Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) tonight introduced his 11th-hour effort to keep the worst tenets of the fiscal cliff from going into effect.
His “Cliff Alleviation at the Last Minute,” or CALM Act, would phase in the tax hikes over the next three years instead allowing all of them to hit immediately. It would also allow the Office of Management and Budget to prioritize which programs will be cut, rather than apply an across-the-board sequestration cut.
“If we’re determined to go over the cliff, we’ve got to do something to soften the landing, because at the bottom of the fiscal cliff are immediate and massive tax increases, deep and indiscriminate spending cuts, and the risk of another recession,” Manchin said in a floor speech to introduce the legislation. “So as we come down to the final hours, we have two choices – to do nothing and cause an unbelievable amount of hardship for our fellow Americans or to do something to reduce the suffering inflicted on our citizens by an inflexible political system. I choose to do something.”
Manchin said his bill “is not something that I am excited about or proud to offer.”
“This is not a great plan, merely a better plan than going over the cliff,” he said. “It should never have come to this.”
Manchin’s bill also encourages Congress and the White House to work toward a “big fix” based on the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction framework — which President Obama has already rejected.
“Every provision of the CALM Act is familiar to the Senate. In fact, at one time or another, nearly every feature of this plan has been offered by both Republicans and Democrats, including President Obama and Speaker Boehner,” he said. “All I’ve done is pull them together to offer them as a compassionate alternative to what happens if we go over the fiscal cliff.”
“I’m not so naïve as to believe everybody is going to check their politics at the door, even at this late hour. But this is not a time for political bickering or partisan games. To allow the country to plunge over the fiscal cliff, without any alternative plans to soften the landing, is completely unacceptable. …Something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to the American economy is the American Congress.”
Manchin’s bill isn’t likely to be the only version of a stopgap measure to be floated in the coming hours. In a town where continuing resolutions are periodically passed to keep the government running, it’s reasonable to expect that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden will come up with a can-kicking deal in their negotiations tonight and tomorrow.
Shut it down. Shut the whole damned government down—and then authorize only debt service, defense, and courts. Everything else goes on the table. Keep Social Security? EPA goes. Medicare? Then bye-bye, Department of Education.
The House can do it; there is no budget, and all spending must be authorized by the House. Boehner should be running the country, instead of running to Obama with his hat in his hand.
I was thinking just that last evening. Boehner should go full jerk on Obama, remind him that he, too, is the head of a branch of government and that he won’t play any more.
I want every American to understand that at this juncture in American history there were those who tried to right the fiscal ship of state, and those who could only think of their class hatreds (while praising a man who is the very definition of advancement through preferential privilege), or thinking only of the next election, and the damage they could do to another political party, for no other reason than they wished to and the opportunity was there. If the national strength of tne United States got harmed in the process–well, perhaps they thought we as a nation should pay some kind of penance, for something or the other.
I think any future Constitution framers make a mistake in giving a Chief Executive a veto over spending or revenue bills. Given the natural human tendency to look towards one seemingly strong man vice a group, it corrodes the idea of a legislature as the soul of deliberation, and paves the road a bit too far towards imperial-like rule by one man. It also enables factional strife.
A check against the Legislature on spending and revenue needs to come from a different body, a broader-based body.
Maybe separate the roles of the Bean-Counter-in-Chief and the actual Chief Executive — on the principle of having one child cut the sandwich and the other choose his “half” first. I’m not comfortable with having one branch of government with sole budgetmaking and appropriations power.
– Manchin up, shut it down.
“Remain CALM! All is well!”