By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The leaders of the defunct White House debt commission Tuesday floated a new deficit-reduction plan and warned that President Obama's legacy is riding on his ability to rein in runaway government spending.
Scratch past the surface of a proposed tax code overhaul and deficit-reduction plan shaping up Tuesday on Capitol Hill and it's clear: It's déjà vu, all over again.
Left out of President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night was any mention of shoring up Social Security or Medicaid — two of the three entitlement programs that will drive the growth of federal debt over the coming decades.
Centrist House Republicans say they still want Congress to fix the nation's financial problems through a long-term grand bargain, warning its "ping-pong ball" method of propping up the economy from month to month will end in a crisis that will force even more unpleasant decisions on them.
Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
Concerned that the "fiscal cliff" negotiations with President Obama will not bear any fruit, House Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday the House GOP is prepared with a "Plan B" option that calls for higher taxes on millionaires and locks in current tax rates for everyone else.
Racing to find common ground in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations, President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner are backing off what were once ironclad positions on taxes and spending — though not enough to reach an agreement just yet, as both men continue to demand additional concessions before signing off on a year-end deal.
President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner met at the White House on Sunday to try to jump-start the "fiscal cliff" negotiations as members of Congress teetered between calls for cooperation and jabs at the other side's failure to compromise.
If Congress and the Obama administration don't reach an agreement before year's end, income tax rates will increase automatically for every taxpayer, defense spending will be slashed, and other federal spending will be cut across the board.
It is clear by now that President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner are not going to work out a full-blown deal on taxes, spending and entitlements by the end of this month.
With little tangible headway being made in Washington on averting the looming federal taxes-and-spending crisis, a key observer said Wednesday that he puts the chances of Congress reaching a deal before the Jan. 1 "fiscal cliff" deadline at less than 1 in 3.
The election may be over, but a new campaign is being waged in the nation's capital as lobbyists, advocates and trade groups fight to shape the government's response to the looming "fiscal cliff."
Before the election ballots were fully counted last week, equity markets were sending President Obama a blunt vote of no confidence.
The leaders of the Simpson-Bowles commission are still shopping their 2-year-old, $4 trillion debt-reduction plan around Washington, and they say it is gaining enough traction to possibly form the basis for a bipartisan federal debt-cutting deal by year's end.
Erskine Bowles, who was a chief of staff to President Clinton, and Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, urged lawmakers to cancel the "mindless" $85 billion in spending cuts — known as sequesters — that are set to take effect in less than two weeks and embrace a $2.4 trillion deficit-reduction plan that demands that both parties put their "sacred cows" on the table.
"They are stupid, stupid, stupid," Mr. Bowles said, arguing that the cuts are shortsighted and should be phased in gradually over the next decade.
