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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Boehner: Debt Ceiling Increase Obama's Problem


Published July 12, 2011
| FoxNews.com


House Speaker John Boehner is turning up the heat on President Obama, calling the debt-ceiling increase "his problem" and putting the onus on him to present a deficit-reduction plan that can pass Congress. 
Republicans in both chambers had tough words for the administration ahead of another White House sit-down Tuesday afternoon. On the Senate floor, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell accused the president and his party of "deliberate deception." 
The comments may reflect increasing pressure from rank-and-file Republicans to press for deeper spending cuts and not cave in to the administration's call for tax hikes
"The House Republicans have a plan. We passed our budget back in the spring, outlined our priorities. Where's the president's plan? When's he going to lay his cards on the table?" Boehner said. "This debt limit increase is his problem and I think it's time for him to lead by putting his plan on the table, something that the Congress can pass." 

House GOP Leader Eric Cantor also accused Obama of trying to impose "greater costs on the people of this country at a time they can least deal with that." 
On the other side, liberal groups and lawmakers are pressuring the president not to cede ground when it comes to entitlements. The rhetoric on both sides has the potential to complicate the latest marathon push to strike a deal and raise the debt ceiling. 
Obama and Vice President Biden plan to meet Tuesday afternoon with lawmakers from both parties, following up on back-to-back meetings since Sunday. The talks so far have failed to yield a compromise ahead of what the administration claims is an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. 
After Obama privately offered to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, liberal Democrats and advocacy groups cried foul. 
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., told Fox News such cuts would be a political and fiscal "mistake." 
One liberal group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, immediately blasted out an email to supporters urging them to sign a petition to the Obama campaign threatening to withhold support in 2012 if he cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi reiterated that her caucus continues to oppose cuts in Social Security and Medicare as a "piggybank to subsidize tax cuts for the wealthy." 
From the conservative wing, the Club for Growth is also running an ad urging Republicans to "show some spine" and push for more cuts. 
"No debt limit hike without real spending cuts and a Balanced Budget Amendment," the ad says. 
Another appeal from a conservative group sent out on a "Tea Party Alert" email chain Tuesday morning urged Congress not to approve any debt limit increase. 
Obama alluded to this backdrop Monday when, at a morning press conference, he said Boehner's rank-and-file were making things "very difficult." 
Obama suggested his own side would have to compromise too -- something they are loath to do when it comes to potential entitlement cuts. 
"If each side wants 100 percent of what its ideological predispositions are, then we can't get anything done," he said. 
Despite scattered calls from the conservative wing not to raise the debt ceiling at all, Boehner on Monday stressed the importance of doing so. He and other leading Republicans say their chief objection to the current state of talks is an insistence on raising taxes, as well as the Democratic resistance to dealing with entitlements. 
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., sent out a memo after Monday's meeting saying tax hikes would "adversely undercut" two key elements of any fiscal package -- "spending restraint and economic growth." 
"The last time there was a bipartisan budget agreement, it balanced the budget by cutting spending and cutting taxes," Ryan said, referencing the 1997 bipartisan budget agreement. 
Boehner on Monday said the reality is that a deficit-reduction package that raises taxes simply cannot pass the House. 
"Adding tax increases to the equation doesn't balance anything," Boehner said. "The American people understand that tax hikes destroy jobs."

Afghan President's Brother Assassinated by Bodyguard



Afghanistan


Published July 12, 2011
| Associated Press



President Hamid Karzai's half brother, the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan and a lightning rod for criticism of corruption in the government, was assassinated Tuesday by a close associate. His death leaves a dangerous power vacuum in the south just as the government has begun peace talks with insurgents ahead of a U.S. withdrawal.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot to death while receiving guests at his home in Kandahar, the capital of the province that was the birthplace of the Taliban movement and was the site of a recent U.S.-led offensive.
Tooryalai Wesa, the provincial governor of Kandahar, identified the assassin as Sardar Mohammad and said he was a close, "trustworthy" person who had gone to Wali Karzai's house to get him to sign some papers.
As Wali Karzai was signing the papers, the assassin "took out a pistol and shot him with two bullets -- one in the forehead and one in the chest," Wesa said. "Another patriot to the Afghan nation was martyred by the enemies of Afghanistan."The killing coincided with a visit to the capital, Kabul, by French President Nicolas Sarzoky.

