Salon.com > Douglass K. Daniel

Top Senate Democrat rejects GOP’s deep budget cuts

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:26:00 +0000

A leading Democrat predicted Sunday that the Senate would reject House Republicans' deep budget cuts, setting up tense negotiations and the need for another short-term spending measure to keep the government operating.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, contended that Republicans were unfairly and unwisely placing the burden of spending cuts on domestic programs.

"I'm willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic discretionary spending," Durbin said.

In response to a House-passed bill that would cut $61 billion from the federal budget, Senate Democrats put forward a measure that would trim just $6.5 billion from domestic agencies, as President Barack Obama proposed.

That would erase billions in cuts for education, housing and other programs sought by Republicans, but leave a massive gap between the two sides. Nonetheless, Obama's chief of staff, William Daley, said the White House and Republicans were not as far apart as the numbers would suggest.

"However you slice it, there is a challenge to our government," Daley said. The House and the Senate must agree on a budget, he added, "or this government doesn't fund itself and we look ridiculous."

McCain talks ‘regime change’ for North Korea

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:34:00 +0000

Sen. John McCain said Sunday it was time to discuss "regime change" in North Korea, but the former Navy combat pilot didn't say how he advocates changing the government in the repressive and secretive dictatorship.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was not suggesting military action against the North. He said the Chinese, the North's closest ally, should rein in its neighbor, and he accused Beijing of failing to play a responsible role in either the Korean peninsula, where tensions are high because of a recent attack by the North, or the world stage.

"The key to this, obviously, is China," McCain said on "State of the Union" on CNN. "And, unfortunately, China is not behaving as a responsible world power. It cannot be in China's long-term interest to see a renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula."

The Arizona Republican added: "They could bring the North Korean economy to its knees if they wanted to. And I cannot believe that the Chinese should, in a mature fashion, not find it in their interest to restrain North Korea. So far, they are not."

Rahm connects GOP to BP apology

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:54:00 +0000

The White House is relishing what it sees as "a political gift" -- GOP criticism of the administration for pushing BP for a $20 billion compensation fund -- and warning of the danger if voters put big business-backing Republicans back in power.

With people angry over government spending and corporate bailouts, Democrats face the possibility of larger-than-usual losses in midterm elections and could lose control of the House or Senate -- or both.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel seized on the words of a few Republicans in defense of BP to make a larger point about what a GOP-run Congress might do and what the government's proper role in regulating business should be.

"Do you think that BP is the aggrieved party here? Do you think that Wall Street should be left alone and not have any reforms?" Emanuel said. "Elections are about choices. Those are what is fundamental. There is a difference in our philosophies."

President Barack Obama will speak in the weeks ahead about "these competing, different philosophies," Emanuel told ABC's "This Week."

At a House hearing Thursday, Democrats and Republicans criticized BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, for his company's actions before and after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in April.