard Cowan and Donna Smith
WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday was poised to approve deep spending cuts for this year, setting the stage for a battle with the Democratic-run Senate that could lead to a government shutdown.

The House debated the spending measure, which cuts some $61.5 billion from current levels, well into the night Thursday. The House was expected to vote on passage of the bill on Friday, sending it to the Senate.
President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats in the Senate are likely to reject many of the cuts, which are being pushed by Republicans associated with the conservative Tea Party movement who were elected in November.

The two sides have until March 4 to cut a deal. That's when a temporary funding measure expires. Failure to reach agreement means lawmakers will either have to pass another stopgap spending bill or allow the government to shut down -- something leaders from both parties claim they want to avoid.

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, said on Thursday the House would not consider another stopgap measure without spending cuts from current levels. The legislation would fund the government through September when the current fiscal year ends.

"When we say we're going to cut spending, read my lips: We are going to cut spending," Boehner said.
Obama has outlined his own plan for less severe spending cuts in 2012, and has warned that tightening the belt too much too soon could harm the slow economic recovery.

AMENDMENTS
The House considered a number of amendments and approved a Republican-backed measure overturning proposed rules barring Internet service providers from blocking legal content.

The House debated into the night on a measure that would bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides a number of health services for women, including abortion.

The House also voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing rules to limit mercury and other toxic emissions from cement plants.

Before it completed the bill, the House was also expected to consider an amendment to block funding for Obama's healthcare overhaul, a measure certain to be rejected by the Senate, which has already voted against a Republican bid to repeal the year-old law.

Conservative Republicans are pushing an amendment to give the Treasury Department the ability to avoid a debt default if U.S. borrowing authority runs out, highlighting possible dire consequences of political gridlock over government spending.

The proposal has been described by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as "unworkable" and opponents in the House might use a procedural maneuver to kill the measure.

Congress must vote sometime in the next several weeks to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling so the government can continue to pay its bills and creditors, which include China and other foreign countries.
The bill also includes spending cuts for the Social Security Administration that Democrats say will slow processing for retirement, survivor and disability claims. The agency said it may be forced to temporarily lay off workers and sent a notice of possible furloughs to the employees' union on Thursday night.

Democrats say they also want to begin shrinking a deficit that is projected to be around $1.65 trillion this year, equivalent to 10.9 percent of the economy. As a result, Democratic senators in coming weeks are likely to write their version of a spending bill for this year that cuts funds, but not as steeply as the House.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Donna Smith; editing by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech)

Video: Fiscal Appropriations: Republicans Insist on Spending Cuts

Fiscal Appropriations: Republicans Insist on Spending Cuts

Febuary 08, 2011                

                                  

By Williams Ekanem

Senate Minority leader, Mitch McConnell led a group of Republican Senators on Tuesday to press for cut in government spending even as Congress faces an upcoming clash over 2011 fiscal appropriations.

In particular, McConnell wondered why the Obama administration is proposing to spend $3.2 trillion even when income stands at $2.2 trillion.

Republicans have made cutting government spending an overwhelming priority in the 112^th Congress.

At the stake-out on Tuesday led by the minority leader, Republican Senators insist that there must be a cut in spending to create jobs.

All the Republican senators at the briefing spoke with one voice of the urgent need for the government to slash the 2011 fiscal spending by a considerable amount.

The Republicans fell back on their Study Committee which a fourth night ago amongst others recommended that:

FY 2011 CR Amendment: Replace the spending levels in the FY 2011 continuing resolution (CR) with non-defense, non-homeland security, non-veterans spending at FY 2008 levels. The legislation will further prohibit any FY 2011 funding from being used to carry out any provision of the Democrat government takeover of health care, or to defend the health care law against any lawsuit challenging any provision of the act., $80 billion savings.

Discretionary Spending Limit, FY 2012-2021: Eliminate automatic increases for inflation from CBO baseline projections for future discretionary appropriations. Further, impose discretionary spending limits through 2021 at 2006 levels on the non-defense portion of the discretionary budget, $2.29 trillion savings over ten years.

Federal Workforce Reforms: Eliminate automatic pay increases for civilian federal workers for five years. Additionally, cut the civilian workforce by a total of 15 percent through attrition. Allow the hiring of only one new worker for every two workers who leave federal employment until the reduction target has been met.

(Savings included in above discretionary savings figure).

"Stimulus" Repeal: Eliminate all remaining "stimulus" funding. $45 billion total savings.

Eliminate federal control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. $30 billion total savings.

Repeal the Medicaid FMAP increase in the "State Bailout" (Senate amendments to S. 1586). $16.1 billion total savings.

In the spirit of bipartisan politics however, President Obama has responded offering some proposals that might appeal to the Republicans, who control the House of Representatives. These include a corporate tax cut, while closing existing loopholes, and reform of the tax code. He also threatened to veto lawmakers' pet spending projects.