OPINOINS BASED
ON FACTS (OBOF)
&
THINGS YOU MAY
HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)
YEAR ONE
YEAR TWO
YEAR THREE
YEAR FOUR
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OBOF YEAR FOUR INDEX
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-01
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Jan. 02, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-02
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Jan. 09, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-03
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Jan. 15, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-04
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Jan. 24, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-05
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JAN 30, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-06
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Feb. 06, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-06 EXTRA
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Feb. 09, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-07
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Feb. 13, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-08
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Feb. 21, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-09
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Feb. 27, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-10
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Mar. 08, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-11
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Mar. 13, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-11 EXTRA
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Mar. 15, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-12
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Mar. 21, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-13
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Mar. 29, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-14
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Apr. 03, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-15
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Apr. 12, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-16
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Apr. 19, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-17
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Apr. 26, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-18
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May 03,
2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-19
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May 10,
2014
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OBOF TYMHM PART 14-20
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May 20,
2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 21
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May 28, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - Ho 22
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June 10, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 23
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June 20, 2014
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noteOBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 24
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July 04, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 25
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Aug. 04, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 26
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Aug. 25, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 27
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Sept. 03, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 28
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Sept. 10, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 29
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Sept. 14, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 30
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Sept. 21, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 31
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Sept. 29, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 32
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Oct. 10, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 33
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Oct. 31, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 34
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Nov. 09, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 35
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Nov. 16, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 36
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Nov. 25, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 37
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Nov. 30, 2014
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OBOF TYMHM Vol 14 - No 38
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Dec. 14, 2014
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Agenda
1.
Thoughts from Floyd.
2.
Lawmakers in the House agree on spending bill.
3.
Major provisions of spending bill.
4.
Senate to vote on spending bill - late Saturday.
5.
Congress sends spending bill to the President.
THOUGHTS FROM FLOYD
It has been a
rough time for me lately since my fall on Thanksgiving. I am doing
quite well now. Enough said about
that.
I do hope you will stay with me. This posting is entirely about the budget - what had to take place to get passage and what is in the bill. If you are interested in where your money goes and how much is involved, you will find these postings will answer those questions. This is right up to Saturday night for final action.
The computer has changed some format hat I can't do anything about. The thought is all there though
~~~
Lawmakers in the House agree on $1.1 trillion spending bill
Dec 9th 2014 10:00PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Time running short, Republicans and
Democrats agreed Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avoid a government
shutdown and delay a politically-charged struggle over President Barack Obama's
new immigration policy until the new year.
In an unexpected move, lawmakers also agreed on legislation expected to be
incorporated into the spending measure that will permit a reduction in benefits
for current retirees at economically distressed multiemployer pension plans.
Supporters said it was part of an effort to prevent a slow-motion collapse of a
system that provides retirement income to millions, but critics objected
vehemently.
There was no immediate reaction from the White House to the bill.
At 1,603 pages, the spending bill adheres to strict caps negotiated earlier
between the White House and deficit- conscious Republicans, and is also salted
with GOP policy proposals. As described by unhappy liberals, one would roll
back new regulations that prohibit banks from using federal deposit insurance
to cover investments on some complex financial instruments.
Elsewhere, there were trade-offs. Republicans won a $60 million cut at the
Environmental Protection Agency, and said the agency's workforce would be
reduced to the lowest level since 1989. Democrats
emerged with increases for enforcement activities at the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
"The federal government's going to run out of money in two days. ...
We've been trying to work with Republican leaders to avoid a shutdown,"
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada
Speaker John Boehner said he hoped for a vote on the measure on Thursday,
and officials expressed confidence they could overcome opposition from tea
party-backed Republicans and avoid a government shutdown.
House Democratic Leader Nancy
Senate approval would then be required to send it to Obama - one of the
final acts of a two-year Congress far better known for gridlock than for
accomplishment.
Not only a two-year Congress, but also a political era was drawing to a
close as the lights burned late inside the Capitol on a December night.
For the first time in eight years, Republicans will have a Senate majority
in January after their hugely successful midterm election, and newly elected
GOP senators-elect participated in closed-door strategy sessions during the
day.
Before time runs out on his majority, Reid said he wanted to assure
confirmation of nine more of Obama's judicial nominees and approve the
appointment of Vivek Murthy as surgeon general.
Also on Congress' must-do list is legislation to renew a series of expiring
tax breaks, and a bill to authorize the Pentagon to train and equip Syrian
rebels to fight Islamic State forces in the Middle East .
The compromise spending bill will permit virtually the entire government to
operate normally through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, with the
exception of the Department of Homeland Security.
Funds for that one agency will run out again on Feb. 27, when Republicans
are expected to try and use the expiration as leverage to force Obama to roll
back a decision suspending the threat of deportation for an estimated 4 million
immigrants living in the country illegally.
