Medicare cuts or no deal on debt ceiling

[ugonow]

At least it isn't going to be over NPR or PP,I guess-----www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/mcconnell-demands-spending-cuts-medicare-reform-for-deal-on-debt-limit/2011/05/12/AFTvBh0G_story.html

[Deleted]

Well, something has to be done. If Pubs can force it through holding the purse strings on raising the debt limit, good. The entitlement programs are broke. We can work on something for the future now, or let the whole thing collapse. I'd far rather people do not have to deal with collapse in the near future. As many people have pointed out to me, I am lucky to have good kids, but not everyone does. Time to think about those that don't, and what the future will hold for them if they are not financially secure. It is not taking away, it is securing the future.

And, let's be real. Without jobs it is not like some magic is going to pour in to cover any of this.

[Deleted]

NPR, PP, all of that stuff, is for one issue voters and has nothing at all to do with the problem. It is all just distraction, something for the little people to fight about on message boards.

[deziloooooo]

Significantly both sides , legislature parties and the executive have been working together on this , the budget.
The meeting first with leadership of the Dems, now the meeting with the Pubs, as well as the meetings being held with the VP with both sides privately.
Biden is a player here, to come to a consensus of the budget.

Neither side getting exactly what they want, but something they can still bitch about but privately say that they at least started to visit these entitlements and some progress has been done, and now they will be looking a other parts of the picture, but they all, or most , seem to be on the same page for once, expenditures have to be cut, entitlements have to be discussed and modified.

Now it's in what detail and how much and where, understanding both sides have their 'Golden Calf " topics to defend, example, Pubs, no new taxes and the Dems, Social Security, basically some tweaking of, possible raising the age of qualifying for and contribution to, but basically leaving in place , beyond some little tweaking, for those now receiving.
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McConnell demands spending cuts, Medicare overhaul for deal on debt limit

May 12

The top Senate Republican sought Thursday to clarify his party’s stance on Medicare heading into high-stakes talks with the White House, telling President Obama he wants “significant” changes to the program in exchange for lifting the legal limit on government borrowing.

After the entire Senate Republican caucus met with Obama at the White House, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he would not insist on a controversial House GOP plan that would partly privatize the popular health program for the elderly. But with Medicare and Medicaid projected to be the major drivers of future borrowing, he said tighter eligibility requirements and reduced benefits must be part of any deal.


Answering a question on deficit and debt reduction at a town hall on the economy, President Obama reiterated a line he's used frequently, saying the deficit must be reduced "using a scalpel and not a machete."



.“The things I’m talking about have already been studied to death. We don’t need any more hearings,” McConnell said at a Capitol Hill news conference. “We know what the options are. The only question remaining is what will we pick up and agree to on a bipartisan basis.”

McConnell repeatedly stressed that he was speaking “only for myself.” But he has emerged as a key legislative dealmakersince Republicans took over the House in January, maintaining close ties to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) while establishing a direct channel to the White House through Vice President Biden, his former Senate colleague.

“Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell are working closely together” and “everything Senator McConnell discussed today” is consistent with the House GOP budget, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

McConnell’s assistance is also critical to Senate Democrats. Unless they can win Republican votes, they would have to approve one of the largest debt-limit increases in U.S. history entirely on their own — an unappetizing prospect for up to a dozen potentially vulnerable incumbents who are up for reelection next year.

In recent days, McConnell has made clear that he is willing to cooperate with the White House in drafting a “grand bargain” to help push a debt-limit increase through a reluctant Congress, as long as it includes sharp cuts in both agency and entitlement spending. McConnell said he views the debt-limit debate as a critical opportunity for the parties to work together to accomplish something that would otherwise be impossible politically.

“If there is a grand bargain of some kind with the president of the United States, none of it will be usable for either side in next year’s election — none of it,” McConnell said. “We can do something important for the country together, and this is the opportunity.”

In addition to cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, McConnell called for an agreement to reduce spending at federal agencies over the next two years, a move that would defuse a battle over agency appropriations and lessen the risk of a government shutdown before the 2012 election.

McConnell said he also wants to see limits on spending set for 2014 and beyond, although he acknowledged that caps are often breached and are therefore a less reliable tool for debt reduction.

A major rewrite of the tax code, while popular with both parties, “will not be accomplished” as part of the debt-limit debate, nor will Republicans agree to tax increases of any kind, McConnell said. But he said he would not press Obama to reduce spending on Social Security, a major objective for three GOP senators working to draft a separate debt-reduction deal as part of the Gang of Six"