Domestic Programs

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to come up with short-term spending cuts and revenue increases that would stave off more drastic cuts set to take effect in March. In a brief appearance in the White House briefing room, Obama asked lawmakers to come up with a quick fix that would postpone the automatic cuts and their "devastating" effects on the economy. The economy is in recovery, Obama said, but that won't continue if there are “self-inflicted wounds” caused by elected officials.  The economy shouldn't be at risk “just because folks in Washington couldn't come together to eliminate a few special-interest tax loopholes or government programs that we agreed need some reform,” he said.

How long will the American people believe that the Reagan Administration can decrease taxes and increase spending without creating ruinous burden of debt? How long will the American people believe the "economic projections" coming from the White House? When the Reagan Administration argues for more billions for new weapons systems and military support for the contras , we hear that we can do so without raising taxes because the improved economy will generate more income for the government.

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans approved a sweeping package of budget cuts to food stamps, Meals on Wheels and other domestic programs -- while sparing the Pentagon -- in an election-year showcase of party priorities. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the legislation, which is expected to stall in the Senate, but House Speaker John A. Boehner's decision to call a vote gives the GOP an opportunity to highlight its agenda and attack President Obama's efforts to reduce the deficit. The bill was approved on party lines, 218-199.

WASHINGTON -- A stopgap measure to keep the government funded at a new, lower level cleared a final hurdle in Congress on Thursday and is headed for President Obama's signature, ending the threat of a government shutdown. The House quickly approved the measure, 318-109, following passage in the Senate on Wednesday, as both parties -- and the administration -- sought to avoid a disruptive closing of federal offices. Legislation is needed by March 27 when a temporary measure expires, and Obama is expected to swiftly sign it. The bill locks in the amount of the so-called sequester cuts on federal agencies, the across-the-board reductions that have begun crimping lawmakers' priority projects and home-state industries.

Congress approved a $38-billion spending cut package Thursday, sealing a deal to prevent a government shutdown before plunging into an even more far-reaching debate over spending on federal programs and benefits for the years to come. The Republican-controlled House planned a vote as early as Friday on a 2012 GOP spending blueprint by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which would slash spending and shrink federal involvement in Medicare and Medicaid. President Obama and congressional Democrats are drawing a sharp contrast with the GOP plan, pointing to key differences over the role and scope of government.

More than half the deficit reduction that President Reagan will propose for fiscal 1987 will represent recycled proposals that Congress rejected last year, and about 40% will be such new ideas as selling government property and loans, White House Budget Director James C. Miller III told congressional leaders Tuesday. But congressional leaders insisted that Reagan, if his spending cuts are to win approval this year, must drop his opposition to a tax increase.

WASHINGTON - No longer interested in shutting down the government, the Republican-led House approved legislation Thursday to keep it running into next year, jettisoning the GOP's earlier strategy of using the annual federal funding bill as leverage to extract spending cuts. The House approved the measure, 329 to 91. The Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow majority, is expected to approve it before the Oct. 1 deadline, averting a government shutdown at the start of the new fiscal year.

WASHINGTON - With agreement to lift the nation's debt ceiling secured, Congress now turns to the next budget showdown: the deep automatic spending cuts due to start hitting the economy in March, which lawmakers appear unwilling - or unable - to stop. The Senate sent legislation to temporarily suspend the $16.4-trillion debt limit to the White House on Thursday for President Obama's signature. The vote was 64 to 34, with mostly Republicans and one Democrat opposed. Now, Congress must decide whether to stop the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts that are scheduled to begin March 1. Those reductions were once considered so severe they would force lawmakers to the table to negotiate a more balanced deficit reduction compromise.