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Senator Lieberman calls for Obama to be more involved in deficit negotiations
Posted: Dec 3, 2012
Sen. Lieberman calls for Obama to be more involved in deficit negotiations
By Alexander Bolton - 12/02/12 06:00 AM ET
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), the independent Democrat who has played roles in past Senate compromises, says President Obama needs to get more involved in the fiscal cliff talks.
Lieberman, who brought Republican senators on board with the 2009 economic stimulus package and a 2005 deal on judicial nominees, says it’s time for Obama to gather congressional leaders around a negotiating table.
The retiring senator says his GOP colleagues were left frustrated after meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday and suggested Obama take charge, something Republicans have been calling for since the election.
“My impression also is that the Republicans who were there and our colleagues who heard about it felt it was a step back, the chemistry in the room was bad,” Lieberman said about the meeting between Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Geithner.
Lieberman said GOP colleagues are dismayed Obama gave them little credit for offering to increase tax revenues by $800 billion. Republicans say Geithner’s counter offer to raise taxes by $1.6 trillion and cut spending by $400 billion and enact $50 billion in new stimulus spending was not a serious proposal.
“They were frustrated so somebody’s got to come in, probably the president and sit everybody down at the same table and start working off the same sheets of paper soon,” he said.
Republican leaders have called for more personal involvement from the president.
“Throughout the week I’ve raised questions about the president’s level of seriousness and engagement when it comes to resolving the short-and long-term fiscal challenges that we face,” McConnell said before the meeting. “I’ve done this because, as I’ve said repeatedly, the president is the key to success in all of these discussions.”
Lieberman noted time is running out on the negotiations. The Bush-era tax rates are set to expire and $110 trillion in spending cuts will take effect at the end of December.
Lieberman questioned the 4-1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts put forth by Geithner. He would prefer a ratio closer to the Simpson-Bowles plan. Analysts have described that plan as containing anywhere from a 3-1 to a 1.4-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases, depending on the baseline used and whether interest savings are counted.
Lieberman thinks the ratio endorsed by Simpson-Bowles would be preferable to Geithner’s plan at a time when some fear the economy could slide back into recession.
“Generally speaking, I feel that the formula — the long-term, it doesn’t have to be immediate — that Simpson-Bowles establishes, which was more 3 to 1 spending cuts to tax increases, is a better standard,” he said.
“You also got to be careful about how much you raise taxes when the economy is still working its way out of recessions and some people think it may slide back down because of other factors,” he said.
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Tell it to Congress. - It's not all on the prez.
[ In Reply To ..]It's up to Congress to set the budget, isn't it? Our government has been acting like a big group of babies, and now is the perfect time for everyone to start working as a team for US, the people who pay their salaries and pushed their delicate little tushies into such positions of power.
In my opinion.... - it may be a congressional
[ In Reply To ..]duty to set a budget, but the president...no matter who he is...should be on their behinds day and night to get it done!!! That is HIS responsibility. He is the one letting them skid by for years without having a budget, and most likely because as long as there is not a budget, he has free rein to do what he wants with the money. As much as many think he deserves a 3 week vacation after a grueling campaign, and deserves to relax some, I think he should be right there in those hallowed halls, beating on the table, cracking the whip, yelling and screaming, until it is accomplished! His lack of attention to this matter just gives them (congress) the impression that if he does not care, why should they, and they will not do it, obviously, until their heat being held to the fire and owning their responsibilities as elected officials to do the jobs we are paying them to do! and him too! Congress may be acting "like a big group of babies," but they are "being allowed to" by the one who should care the most. This reflects on him too, because the lack of effort on his part just bodes against his campaign promises to get it done. A true "leader" should lead, not skip off to Hawaii for three weeks hoping the bottom falls out of everything while he is gone playing with whatever it is that he plays with on his days off.
Suggestion: Check the schedule. - sm
[ In Reply To ..]First of all, President Obama is not in Hawaii now. Second, his vacation is scheduled for when CONGRESS IS RECESSED. President Obama has repeatedly tried to negotiate with Pubs only to be burned. He is smart to let them play whatever cards the pubs think they are holding first. Show us the cuts!
congress should not be ALLOWED to recess - until it is done...
[ In Reply To ..]call it incentive, and it is about time! Get 'er done!
Really? What about yesterday? - backwards typist
[ In Reply To ..]
Of course, Obama is not on vacation yet. I doubt Congress will recess until midnight 12/24. So that will mean 2 Air Force One planes again because Michelle won't stay in D.C.
You said "he has repeatedly tried to negotiate with the pubs." Don't think so. He repeatedly told the Pubs it's his way or the highway. He rejects everything they put forth. He is not negotiating, as usual.
We all know that spending has to come under control. Obama still wants free rein to spend, spend, spend AND to raise the debt ceiling WITHOUT Congress' approval, which is against the "law"/Constitution.
