Amidst the standoff over the sequester and it's looming $85 billion in spending cuts there's been a lot of the "blame game" going on between Washington Republicans and Democrats. Republicans insist the sequester was entirely President Obama's doing, and that he lobbied for it in 2011 when the deal was reached to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats on the other hand argue that Republicans share the blame for the cuts as they were the ones who allowed it to clear the house, the chamber of Congress that republicans currently control. PolitiFact has checked both claims and ranked both as half-true, noting that both sides share the blame for this one.
In 2011 when the deal to raise the debt ceiling was finally reached it came in a form that was supposed to be unsavory for either party. A "super-committe" would be established that would need to come up with an additional $1.3 trillion in spending cuts by a deadline otherwise a series of automatic cuts would go into effect over a ten year period. The cuts would be indiscriminate taking from both social programs, a democratic golden goose, and from the defense, a long republican protectorate. CBS interviewed John Boehner just after the deal was reached asking him a series of questions, one of which asked if because of his failure to pass a solution by his own caucus he would still seek to retain the speakership. In response the speaker stated: "I do. When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the white House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I'm pretty happy."
So what was the 2% that was reached in the deal that makes John Boehner so unhappy?
Officially the deal reached in 2011 to raise the debt ceiling is known as the Budget Control Act of 2011. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) it would reduce the deficit by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. The CBO estimates that initially the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce deficits by $917 billion primarily by reducing and imposing caps on discretionary spending.
In 2011 when the deal to raise the debt ceiling was finally reached it came in a form that was supposed to be unsavory for either party. A "super-committe" would be established that would need to come up with an additional $1.3 trillion in spending cuts by a deadline otherwise a series of automatic cuts would go into effect over a ten year period. The cuts would be indiscriminate taking from both social programs, a democratic golden goose, and from the defense, a long republican protectorate. CBS interviewed John Boehner just after the deal was reached asking him a series of questions, one of which asked if because of his failure to pass a solution by his own caucus he would still seek to retain the speakership. In response the speaker stated: "I do. When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the white House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I'm pretty happy."
So what was the 2% that was reached in the deal that makes John Boehner so unhappy?
Officially the deal reached in 2011 to raise the debt ceiling is known as the Budget Control Act of 2011. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) it would reduce the deficit by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. The CBO estimates that initially the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce deficits by $917 billion primarily by reducing and imposing caps on discretionary spending.
Here's how the savings break down: Outlays for discretionary programs, which include defense spending, would be cut by $741 billion.
On top of that, $156 billion would be saved because of reduced interest costs on the country's debt. And $20 billion would be cut from education loan initiatives and by curtailing waste, fraud and abuse in other mandatory programs.
In terms of education spending, the bill would increase funding for Pell Grants by $17 billion between 2012 and 2015. It would also cut student loan funding by $22 billion over 10 years.
Read the full text of the bill at CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/debt_ceiling_bill/?iid=EL
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