source: Try, try again: Senate ‘Gang of Six’ hatching plan on US debt reduction – CSMonitor.com.
Warner and his colleagues in the Gang of Six are putting the debt-reducing plan produced by the Simpson-Bowles commission into legislative language (some 800 pages and counting, by Warner’s estimate). That legislation should be in final form within the next six to eight weeks, Warner said. The bipartisan commission, chartered by President Obama, offered a widely commended path to financial balance but has yet to be actually put down in legislative form.
In addition, Warner plans to spend some of his congressional recesses taking trips around the country, alongside Republican colleagues, to talk up the case for a big debt-reduction plan.
It seems that the Senate of old, meaning when compromise actually happened and addressed the needs of the people, has been reduced from one hundred down to six. That seems to be all that is left after the partisan bombs have cleared the landscapes.
One of the reasons that this compromise might actually be accomplished is the deadly fear of some that the pentagon budget might actually be cut ten percent if they don’t. The Pentagon has already blatantly stated that they won’t even consider such a reduction in their budgets. If the senate takes the Pentagon at their word then some type of compromise is going to have to happen. It seems almost impossible for these guys to sa “no” to the generals for any reason.
Wouldn’t it be nice to finally get back to something constructive in our political processes. But in reality I personally will be cheering for the 10% war budget cuts. I would like to see that as the beginning of many reductions in this area. If we keep at it maybe we can come to some parity with the rest of the world on military matters before the end of this century. Then we can finally start using our money for helping the citizens of this country.
But what do I know….
RJ's Corner 
We left behind the balanced budget because of massive war spending and tax cuts for the rich. A true middle-of-the-road approach would be to try and get back there through massive reductions in war spending and tax hikes for the rich. I know, I know, not going to happen…but it’d be nice if there were actually politicians out there advocating for this.
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I don’t understand how the Pentagon can have the power to say it won’t “consider” any reductions. Who runs the show anyway? Did you all see that graph that RJ posted yesterday? Surely, there is a great deal room for reform and reductions…and not just by ending the war in Afghanistan but across the bloated board of the military. Why do we always end up looking for saving from the poor and the old? And don’t tell me they are more greedy than the military and it’s industrial cohorts. As Matthew said, middle of the road approach would look at “all” areas and departments for cuts and taxes. But, I’m afraid too much money is tied up in defense contracts and industrial connections to make it happen. There are too many strings to that pot of gold! A budget reduction could be the very push needed to bring all our troops home where they belong.
The list of wasteful spending is endless and it seems we no sooner clean one up and another one rears its ugly head.
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First you cut the war by leaving it…and then you cut the budget. I have no problem with that. Cutting the budget while putting my son’s life on the line…not so good. Why isn’t there more of a push to leave Afghanistan NOW?
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Matthew, Jane, and Jan. It sounds like we are all saying the same thing but from slightly different viewpoints. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone actually listened to us?
Jan, I am like you in that I can’t understand why there is so little push to get us out of Afghanistan, and even Iraq for that matter (we still have thousands of troops there). But of course we all know this is about oil. Until we can free ourselves from that non-renewable resource we will continue to be mired down in the Middle East. And yes I totally agree with getting our kids out of there and then pulling the plug.
Jane, I was also surprised at the arrogant response of the military leaders about budget cuts. That was insane. I’m sure there is a lot of waste that goes on when you are spending $700 billion a year. But I also agree with my Republican friends that there is also waste in our Medicare budgets. There are just too many “healthcare providers” who are gaming the system and not getting called to task on it. We need to keep punching down on both of these areas so that our tax dollars are wisely spent.
Matthew, it also amazes me that there is hardly a peep out of folks who backed President Bush putting his wars “off budget” and then continuing the insanity by give the rich more tax breaks. They claimed that we need to get the rich tax breaks so they can create jobs. Well it has been ten plus years and I have yet to see any of those new jobs happen! How long do we have to wait??
Thanks for all the thoughtful posts guys…..
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