"This morning my younger brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was murdered in his home," the Afghan president said during a joint news conference with Sarkozy. "Such is the life of Afghanistan's people. In the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability."
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination at the heavily guarded house, hidden behind 8-foot blast walls. The Interior Ministry said an investigation was under way.
Wali Karzai, who was in his 50s and had survived several previous assassination attempts, was seen by many as a political liability for the Karzai government after a series of allegations, including that he was on the CIA payroll and involved in drug trafficking. He denied the charges.
The president repeatedly challenged his accusers to show him evidence of his sibling's wrongdoing, but said nobody ever could.
Wali Karzai remained a key power broker in the south, helping shore up his family's interests in the Taliban's southern heartland, which has been the site of numerous offensives by U.S., coalition and Afghan troops to root out insurgents. Militants have retaliated by intimidating and killing local government officials or others against the Taliban.
The United Nations said in a quarterly report issued June 23 that more than half of all assassinations across Afghanistan since March had been in Kandahar. In April, the Kandahar police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid was killed by a suicide bomber wearing a police uniform who blew himself up beside the official's car.
According to a government official with knowledge of the investigation, Wali Karzai was holding a meeting in his home with five provincial council members and a number of local village elders, including the assassin. The official said Mohammad was a close friend and had represented Wali Karzai many times in their shared home village of Karz, the president's hometown. Mohammad was the village elder of Karz and was his emissary and travel companion throughout Kandahar, the official said.
At about 11:30 a.m. Mohammad asked Wali Karzai to speak with him privately and to sign some papers in an adjoining room, the official said. Three shots rang out, according to the official. Wali Karzai's bodyguards ran into the room and found him on the floor with bullet wounds to his head, hand and leg. The bodyguards shot and killed the assassin.
The government official said that it remains unclear whether the killing was the result of an internal feud or a Taliban plot.
Although tribal rivalries are common in Kandahar, bloodletting within tribes is fairly uncommon, he said.
Agha Lalai, deputy of the provincial council, said he was one of the first to respond to the sounds of shots.
Lalai said that he and several other men picked up Wali Karzai and attempted to carry him out of the house, but he died before they left the grounds.
In Kabul, the political elite reacted to the killing with shock and concern about the future of the country's southern region and beyond. Though Wali Karzai held an elected office in the provincial council, people who knew him said he seemed to float above the various political and tribal spheres dominating the south. Throngs of people came to Karzai's house on a daily basis seeking remedies for everything from family disputes, to tribal battles, to political intrigues.
Members of the international community had urged the president to remove his brother from his powerful provincial position, saying that it was essential if he was to prove to the Afghan people that he was committed to good governance. But despite his alleged forays into narco-trafficking, smuggling, and land theft, many Western officials also relied on him because of his unparalleled reach and understanding of the various players in the area.
Noorolhaq Olomi, a former parliament member from Kandahar, said Wali Karzai was the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan -- "more of a governor than the governor" and "everybody's leader in the south, not just Kandahar."
"I cannot say whether this was political or personal or some other matter," Olomi said. "But whoever did it, it shows the weakness of this government. The president needs to change things. He needs to change himself and build a government that is real. Right now, there is no government. It's all a fraud."
Condolences flooded into the president palace throughout the day.
Gen. David Petraeus, the outgoing commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, condemned the murder and said the coalition would support efforts to prosecute anyone who played a role in the killing. "President Karzai is working to create a stronger, more secure Afghanistan, and for such a tragic event to happen to someone within his own family is unfathomable," Petraeus said in a statement.
Both Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called the president to express their sadness at his brother's death.
Abdullah Abdullah, the top opposition leader in Afghanistan who ran against Karzai in the latest presidential election, called it "an act against national personality and the ones who are at the service of the Afghan people."
Mohammad Yusuf Pashtun, a senior adviser to the president for construction, water, energy and mines, said the death will have a big impact on security in southern Afghanistan.
"My first impression is that in spite of all the negative propaganda against him he managed to be a source of stability in that area," he said. "When it comes to bringing people together in the south, this creates a vacuum. I don't know what will happen now, but something must be done by the local leadership."
Rangina Hamidi, a resident of Kandahar and daughter of the city's mayor, said Wali Karzai is survived by five children -- two sons and three daughters. She says his youngest son was born about a month ago.
Wali Karzai has been the reported target of multiple assassination attempts.
In May 2009, a bodyguard was killed when his motorcade was ambushed by insurgents but Wali Karzai was not harmed.
That attack came less than two months after four Taliban suicide bombers stormed Kandahar's provincial council office, killing 13 people in an assault that Wali Karzai said was aimed at him, although he had left the building a few minutes beforehand.
Wali Karzai also survived a November 2008 suicide attack on the provincial council offices that killed six other people.



