Deficit panel gridlocks as deadline nears

[Guest guest]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/19/MN9N1M1KG7.DTL

Deficit panel gridlocks as deadline nears

Lori Montgomery,lind S. Helderman, Washington Post

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Washington --

The congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit is poised

to admit defeat as soon as Monday, and its unfinished business will set up a

year-end battle over emergency jobless benefits and an expiring payroll tax

holiday.

Those provisions are among a host of measures set to lapse at the end of

December. During nearly three months of negotiations, the " super-committee " had

been weighing whether to extend at least some of them as part of a broader plan

to shave a minimum of $1.2 trillion over the next decade.

Democrats and many economists consider particularly urgent the need to extend

jobless benefits and the payroll tax cut. With national unemployment at 9

percent, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed at record levels, the

government is providing up to 99 weeks of support to about 3.5 million people.

Meanwhile, the payroll tax cut, enacted last December, allows most American

workers to keep an additional 2 percent of their earnings, a boon to tight

household budgets as well as the economic recovery. Economists at J.P.

Chase recently estimated that if Congress does not extend the two measures,

economic growth next year could take a hit of as much as two percentage points,

enough to revive fears of a recession.

Time is also running out for doctors who see Medicare patients. These physicians

are scheduled to absorb a 30 percent cut in government reimbursements in

January. A long list of tax breaks, including an inflation adjustment that

protects more than 30 million families from paying the alternative minimum tax,

also will be eliminated unless Congress acts.

Although many of the expiring provisions have received bipartisan support in the

past, this year they face a welter of political obstacles, none more important

than cost. Extending them all through 2012 threatens to add nearly $300 billion

to annual budget deficits, darkening the nation's fiscal outlook at the very

moment lawmakers had hoped to reassure financial markets with fresh savings.

The 12-member panel remained gridlocked Saturday with the clock ticking toward a

deadline of midnight Monday. Although the official deadline is midnight

Wednesday, the committee is legally barred from voting on any plan that was not

made public at least 48 hours in advance.

[Guest guest]

As planned.

Just bear one key thing in mind:

They are NOT debate CUTS. They are debating reductions in growth.

By that I mean they are not cutting as one would fundamentally think of it, meaning making something less than it was. Instead, they are talking about reducing the rate of government growth.

That is to say, instead of cutting government back 10%, they are reducing the rate of growth by a few percent. Its the difference between removing a cancer completely vs. trimming a little off the top leaving the majority to keep growing.

This is all just smoke and mirrors and designed to keep the crisis going so politicians can avoid having to do anything concrete leading up to the election so they can protect their phoney jobs.

In a message dated 11/20/2011 2:31:14 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit is poised to admit defeat as soon as Monday, and its unfinished business will set up a year-end battle over emergency jobless benefits and an expiring payroll tax holiday.