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Will Congress pass a deficit-reduction plan?

 

 

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The matter before the Congress is a continuing resolution on funding the operations of the Federal government. It is not a deficit reduction plan.

Submitted by Jim Prior : Sep 26, 2013 5:34pm

During last year's presidential campaign, then Congressman Ron Paul proposed a deficit reduction plan. Not one else has ever done so. The best that has been proposed, aside from Ron Paul, have been plans to reduce the rate of increase of the deficit, but not to actually reduce the deficit. Politics as usual.

Submitted by antiTyranny : Sep 26, 2013 6:40pm

Correct.

Submitted by Energy Guy : Sep 26, 2013 10:25pm

The deficit is already falling dramatically, the most and fastest in over 50 years. It is half what it was in 2009 and falling even more. As was said above, what is before Congress is not deficit reduction nor should it be at this point. They need to fund the government and pay our bills, anything less is extortion. It could not be any clearer than that.

Submitted by mk1 : Sep 26, 2013 7:06pm

I do hope there is not a Government shut down. I need my husband's and my (Federal) retirement to pay for his nursing home costs! What do I do if we don't get paid? This is a ridiculous situation. We vote these politicians into office and then they put us in a terrible situation!

Submitted by smrevels7 : Sep 26, 2013 9:16pm

Comparing the 2013 deficit to 2009, when it was well over $1 trillion is the punch line to a bad joke. The deficit this year will be over $600 billion, which is NOTHING to brag about. The government will not "shut down". Mandatory payouts, i.e., Social Security, defense, law enforcement, etc., will continue as necessary. The sky is not falling, and budgetary discipline is needed now, more than ever.

Submitted by Energy Guy : Sep 26, 2013 10:23pm

Do you remember 1981? The national debt was fast approaching $1 trillion. Remember the TRIM campaign calling for "No Trillion Dollar Debt"?

And here we are in 2013 and Congress is about to increase the debt by nearly $1 trillion in a single increment.

It is a sad state of affairs when we add an amount equal to an amount that took over 200 years to accumulate, and it is expected to last only 14 months!

In the last 32 years the debt has increased by a factor of 16.3. If it increases by the same factor over the next 32 years, by 2045 the debt will exceed $265 trillion. A quadrillion dollar debt would occur in the lifetime of today's youth. This is unsustainable.

Submitted by antiTyranny : Sep 27, 2013 11:25am

Are you certain your numbers are correct? For arguments sake, I'll accept them for now. In any event, if we're to reduce the deficit in any meaningful way, we cannot keep sustaining corporate welfare, or purchasing the newest toys for the military to test, and we simply MUST stop invading countries without a moral cause, like "they bombed our people".

Now, our hysteria over terrorism is classically over-the-top American bullshit, because now we are letting the spy agencies throw away whatever civil rights were left and are copying and storing every communication within or outside our national borders. This includes tracking license plates, cell phones, and ATM transactions as well as SMS, email, chat rooms, et al. Remember when the fringe few warned that the govt would insert markers under skins better to track our movements and associations? All they have to do now is monitor the airwaves and store as much data as possible.

The attacks on 9/11 were not the beginning of a New America; however, The Patriot Act signaled the beginning of the End of the America envisioned by the Founders. And, if that's not bad enough, we now have to contend with elected officials who'd rather resort to political terrorism than find common ground. The ACA was conceived by the Heritage Foundation, a very conservative think-tank. It was the GOP's best and most comprehensive plan to assist marginalized folks back into a better healthcare system! Yes, Jimmy! "ObamaCare" is an idea borrowed from conservatives. It was the PRIMARY reason President Obama was re-elected by another landslide. Granted, The President has not done a good enough sales job for this promising new policy. Instead of working with the Executive Branch to bring bi-partisan support for a great idea, the Tea Party types decided that saving the lives of 40,000 to 50,000 fellow Americans every year was not important enough to be seen working with a distinguished man of color. Besides, the only people who'll see increases to their premiums are wealthy enough to afford it.

Now we're back to debating whether tax policy should lessen the burden on the wealthiest and by how much while our nation's economic foundation is shifting away from those who desperately need and want well-paying jobs necessary for long-term growth of the economy. The middle 80% is what makes or breaks America. We in deep trouble, child.

Submitted by VeritatisAmore : Oct 1, 2013 2:46am

In my seventy years of watching Government I can tell you for sure that a DYSFUNCTIONAL Congress, is always caused by an INCOMPETENT President.

Submitted by LieutenantCharlie : Oct 2, 2013 11:07am

History teaches us that a Dysfunctional Congress is caused by an INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT.

Submitted by LieutenantCharlie : Oct 2, 2013 1:23pm

The Congress will pass a debt-reduction plan and you can be sure the Military will be shafted when they do.!!!

Submitted by Grace USN(R) Ret. (not verified) : Dec 13, 2013 8:50pm