Republicans propose three week budget extension with $6 billion in cuts
Last week the Congress avoided a government shutdown when Democrats and Republicans agreed to extend the federal budget for two weeks coupled with $4 billion in cuts. It was hoped that this would give the Congress enough time to pass a budget for the rest of the fiscal year, but after last week’s budget votes it appears as if the sides are too far apart to come to an agreement. So yesterday the Republicans made a proposal to keep the government running for another three weeks–this time with $6 billion in cuts included.
According to the article I linked to above it sounds as if most of the $6 billion in cuts are all on items that Barack Obama has previously said he supported cutting, so it looks as if this extension is likely to pass, buying more time for both sides to hammer out a long term deal.
I was hard on the Republicans last week because I felt–and still feel–that they have missed the opportunity given them to make real cuts in the federal budget, but if the Democrats do agree to this deal it will mean that the Democrats have already reached the number of proposed cuts they had in mind when the debate over the budget started. And it would seem likely that any final budget will include more cuts, so in that aspect we are seeing small gains being made–not nearly enough, and certainly not what the Republicans promised–so maybe the way to go at this point is in two to three week intervals including billions in cuts each time. Maybe that is the best we can hope for at this point–as disappointing as it is.
Barack Obama does not like that idea however:
But at his press conference Friday, Obama said it was “irresponsible” to keep running the government on such short term bills and the dragged out negotiations with Republicans now defy “common sense
The notion that we can’t get resolved last year’s budget in a sensible way with serious but prudent spending cuts I think defies common sense
America's Watchtower 
I suspect, due the recalcitrance of the Democrats in the Senate and the Presidency, is basically a “stall and put in place” effort to enable more and more beaucrats and regulations to become entrenched and harder to remove, while the concentration of the public is on the “nickle and dime pony show.” The American public did NOT do enough this past November, and I hope they actually wake up and see that the Senate needs to flip to the Republicans, AS WELL as the Presidency. The only way to get away from this mess is to totally have the Republican/Tea Party/Independent takeover of the entire Executive/Legislative and eventually the Legal foundations of this great country. Then run the progressives into the ground, out of the country, out of town, and NEVER let them see the light of day again.
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A good point, perhaps this is nothing but a delaying tactic by the left in order to implement as much of their agenda as possible. We have seen this with the healthcare reform law as weel; the administration is delaying pushing it through the courts as long as possible because it allows them more time to implement aspects of the law which they know will be hard to undo once they are started.
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I’m coming to the conclussion that Obama and the Deocrat leadership intentionally want to drive us off the cliff. They believe that out of the ashes they will be able to rebuild a “New America” in the Socialist Sustainable Society that they dream of. Big Brother, Inc. is what they want and they see driving us off the cliff as the easiest and fastest way to get there.
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I am afraid you are right, step in in the middle of crisis and “normalize” the situation with more government.
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I an also concluding the intent is to drive us over the cliff. It is impossible to even keep up and comment on all the destruction that is going on with his administration.
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If we are to believe that Barack Obama is not a stupid man than we can only assume he is doing this on purpose.
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I’m with Jim and Bunkerville. There is no other rational explanation. The idea is to cause a eventual collapse and crisis. Then, they can further expand their power to their liking.
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As we have seen in the videos you have recently reposted by the ex-KGB agent, this is how the left operates. Create a crisis and then “normalize” the situation by creating a larger government.
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Let’s see now, President Obama is calling the Republicans irresponsible? That is the height of irony, if you ask me, and you have already pointed out the reasons why. As others have already said, I am becoming more and more convinced they want to drive us right off the cliff and do not care what that will do to our country, as long as they get their agenda passed.
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It certainly seems that way doesn’t it? How else can you explain what is going on?
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I’m tired of the Republicans tip toeing around this mess created by the progressive with their big government dreams. They need to stand on principle and make the cuts necessary to turn this thing around. We’re spending over $200 billion in the red each month! We are going to crash hard, we can’t keep up with this type of spending. Let’s put it this way, anything this group of Democrats and President agrees with is not good for the nation in terms of fiscal responsibility. We need to reach the point where they don’t agree and stand on principle. When they don’t agree, you can bet it’s good for the country. This is absolutely frustrating. Michele Bachmann needs to start building a coalition of freshmen Republicans that are for serious cuts to include getting rid of that $105 billion preloaded in ObamaCare. If she can build a block of 40 or 50 Republicans, maybe the establishment Republicans will start listening. This is just mind boggling.
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It really is getting frustrating; we elected these people to make the tough decisions and now they seem to be afraid to do so. If we can’t get it done now I am left to wonder if it will ever be done.
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