Good morning and Good afternoon, Kossacks ! On the front page, Jed sourced Ezra Klein which said that the President and his team may privately be open to unbalanced triggers.
more below the fold:
The so called reason that the source said an unbalanced trigger was ok:
They point out that Republicans might want to cut spending, but they don’t want the blame for automatic, untargeted spending cuts that slash away at Social Security, Medicare and defense during an election year. But that’s cold comfort to some Hill Democrats who listened to Boehner’s Tuesday interview with Rush Limbaugh.
Republicans would gladly accept that. They forget that many of the Republicans, probably most, live in conservative districts where they believe that this would not hurt them. These people are complete ideologues.
Thankfully, there is some sanity about this coming out of the Democratic Senate:
Most think the likely compromise is a trigger that would impose automatic, across-the-board cuts in spending if the committee fails in its mission. But Senate Democratic leadership isn’t so sure. They worry that a spending-cuts only trigger is heads, Republicans win; tails, Democrats lose. “The idea of triggers with just cuts is a non-starter. Republicans would just deadlock the committee and get the cuts they want,” continues the aide. “If there is a trigger it would have to be balanced.”
Now, the report may be completely untrue. However, it could be the White House floating that idea. I think that we should reinforce the position of the Senate leadership that a cuts only trigger (which aims a trigger at the heads of our must vulnerable and nobody else) is unacceptable. Why put ourselves in another hostage situation ? Therefore, I would ask you to please let our Democratic congresspeople esp our Democratic Senators, and even more especially your Democratic Senators, that you appreciate their stance against an unbalanced trigger and that you, their constituent, strongly oppose an unbalanced trigger.
Remember, the only Speaker Boehner got his bill through the House of Representatives was by adding the balanced budget amendment to it. And even then, it barely got through, 218 to 210. Without the balanced budget amendment (and it will not have that), the Republicans clearly do not have the votes on their own to get it to pass the House of Representatives. This is even more true in the Senate. Therefore, if our Democratic caucus stands pretty united (there will of course be some defectors - especially if the President pushes to entice Democratic Representatives to defect - the usual suspects) and our Democratic Senators say no, then this will not happen.
We cannot go through this again.
No more hostage taking! Please call the White House and let them know you oppose an unbalanced trigger, call your Democratic Representative and Democratic Senators and tell them to oppose the unbalanced trigger. You may even want to call your Republican Representative to encourage them to oppose it.
It is Saturday: I do not know if staff will be available to take calls, but if not, leave a message and give verification that you are a constituent ! Thank you !
Thank you !
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