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Boehner Dismisses Obama’s Call for Republicans ‘Unconditional Surrender’

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Photo Credit: Fox News ScreenshotHouse Speaker John Boehner dismissed President Obama’s position on the fiscal crisis as “not sustainable” Tuesday, only hours after Obama held a non-press conference to say he was willing to compromise but not negotiate.

“What the president said today was, if there’s unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk with us. That’s not the way our government works,” Boehner said.

The speaker said he wants conversations about spending cuts to start “now,” not “next week” or “next month.”

It’s unclear how Republicans will navigate Obama’s stance going forward, with the country in week two of the partial government shutdown. Their demand is that they get some concessions — like spending cuts — in exchange for passing a spending bill and raising the debt ceiling.

Boehner’s appeal on Tuesday was for Democrats to simply come to the negotiating table.

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Lessons not Learned: State Spending Out-of-Control as New Fiscal Year Begins

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Photo Credit: APA new fiscal year began on Monday in most states. To celebrate, capitals from Hartford to Sacramento are going on a spending spree, acting as if the recent fiscal crisis never happened…

Exhibit A is California’s Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who just signed a $96.3 billion budget, up from $87 billion two years ago, amid a festival atmosphere in Sacramento. This was the first real increase since the Golden State’s $60 billion deficit three years ago.

Oil-rich North Dakota is also celebrating Christmas early. The Republican legislature and Gov. Jack Dalrymple approved budgets this spring for the next two years that pump up spending by more than 50%. The budget finances a massive expansion of Medicaid and pork projects, such as the purchase of a marina at a state park. “It’s hard to imagine Democrats would have spent this much,” laments Rob Port, the state’s top taxpayer watchdog and creator of the popular political blog, Say Anything.

Texas approved a biennial budget that increases outlays to $106 billion from $84 billion. Florida was so flush with cash that lawmakers increased the state’s annual budget by more than 6%, to $74.5 billion. Spending was approved for ballet academies, historic courthouses, river ferries and even funds to help cities keep Major League Baseball teams for spring training. All this in a state governed by Republican Rick Scott with GOP majorities in both houses of the legislature.

Virginia and Maryland passed massive transportation bills, aggregating more than $1 billion, to pay for highways, transit, trains and bike paths. The crown jewel of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Maryland budget, up 8.5%, was a $1 billion “investment” for the construction of wind farms, financed with new utility surcharges.

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So Much For Sequester: Obama Quietly Releases $500 Million to Palestinians (+video)

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Photo Credit: AFP

The United States has quietly unblocked almost $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority which had been frozen by Congress for months, a top US official said Friday.

The news that the funds had finally been freed up came after US President Barack Obama met top Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a landmark visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this week.

“To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money… and $200 million in fiscal year 2013 assistance,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

The Obama administration also notified Congress in late February that it was seeking a further $200 million to fund US Agency for International Development (USAID) programs for the Palestinians, she said.

The first sum comprises some $195.7 million, allocated under the 2012 fiscal year budget for USAID economic, development and humanitarian assistance, as well as a further $100 million earmarked specifically for narcotics control

Watch video here:

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+$30.5B: Federal Spending Up, Not Down, In First 5 Months of FY13

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Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite

Federal spending was up $30.5 billion in the first five months of fiscal 2013 compared to the first five months of fiscal 2012, according to newly released data from the U.S. Treasury.

The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30. In the first five months of fiscal 2012 (October through February), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement, total federal spending was approximately $1,473,999,000,000.00. In the first five months of fiscal 2013, total federal spending was $1,504,547,000,000.00.

Thus, federal spending was $30,548,000,000.00 more in the first five months of fiscal 2013 than it was during the first five months of fiscal 2012.

The federal government is also spending at a much faster pace this year than it did before President Barack Obama took office.

In the first five months of fiscal 2008 (the last full fiscal year before Obama took office), the federal government spent $1,230,412,000,000.00. That is $274,315,000,000.00 less than the $1,504,547,000,000.00 that the federal government spent in the first five months of this fiscal year.

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Personal Assets Crash 22% Under Obama, Recession

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner The struggling economy, President Obama’s inability to fix unemployment and the sour housing market have cut the value of assets held by adult Americans by 22 percent since 2007, according to Pew Research.

