Dear Conservative Friend,
The clock is ticking! In less than 20 working days, the House-Senate budget negotiators will need to come up with a real plan. Although there is a “glimmer of hope,” we need to make sure that every Congressman must contact their colleagues on the 29-member panel that defense and military cuts must be restored that were taken away by the budget sequester. Men and women protecting our interests in the military must be taken care of; not to mention the defense of our great country!
Let me remind you on the timeline and deadlines:
DECEMBER 13, 2013 – The 29 members of the House-Senate budget conference is to have an agreement on a long-range spending plan.
JANUARY 15, 2014 – The federal government is currently funded through this date. This is when the stop-gap budget terminates.
FEBRUARY 7, 2014 – President Obama and the United States Congress compromised and decided to avert a government default last month. Now, the debt ceiling is suspended through this date.
But no decisions should compromise the defense of our great country.
Please fax Congress and tell them to defend the USA in the new, revised budget and financial plan!
In reality, both sides of the aisle want to avert the roughly $100 billion in 2014 sequester cuts. However, finding the “miracle plan acceptable to both sides” on how to accomplish that is the trick.
Closed-door, private talks are being held to try to reach some sort of consensus. There are mixed reviews; but there is still hope. That’s why we must contact every member of Congress to urge them to replace defense and military monies back into the budget mix that was taken away by sequestration.
This past week, several key lawmakers said there was still a 50-50 chance of some kind of an agreement. A major source of contention is their lack of agreement on raising taxes. The committee is looking into additional ways of raising revenues. But they have been extremely closed-mouth on their progress.
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Budget Committee Chairman, said last Tuesday that she is in “very good conversations” with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Murray said: “The goal here is to replace sequestration with responsible spending cuts and revenue.”
Congressman Ryan told: “I have to say this from the get-go. If this conference becomes an argument about taxes, we’re not going to get anywhere.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) offered: “More revenue doesn’t and shouldn’t mean higher taxes!”
Both sides remain committed to come up with some sort of a compromise.
The blue-ribbon committee is racing against that ticking clock, not just for the December 13th deadline, but more importantly, the January 15th deadline, when the authority to spend for various programs, from education to the military, ends.
Harold Rogers, Appropriations Committee Chairman, and 12 subcommittee chairs, sent a letter to the budget panel this past week which read: “If a timely agreement is not reached, the likely alternatives could have extremely damaging repercussions.” Republican leaders also urged a budget deal for TWO years, instead of just one year.
In response to that letter, Eli Zupnick, a spokesman for Senator Murray, retorted: “She (Senator Murray) shares their interest in moving this as quickly as possible. They are going to continue talking and working together.”
The Wall Street Journal reports: “Under the bill that ended October’s 16-day government shutdown, the conference committee has been given a December 13 deadline for reporting a budget deal. If no action is taken, automatic spending cuts known as a sequester will take effect to reduce spending for federal agencies from $986 billion to $967 billion in fiscal 2014 – a $20 billion cut that will come principally from the Pentagon.”
Military leaders, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretaries of Defense (past and present) have all chimed in unison to what this sequester cut will do to the military. They believe our ability to defend American will experience some sort of compromise. They all urged that the defense and Pentagon cuts be replaced!
U.S. Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) recently became the chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. He charged: “Our national security is in jeopardy. It is definitely. We need to get back to regular order. We need to understand that just about every pot of money the military could have used to meet its readiness and other types of objectives – every one of those accounts has been tapped or is totally bereft.”
I whole-heartedly agree. We must do whatever is necessary to replenish those budget cuts so our homeland can be properly defended!
In spite of guarded optimism, Rep. Ryan told in a television interview that he could not guarantee a deal could be reached by the deadline. He revealed: “I think that deadline is a fine timeline, I’m very comfortable to work within that deadline. I just don’t know if we’re going to have an agreement because we don’t have one at this time.”
Please fax Congress and tell them to defend the USA in the new, revised budget and financial plan!
Politico reports: “According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Ryan has developed several different frameworks that replace the sequester for different lengths of time. While the outlines of the agreement are certainly far from solid, they could include some mandatory savings, along with revenue – but no new taxes (a real sticking point with Republicans).
“Revenue raisers being discussed include increased Transportation Security Administration fees and money generated from wireless spectrum sales, according to sources in both parties. As an extra bargaining chip, Republicans would consider including an extension of extended unemployment benefits, which expire on December 28.”
Minority U.S. Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is seemingly putting a choke-hold on Rep. Ryan by insisting that they stick to the Budget Control Act limit of $967 billion. That is unacceptable by Democrats and gets Republican hawks nervous about possible defense cuts. During last Tuesday’s closed-door House Republican Conference meeting, many complained to McConnell on his hard stance.
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), House Armed Services Committee Chairman, voiced his concern over McConnell’s position: “What (McConnell) wanted to tell us was the vast majority, all but one of his senators, support keeping the budget caps; and so I wanted to say we can’t do that if we keep doing what we’re doing in the military. He can’t put pressure on us; we can’t put pressure on him…It would be so nice to get this place back to where it functions!”
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The $21 billion cut to defense programs in the new fiscal year is unfathomable to Republican hawks. Our men and women in the military deserve our support. Our defense of our great country DEMANDS our support. So we must “penetrate” those closed-door sessions by faxing every Member of Congress to help put pressure on the budget conference to reinstate the sequester military and defense budget cuts that are to automatically kick-in on January 15th. Spending cuts must come from other programs.
Your response is critical at this point.
The clock is ticking!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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