Osg1 20110308 SPENDING

TOF   

The federal government is heading toward another shutdown deadline, and still no breakthrough.

The question in the corridors of power – where is the President:

MANCHIN A

And that’s a freshman democrat talking.  More after this from David Harris of AJC:

(((SPOT)))

Freshman Democratic senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia says it’s time for the guy in the White House to jump into the budget debate:

MANCHIN B

West Virginia is not exactly Obama country, so that will play well at home.  But he’s got a point there.  The Senate is nearing a major budget vote and if you listen to the Democratic majority leader:

REID C:

And you listen to the Repunbican Minority leader:

McCONNELL D

It doesn’t sound promising.

Democrats say the most they can cut from domestic spending is 3 percent from last year’s levels.
Republicans want to cut 13% between now and the end of the fiscal year in September

TO which the Democrats say:

TO which the Republcans say:

The real story here is that this fight isn’t even the main attraction.   It doesn’t even begin to touch NEXT year’s budget where Republicans and some democrats are making serious noises about tinkering with medicare, and possibly even social security, on the grounds that it would be immoral to subject our grandchildren to the huge debt we’re buiilding up.

Although Former Senator Alan Simpson, who was on the debt commission, made a comment on FOX that called into question whether today’s Grandparents really give two cents about the debt their grandkids might face:

See kids what you miss when you don’t take out the ear buds once ina while.  Tof