See below for the latest:
WASHINGTON - House Republicans put forth a $2.2 trillion "fiscal cliff" counteroffer to President Barack Obama on Monday, calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living hikes for Social Security benefits and bringing in $800 billion in higher tax revenue — but not raising rates for the wealthy.
The White House declared the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious" and again vowed tax rate increases will be in any measure Obama signs to prevent the government from the cliff's automatic tax hikes and sharp spending cuts.
Administration officials also hardened their insistence that Obama is willing to take the nation over the cliff rather than give in to Republicans and extend the tax cuts for upper-income earners.With the clock ticking toward the year-end deadline, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans said they were proposing a "reasonable solution" for negotiations that Boehner says have been going nowhere. Monday's proposal came in response to Obama's plan last week to raise taxes by $1.6 trillion over the coming decade but largely exempt Medicare and Social Security from budget cuts.
Yeah, our President is really worried about the taxpayers and serious about negotiating a fair deal [sarcastically stated]. I'm to the point that I don't care about the fiscal cliff anymore. Let them go over the cliff. Both sides will be blamed along with Obama. He should be sitting down with both sides. How many times did he do that? Once, twice? He should be meeting every day to get this settled. I don't remember any other president going around the country campaigning for a deal when he could have just stayed in the WH and had a press conference on TV.
Maybe the 113th will be more level headed and will make this problem their top priority, but I doubt it as long as Reid is in charge.
As long as Obama keeps his egotistical arrogance, things won't change. Dislike this post all you want, but that's my opinion of this dysfunctional government.
Please Note: Republicans lost election - voter
[ In Reply To ..]It is time they realize they need to bring in some revenue as well as cut. The Republicans need to bite the bullet and pull out their fat wallets. By the way, Republican is the party that spends without paying. Think Iraq war and Medicare prescription drugs for instance.
Yesterday, what were the Pubs doing at the Whitehouse? Like I said, check the schedule.
again... - they need someone higher up
[ In Reply To ..]to MAKE them do it. They have been allowed to get away with this stuff for so long now that they just know if they delay long enough, they will just be bypassed, once again, and be able to go on with "life as usual." I still say it is the president's responsibility to make this get done...I don't care if they have to stay up all night six nights in a row and all day to hash this out...it needs to be done! They will not do anything, positive or negative, until they are threatened with something more than what they are being threatened with now...which is nothing much. Come on O...make them do this! Apathy is showing here. and it is our lives you are playing with...once again!
OK, I get it now. Boehner and TP are 2 year olds. - nm
[ In Reply To ..]
Boehner probably can't deal until after he's reelected - Speaker on 1/3/13. The wingnuts are
[ In Reply To ..]holding his seat hostage. See, maybe the Speaker and "TP" know something, maybe even other stuff.
I stand corrected. - TY
[ In Reply To ..]
I couldn't find anything on Senator Lieberman's - supposed reasoning, but everyone agrees
[ In Reply To ..]the GOP would prefer to be dealing with the guy who tried to work with them during his first term.
"The New York Times reports today that the president is "scarred by failed negotiations in his first term and emboldened by a clear if close election to a second, has emerged as a different kind of negotiator." Throughout his first term, Obama "repeatedly offered what he considered compromises on stimulus spending, health care and deficit reduction to Republicans, who either rejected them as inadequate or pocketed them and insisted on more."
"So, this time, the president presented a plan that met his own standards, and challenged GOP leaders to do the same. Apparently, Republicans didn't see this coming, leaving them, in Boehner's word, flabbergasted."
The GOP's problem this time around, of course, is that Obama holds most of the good cards. Not all, though. Any argument that both sides don't need to sit down and agree on a workable plan that will give Obama most of what he wants but still allow the GOP something too is bogus. They all have a job to do, and they'll just have to bite teh bullet and remember how to compromise.
A few economic indicators may be showing a year-end - slowdown, which would/should have a
[ In Reply To ..]strong effect on any fixes agreed on. The "you don't slack off the gas when the car's trying to stall" factor.
Giving an economic engine more money has the same sort of effect that giving an internal combustion engine more fuel does. This is the reason nations around the world moved to stimulus spending to keep a planetary recession from stalling out into a depression. And the reason why significant spending cuts that go into effect quickly might not be possible here yet.
You're kidding right? Obama's golfing. He has no time for that. - LM
[ In Reply To ..]Sorry excuse for a president, isn't it?
Yeah! Whoever heard of golfing presidents? - pfffft. nm
[ In Reply To ..];
I heard he sleeps sometimes, too. - grits
[ In Reply To ..]I know! D: What a slacker
there should be no sleep... - dinner, games, bathroom breaks...
[ In Reply To ..]dinner, alcohol, movies, music, or even sex until this thing is settled! We are letting them get away with it. O is letting them get away with it. He obviously does not really "care."
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