Congress and the Lame Duck Session
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-11-15/congress-and-lame-duck-session
The midterm elections are over and Congress's lame-duck session begins today. How lame it turns out to be depends in part on the willingness of lawmakers to set aside deep ideological divisions. Republicans campaigned on promises to slash spending and retain the Bush-era tax cuts – which many Democrats blame for the sharp rise in the federal deficit. Other contentious items on the agenda are the repeal of the Pentagon's “don't ask, don't tell” policy and ratification of a nuclear treaty with Russia. We'll talk about these and other legislative issues.
Guests
David Welna
congressional correspondent, NPR.
Jackie Calmes
national correspondent, The New York Times.
Chris Cillizza
author of The Fix, a Washington Post politics blog, and managing editor of PostPolitics.com.
Comments
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What is it about pundits in Washington - you just don't seem to get it!
The result of the recent election was not about repudiation or endorsement. It was clearly about the vast majority of voting America sending the message that we don't trust anyone in government. We see bloat, we see overspending, we see incompetence, and a self-serving congress.
If congress does not find a way to balance the budget, reduce the size of government and act as statesmen instead of crooked politicians, we'll turn them all out again!
i agree with with part of tburrus's comment: "The result of the recent election was not about repudiation or endorsement. "
Comments like "most people" vs. "liberals" are self-serving opinion not analysis. Exit polls and analysis of turnout were very clear with respect to the views of voters. These are a better source of understanding the election than pundit opinion.
Democrats lost because blacks, youth, latins, and women stayed home - some would say, Dems lost the "liberal" base because....
President Obama must allow the tax cuts to expire and stand up to what he believe in. He has been 'wishy-washy' about a lot of issues when he appears in the public and starting from now, at least for me, if he stands up for his beliefs in the tax cuts for the wealthy, he is holding up on the promise of change & hope that he made when he was elected.
The Bush tax cuts clearly did not work in the past 10 years. The recent election results has been a knee jerk reaction from a populace that doesn't understand the issues. A flat 10% tax rate across the board would be the best reform! When will they ever get it?
I support eliminating the tax cuts for everyone, although I don't feel my taxes should go for the war. I have never supported the wars, and think we should not be spending taxes for war.
Also, why don't we ever hear anything about all wages being subjected to social security taxes. Why shouldn't the wealthy pay their fair share?
I know only one person receiving unemployment benefits and he recently declined a minimum wage job because he draws more than that in benefits. Wouldn't it save money if he took the job and benefits were not stopped but reduced to subsidize the difference until they would otherwise expire?
Hi Diane
Your show is awesome!! Thanks for offering a great alternative to the rant and rage of the Republicans!!
I agree with one of your callers today about feeling hopeless about the Rebpublicans taking control. They just know how to incite fear in people and they play that to the nth degree! I feel like the Republicans will advance the interests of big business and the rich. I've come to believe that they hate the middle class and will do what ever to shrink this important class to nothingness. Forget the poor they really don't care at all!! I believe that they have been just as responsible for the growth of gov't as the dems--especially under G.W. Bush!! The wars put us way behind the 8 baql and haven't done much except kill and cripple young men and women and cost us BILLIONS of dollars--why aren't the repubs calling foul for that!??
Thanks for letting me vent!!
I absolutely agree with the social security tax idea. There should be no cap on the wages for SS. It would bail out the system and it is only fair!
If you take the cap off the SS tax, then you have to take the cap off SS benefits, as it is now both tax and benefits are limited, which is only fair.
I can't believe the host proffered that some think the election was not an indictment of the past 2 yr democratic regime, but a statement that they were not liberal enough. And there was no guffawing from the guests. Sure. Loyal dems would elect repubs instead of sending more dems to provide them more confidence, strength, etc. That is the worst reporting i've ever heard, and the most obvious demonstration of how liberally biased your show, and the rest of public radio, is. Hence even moderates like me don't donate, much less conservatives. You are not even close to being realistic. Pathetic.
Jack you need to get your facts straight. Just because you don't hear what you want to hear based upon your "party of choice" doesn't mean that the show is biased. Did anyone ever consider that voters indicted the individuals that they voted out rather than the party of those individuals? If the vote reflected an indictment of the Democratic party, then Democrats wouldn't have won any seats. There were several key points made from the panel of this particular show, the most important one being that we have had tax cuts for ten years now and they have not done anything for jobs (and corespondingly, the economy). People need to wake up and see that THE TRICKLE DOWN DIDN'T WORK! The rich have gotten richer at the expense of the middle class and the greedy people in the financial world took advantage of us all. Those are the facts Jack! An indictment of the show or your pathetic labeling is what isn't close to being realistic.
These last election results are about The Corporation vs The Government. The Corporation succeeded through think tank advertising slogans like:
"Government is too big." But really, what is so big about government?
"Cut taxes." But the Democrats are cutting everyone's taxes, except for those of the millionaires.
"Balance the budget." Which was balanced when the Bush administration entered office, and was sent spiralling out of whack during President Bush's 8 years. Hoover tried balancing the budget in the face of the depression, and it failed. Wrong timing.
Notice a few things:
By appropriately taxing the rich, we get back somewhere in the neighborhood of a trillion dollars (!) which can be applied to the deficit (little over a trillion dollars) or in job creation.
By the way, Government Jobs is Employment. Cutting them, will not help the major problem in our economy, which is Unemployment.
Cutting government, cutting programs in education, in social security, in food safety and environmental regulation, while fighting for corporate health care industry, only benefits one group, and one group only, the rich.
Good people who have voted with the Party fighting to limit your government in order to give tax-give-aways to the rich, don't be fooled.
Typical nonsense AGM. My true statement was that a democrat who believes the last 2 yrs wasn't liberal enough would NOT try to further their agenda by kicking out their democrat incumbent and instead vote for the repub alternative. That was the proposition which was given lip service by the host, and that baloney was the purpose and content of my message. Now, I did hate the last 2 yrs, but I also hated the previous 8 (and did not vote for bush). Sure wish AGM and others would stop believing that someone with a different point of view must be a different political party.
Sorry Jack. I didn't notice your different point of view because you were slandering the democratic party, the guest and the host of the program for not believing in what you believe in. Gee, that seems like taking sides to me. You really ought to let go of all that hate and try constructive criticism for a change.
I'd like to see government of the people, by the people and for the people, not idiots in congress driven by lobbyists and mouthing off about "what the people want."