GOP: "Pass a budget or you don't get paid"
For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans used their weekly address Saturday to slam Senate Democrats for not passing a budget in four years, touting a proposal that would withhold lawmakers' paychecks until they pass a budget and accusing Democrats of "a failure to lead."
Rep. Susan Brooks, a freshman Republican from Indiana, said, "I recently voted along with my colleagues in the House to present the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate with a simple, but powerful challenge: pass a budget or you don't get paid.
"By forcing Senate Democrats to finally live up to one of the most basic responsibilities of governing - passing a budget - we are presenting them a golden opportunity to confront and solve our spending problem."
President Obama agreed with the GOP's call for austerity in his address, but argued, "We can't just cut our way to prosperity. It hasn't worked in the past, and it won't work today. It could slow down our recovery. It could weaken our economy. And it could cost us jobs - now and in the future."
"What we need instead," Mr. Obama said, "is a balanced approach; an approach that says, 'Let's cut what we can't afford but let's make the investments we can't afford to live without.'"
Budgets passed by Congress do not actually allocate federal funds - they serve as a blueprint for future spending that is subsequently doled out in separate appropriations bills.
The House GOP passed its "no budget, no pay" proposal Jan. 23, along with a three-month extension of the federal government's borrowing limit. Many Republicans were initially reluctant to raise the debt ceiling, seeing it as a prime opportunity to extract spending cuts from Democrats, but GOP leaders blinked, opting out of a potentially messy confrontation.
Instead, as Brooks explained, the House GOP challenged Senate Democrats by temporarily lifting the debt ceiling but demanding a budget.
Senate Democrats accepted the House GOP's challenge this week, passing the debt ceiling extension along with the "no budget, no pay" bill Thursday.
Brooks also lit into Democrats for the upcoming "sequester," which she described as "a series of harmful, across-the-board cuts" that will land on March 1 unless Congress votes again to suspend or annul them.
She described the automatic cuts as "the president's sequester." The cuts were proposed and passed by a strong bipartisan majority in Congress.
The White House has described the cuts as "bad policy," and indicated its desire to replace the sequester with more targeted cuts and additional revenue.
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The economy is getting better despite their best efforts to kill it and keep it down. America is tired of their war on women, latinos and the poor. Now they are trying to blame the Democrats for not passing a budget. They think we don't know that the house has sent some worthless budget proposals to the Senate and has refused to take the advice of the President.
I got some bad news for you Republicans 4 years is what we gave the Democrats the last worthless bunch they spent all their efforts on healthcare. So if you do nothing this time around you will be nothing next time around.
- Chris Van Hollen (D) Maryland, Senior Member, House Budget Committee.
"Today Paul Ryan made the case for the House Republican vision for America: their same old plan on steroids. Congressional Republicans have consistently protected millionaires and special interests at the expense of seniors on Medicare and by slashing vital investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure that we need to sharpen our competitive edge. Now, to appease their extreme Tea Party caucus, House Republicans will accelerate those draconian cuts at a time while our economy is still recovering. They have doubled down on a losing plan for America that will shrink, not grow, our economy.
"There is no question we need to reduce our long-term deficits. But it can't be done by trying to divide our nation, or lurching from one GOP-created crisis to another. The President has put forward a balanced plan with targeted cuts in spending and targeted cuts in tax loopholes that we can no longer afford - they may not like President Obama's plan, but to say he doesn't have one simply isn't true. House Republicans are confusing an indiscriminate meat ax for a budget - and the American people will pay the price."
http://vanhollen.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=318063
75%+ cuts to Medicaid
40% cuts to Medicare
To make this sound good, Ryan has created an Alternative Fiscal Scenario (Total Madness) that could never happen in order to create fear and alarm.
This is a very elaborate lie, hence the moniker, Lyin Ryan.
They ARE getting paid whatever happens. It's already been confirmed.
The money will just be held until later.
Yeah, that means SO much to a bunch of people for whom public service pay is chump change.
They will eventually get paid whatever they do.....and don't evn pretend that these Congressmen are suriving solely on their official pay.
Frankly, the threat is laughable....although yes the Senate should pass a budget.