Revenue Increases that Republicans will Support

Uploaded by  on Jul 8, 2011







Ron Paul won't seek congressional term in 2012



Posted: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 10:38 am | Updated: 10:50 am, Tue Jul 12, 2011.
LAKE JACKSON — After serving almost 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul told The Facts this morning he will not be seeking another term for the District 14 seat.
Paul, 75, will instead focus on his quest for the presidency in 2012.

“I felt it was better that I concentrate on one election,” Paul said. “It’s about that time when I should change tactics.”
His announcement will give enough time for anyone with aspirations for his seat to think about running, he said. Paul didn’t want to wait for filing in the 2012 primary to let people know he wasn’t seeking reelection.
“I didn’t want to hold off until in December,” he said. “I thought it shouldn’t be any later than now.”
Paul has served 12 terms in Congress. District 14 encompasses a 10-county area along the Gulf Coast.
“The people in the area have supported me for many years,” he said.
Before turning to politics, Paul was an obstetrician based in Lake Jackson. The Pennsylvania native served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force before moving to the area to start his practice.
Paul first was elected to the U.S. House in 1976 and served four terms before stepping down in 1984. After Republicans took over Congress in 1994, Paul said he felt inspired to run again and sought the District 14 seat in 1996. He beat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Laughlin in the 1996 primary and won the general election against Democrat Charles “Lefty” Morris.
Paul has held the seat since 1996 and has fended off challengers both from his party and from Democrats. In the last election in 2010, Paul easily beat three Republican challengers in the primary and then won reelection against Democrat Robert Pruett in the general election.
Brazoria County Republican Chair Yvonne Dewey said she was not expecting Paul’s announcement, made exclusively to The Facts early Tuesday.
“I’m surprised,” she said. “He has won very handily in the last few elections. He’s hung in there all these years.”
While he has faced many opponents in his own party in recent years, no one has formally announced running for his nomination in the March 2012 primary, Dewey said.
“I think it will be treated as a wide-open seat,” she said. “You will have a lot of candidates on both sides.”
He unsuccessfully ran for president as the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988, and in 2008 unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the White House.
Paul said while he is vacating the District 14 seat, he feels his chances for the 2012 Republican nomination are much better than in 2008, when he set fundraising records driven by the Internet.
“We have a lot more support right now,” he said. “Things are doing well for us.”
Paul is traveling the country in his bid for the White House and said he has spent twice the amount of time in New Hampshire and Iowa this year than he did in 2008. Throughout his time in politics, Paul has had a stance of limited government, reduced federal spending, individual liberties and a non-interventionist foreign policy.
“I have been talking about this for years,” he said Tuesday. “I will always be doing that. But not in the U.S. Congress.”

Breakdown of Obama's strategy


  -  


Step-by-step, Lawrence explains President Obama's approach to the debt negotiations and why he's masterfully winning the fight.


GOP: Debt vote is 'shared sacrifice'



Obama is growing frustrated with Cantor's (left) and Boehner's bargaining stance. | AP Photos



