Latest In

Breaking News

Rewriting History on That Deficit Task Force

Here’s how history gets rewritten: Last week, the Senate killed legislation to create a bipartisan panel designed to tackle the country’s skyrocketing debt.

Jul 31, 2020
843K Shares
12.9M Views
Here’s how history gets rewritten: Last week, the Senate killedlegislation to create a bipartisan panel designed to tackle the country’s skyrocketing debt. President Obama endorsed it— as did many conservative Republicans — but it failed after six GOP co-sponsorsand Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a one-time fan, bailed at the last moment, evidently more intent on preventing an Obama victory than on enacting the bill McConnell once called“the best way to address the [budget] crisis.” (The vote was 53 to 46. If those seven Republicans had supported the proposal, it would have passed.)
No matter. Today, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) implied that the failure of the deficit task force bill was somehow Obama’s. Grilling Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, Alexander wondered what “problems” prevented the bill’s success the first time through.
You might want to consider a suggestion about bringing [the Conrad-Gregg proposal] up again, amending it, and finding out what the problems are. It had 16 Republican votes. If the president with 59 or 60 votes can’t pass something that’s important to him, it’s going to be a long four years. So that’s a good start and maybe there are some adjustments that could be made in the statutory commission.
Or maybe there are some adjustments that could be made in the Republican strategy of blocking everything the White House supports, just for the opportunity to call the president ineffective.
Paolo Reyna

Paolo Reyna

Reviewer
Paolo Reyna is a writer and storyteller with a wide range of interests. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies. Paolo enjoys writing about celebrity culture, gaming, visual arts, and events. He has a keen eye for trends in popular culture and an enthusiasm for exploring new ideas. Paolo's writing aims to inform and entertain while providing fresh perspectives on the topics that interest him most. In his free time, he loves to travel, watch films, read books, and socialize with friends.
Latest Articles
Popular Articles