WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats stepped up their attack in a budget battle with Republicans on Thursday as the Senate canceled its July 4 recess and a top lawmaker accused Republicans of deliberately sabotaging the economic recovery.
With time running short before a possible default in early August, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he would hold the chamber in session next week to work on a budget deal that would allow the country to keep paying all its bills.
July 4 is the Independence Day holiday.
One day after President Barack Obama compared Senate Republicans to lazy schoolchildren, the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said Obama should come to Capitol Hill as soon as possible to discuss what could pass Congress.
"The president says he wants us to get working. I can't think of a better way than to have him come right over today. We're waiting," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
There was no immediate response from the White House. Obama, who has challenged Congress to stay in town until a deal is reached, was scheduled to leave in the afternoon for an election fund-raiser in Philadelphia.
Obama and lawmakers have ratcheted up their rhetoric after budget talks collapsed last week. Republicans say tax increases cannot be part of the deal, and Democrats have ruled out cuts to healthcare benefits. But both sides have some wiggle room. A face-saving deal could close a few tax breaks and restructure health programs in a way that would not trim benefits.
Democrats said they were awaiting a response from House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, over the general elements that would be possible.
Boehner aides said there was no firm offer on the table.
RACEHORSES, YACHTS AND JETS
Democrats took to the Senate floor to blast tax breaks for racehorses, yachts and corporate jets that benefit the wealthy. Democrats want to end $400 billion worth of these breaks.
The debate is getting increasingly personal. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley called the racehorse tax break the "bluegrass boondoggle" in a slap at McConnell, whose home state of Kentucky is famous for horse racing.
"Giving Triple Crown treatment to millionaires while workers are put out to pasture, that's not right and it's not the American way," Merkley said, referring to thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown series of races.
Senator Charles Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said Republicans are pushing steep spending cuts and blocking job-creation efforts in order to pin the sluggish economy on Obama in the November 2012 elections.
"Republicans aren't just opposing the president any more," Schumer said at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. "They are opposing the economic recovery itself."
Schumer said Democrats will advance a range of job-creation measures over the next six months. These will have a tough time becoming law but could put Republicans in an uncomfortable spot as the unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.1 percent and the 2012 election cycle heats up.
Those proposals, such as increased construction spending and an extended payroll tax break, could carry a price tag of hundreds of billions of dollars. That runs counter to the focus of the budget talks, where negotiators aim to reduce stubborn budget deficits by roughly $2 trillion over 10 years.
The deficit reduction measures would make it less politically painful for lawmakers to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling before August 2, when the Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to pay the country's bills.
Budget deficits in recent years have hovered near their highest levels relative to the size of the economy since World War Two. Experts warn that the United States could face a Greek-style crisis if it does not slow the growth of its debt.
The deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends September 30, is projected to hit $1.4 trillion.
McConnell said any deal that includes tax increases will not pass Congress, but other Republicans could be more flexible. Most in the Senate have voted to end a tax break for ethanol providers, and some have been working on a bipartisan deal that would include a range of revenue hikes.
Schumer said Democrats could back changes to the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programs that would not trim benefits. Compromise is also possible on military cuts, he said.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Will Dunham)
No comments:
Post a Comment