By: David Rogers
July 11, 2011 07:49 PM EDT
Republicans dug in deeper against adding tax revenues to any deficit reduction package Monday, suggesting that just voting for a debt ceiling increase qualifies as “shared sacrifice” and even taunting President Barack Obama by saying that if he feels compelled to pay more taxes, “he can write a check anytime he wants.”
That last remark came from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who has pushed past Speaker John Boehner as the public spokesman for the House GOP in recent days while also reasserting himself in negotiating sessions on the debt issue at the White House.
Cantor said it was “laughable” to suggest that Republicans aren’t prepared to deal with the nation’s deficit and insisted the real distinction is: “We don’t want to go and raise taxes on people in a tough economy. That is what it comes down to right now. The president and his party do.”
The tone was more polite at an afternoon White House negotiating session, where Cantor used color-coded charts to present his vision of how to get almost all the way to $2.4 trillion in 10-year savings without added taxes. But that’s still far less than what Obama is seeking, and Cantor didn’t hide the fact — yellow marked caution — that he was pushing the envelope beyond what spending cuts had been agreed to in prior talks with Democrats and Vice President Joe Biden.
Talks are to resume Tuesday, and Obama said he will keep calling congressional leaders back each day until an answer is found. But the president’s frustration was apparent: “I do not see a path to a deal if they don’t budge, period,” Obama said at a morning press conference. And he risks seeing the whole process unravel as allies like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid show increasing impatience with the GOP’s stand.
At a White House meeting Sunday night, Reid exploded at one point, angrily swearing that Republicans were now rejecting any peace dividend from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but had counted more than $1 trillion for this purpose in their own budget. And when Cantor spelled out his list of savings Monday, Reid bluntly predicted that the package would never have the support needed to pass the Senate.
Obama himself walked Cantor back to about $1.7 trillion — the number used by the White House to better estimate what had been agreed to in the Biden talks. And Reid has argued that before further savings are agreed to at the expense of Medicare or Medicaid, the GOP must add revenues to the mix to get to the $2.4 trillion target.
Among the listed savings which appear to be new on the Cantor sheets are up to $53 billion from proposed reforms in supplemental Medigap insurance policies, which are often criticized for encouraging an overuse of Medicare at the expense of taxpayers. And in the case of Pell Grants for low-income college students, Cantor’s estimate shows a huge range of savings from $10 billion to $56 billion — a fivefold increase.
In a moment of humor, the president suggested Cantor’s detailed presentation had a page missing—on revenues. In fact, the Biden group had also discussed potential tax loophole closings with Cantor, who has said he might go along if the tax savings were used to finance other tax breaks. Biden jumped into the back-and-forth at this juncture, and it appeared to some that the president was reminding Cantor of these past revenue talks—perhaps to tweak the majority leader in front of the speaker. 

The $2.4 trillion target represents the dollar-for-dollar equivalent of the estimated $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase needed next month to guarantee the Treasury has sufficient borrowing authority to manage past the 2012 elections. Obama again Monday rejected the notion of a short-term fix, and until this past weekend he had hoped Boehner would join him behind a much larger $4 trillion deficit reduction package that would include substantial savings — but also new tax revenues.
“It’s not going to get easier,” the president said. “It’s going to get harder. So we might as well do it now — pull off the Band-Aid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?” 

“I’m prepared to do it. I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done, and I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing if they mean what they say, that this is important.”
Boehner himself has the air of a man beaten down, after giving up on the larger $4 trillion deal. But unlike Cantor, the speaker avoided taking any personal shot at Obama and still spoke favorably of the need for tax reform, a key element in that proposal.
“There was a big conversation under way about revenues,” Boehner told reporters. “Revenues in the context of tax reform, lowering rates, broadening the base, which would encourage more economic activity and real growth in our economy that would result in additional revenues to the federal government.” 

“There is, in fact, a way to do this.” 

Indeed, coupling tax reform with a package of savings may yet be one path to restore momentum behind the negotiations. 

Economist Mark Zandi told POLITICO that tax reform is “the most logical approach to bridge the gap between the two, and it would be a significant plus for the economy.” And Cantor himself has signaled that he would be more accepting of a reform deal — if the new revenues assumed for deficit reduction came solely from this resulting economic growth. 

Nothing on the scale of the $4 trillion package seems possible, and Boehner will be shy of jumping back in. But Obama was clearly prepared to make significant spending concessions as part of his talks with the speaker. 

Democrats confirmed that even options like slowly raising the eligibility age for Medicare were on the table — something that would have been taboo before enactment of health care reform last year. And the president saved part of Monday’s press conference to talk to progressives in his party who have been critical of his willingness to make concessions on core Democratic priorities. 

“If you look at the numbers, then Medicare in particular will run out of money, and we will not be able to sustain that program no matter how much taxes go up,” Obama said. “I mean, it’s not an option for us to just sit by and do nothing. And if you’re a progressive who cares about the integrity of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and believes that it is part of what makes our country great, … then we have an obligation to make sure that we make those changes that are required to make it sustainable over the long term.” 

“So, yeah, we’re going to have a sales job; this is not pleasant. It is hard to persuade people to do hard stuff that entails trimming benefits and increasing revenues. But the reason we’ve got a problem right now is people keep on avoiding hard things, and I think now is the time for us to go ahead and take it on.”