In a new analysis of American household fiscal healthiness, Pew also found that those 35 and older have a higher and out-of-whack debt-to-income ratio of 1.22, the highest in three decades.

The crash in household assets and rise in debt comes as Americans are paying more in payroll taxes and at the gas pump, an unhealthy concoction that is sapping support for Obama.

A new Economist/YouGov poll provided to Secrets found Americans split on Obama, with 47 percent approving of his job performance, 46 percent not. And younger voters are especially distressed, with Obama receiving just 43 percent approval from those 18-29 who went overwhelmingly for him in the 2012 election. It’s not better at Rasmussen Reports, which found that just 15 percent of adults view the economy as good to excellent and, in a related poll, that just 40 percent give Obama good marks for job creation.

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Navy: USS Abraham Lincoln Refueling Delayed, Will Hurt Carrier Readiness

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Photo Credit: USNIThe U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.

Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said.
“CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee released a statement denouncing the need for decision.

Forbes called the delay, “another example of how these reckless and irresponsible defense cuts in Washington will have a long-term impact on the Navy’s ability to perform its missions. Not only will the Lincoln be delayed in returning to the Fleet, but this decision will also affect the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) defueling, the USS George Washington (CVN-73) RCOH, and future carrier readiness.”

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House Passes Bill Requiring Obama Submit Plan To Balance Budget

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On Wednesday, the House passed legislation that demands President Barack Obama produce a balanced budget or submit a supplemental budget plan by April 1, 2013 that outlines how and in what fiscal year he aims to achieve a balanced budget.

The Require a PLAN Act passed the House in a 253-167 vote, with 26 Democrats supporting the legisation.

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), the fiscal conservative who introduced the Require a PLAN Act, said, “there is no way our nation can secure a future of growth and opportunity if the spending habits in Washington are allowed to continue to produce massive deficits while chasing every higher spending with ever higher taxes.”

“By passing the Require a PLAN Act, the House of Representatives is taking the next step in making sure Washington puts in place a plan to balance the budget so that we can begin to pay off the debt,” Price said. “All we are asking of President Obama today is that he tell the American people when and how he would balance the budget.”

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HHS Made $64.2 Billion in ‘Improper Payments’ in Fiscal 2012

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Photo Credit: Tax CreditsThe Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made $64.2 billion in “improper payments” in fiscal 2012, according to the federal website PaymentAccuracy.

The the bulk of those improper payments were made by Medicare and Medicaid, the government health-care programs.
The government defines an “improper payment” as one that is not backed up by documentation, is used by the recipient in an improper manner, goes to the wrong recipient, or goes to the right recipient but is an overpayment or underpayment.

The government defines an “improper payment” as one that is not backed up by documentation, is used by the recipient in an improper manner, goes to the wrong recipient, or goes to the right recipient but is an overpayment or underpayment.

The HHS made the $64.2 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2012 through five programs that the Office of Management and Budget calls “high-error programs.”

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Sen. Patty Murray: Democrats will go over ‘fiscal cliff’ unless GOP relents

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With the US economy speeding toward a year-end fiscal cliff of some $560 billion in higher taxes and draconian spending cuts, Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington bluntly laid out her party’s position on how Congress should handle the nation’s coming fiscal travails: Go big or go over the ledge.

“Millions of jobs could be lost through the automatic cuts, programs families depend on would be slashed irresponsibly across the board, and middle-class tax cuts would expire. And once again, if Republicans won’t work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal,” said Senator Murray, the Senate’s No. 4 Democrat, in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Monday.

“[I]f we can’t get a good deal – a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share – then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,” she said.

The chair of the party committee charged with electing Democrats to the Senate laid out the broadest, most full-throated explanation of the party’s views on the party’s negotiating position vis-a-vis the fiscal cliff, while outlining the party’s strategy for attacking Republicans at the polls in November.

While optimistic “that we can get a good deal,” Murray said Democrats would not, for example, sign on to a plan that would offset the $55 billion portion of the $109 billion in automatic spending cuts mandated by the “sequester,” the budget-slashing mechanism agreed to as part of 2011’s debt-ceiling showdown. The remainder of the reductions come from discretionary spending, home to Democratic priorities like social welfare programs, and reductions in payments to Medicare providers.

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Photo credit: ozmafan