Not all Republicans agreed with the strategy of postponing a fight over
immigration. Some conservative lawmakers
demanded a change deny the use of federal funds to carry out the president's
new policy.
Earlier in the day, House Republicans removed one obstacle to passage of
the spending measure by announcing they would pass legislation separately to
renew a requirement for the federal government to assume some of the insurance
risk in losses arising from terrorism.
In talks with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Republicans led by Rep. Jeb
Hensarling, R-Texas., agreed to the renewal, but said they wanted to roll back
portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that tightened federal regulation on the
financial sector.
The stand-alone bill seemed likely to clear the House, but its fate in the
Senate was uncertain.
The pension-related talks between Rep. John Kline, R-Min., and George
Miller, D-Calif., were designed to preserve benefits of current and future
retirees at lower levels than currently exist, but higher than they would be if
their pension funds ran out of money.
"We have a plan here that first and foremost works for the members of
the unions, the workers in these companies and it works for the
companies," said Miller, retiring at year's end after four decades in
Congress.
The AARP, which claims to represent millions of retirement-age Americans,
attacked the agreement as a "secret, last-minute closed door deal between
a group of companies, unions and Washington
Also driving the talks was concern over the financial fate of the fund that
insures multiemployer pensions at the government's Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corp. The agency said in its most recent
annual report that the fund's deficit rose to $42.2 billion in the fiscal year
ending Sept, 30, up from $8.3 billion the previous year, and that the
likelihood of its bankruptcy is 90 percent by 2025.
Agency figures show as many as 1.5 million retirees could be affected by
any change in law to permit a reduction. An estimated 400,000 of them receive
benefits from the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund.
___
Associated
Press writers Alan Fram, Connie Cass and Erica Werner contributed to this
report.
~~~
Major provisions of $1.1
trillion
spending bill.
Dec 10th 2014 6:05AM
Top lawmakers Tuesday released a massive 1,603-page, $1.1
trillion omnibus spending bill funding every government agency but the Homeland
Security Department through Sept. 30, 2015.
The measure also contains dozens of policy provisions
affecting financial regulations, the environment, school lunches and
regulations requiring truckers get more rest. Provisions include:
SPENDING
Overall spending:
$1.013 trillion for core agency budgets for day-to-day operations, with
$521 billion for defense and $492 billion for non-defense. That represents about one-third of the federal
budget and is essentially a freeze at current levels. Another $64 billion is
provided for overseas military operations.
Defense:
Provides a base budget of $490 billion to the Pentagon, a $3.3 billion
increase. Maintaining 1.3 million active-duty troops and 820,800 reserves would
cost $128 billion. Another $162 billion is provided for operations and
maintenance; procurement of new weapons systems, including 38 new F-35
fighters, totals $92 billion.
Overseas military operations:
Provides $73.7 billion for overseas military operations and diplomatic efforts
by the State Department to combat terrorism, including $3.4 billion to continue
the air campaign against Islamic State militants and $1.6 billion to train the
Iraqi military. Provides $4.1 billion to train and equip Afghanistan
Homeland Security:
Keeps the Homeland Security Department funded at current levels through
Feb. 27. Its budget will be revisited next year when Republicans are hoping to
roll back President Barack Obama's recent moves on immigration.
Ebola:
Provides $5.4 billion of President Barack Obama's $6.2 billion request to
fight Ebola at home and abroad; $2.5 billion of the total would help African
countries fight the disease, while $2.7 billion would go to the Health and
Human Services Department, including $1.2 billion for Center for Disease
Control and Prevention efforts to stop Ebola in West Africa and strengthen
public health systems in at-risk countries.
Foreign aid:
Provides $49 billion for foreign aid programs, an almost $3 billion
increase. Some $6 billion would help fight HIV/AIDS overseas, while $7.2 billion would be for economic and development
programs. Israel would
receive $3.1 billion in military aid; Egypt
Environmental
Protection Agency:
Cuts the
EPA budget by $60 million to $8.1 billion, or 21 percent below peak levels in
2010.
Internal
Revenue Service:
Cuts the
IRS by $346 million to $10.9 billion. Blocks the agency from targeting tea party
organizations and other advocacy groups seeking tax-exempt status based on
their ideology.
Transportation:
Provides
$71 billion for transportation programs, including $40 billion in highway
funding for states. Aid to Amtrak would be maintained at $1.4 billion.
Housing:
Provides
$26 billion for Section 8 and other public housing programs for the poor. Add
$10 billion for other housing programs, including help for the elderly and
disabled.
Crime-fighting:
Provides
$8.4 billion for the FBI, a slight increase; $2.4 billion for the Drug
Enforcement Administration; $1.2 billion for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives; and $2.3 billion for various grants to state and local
law enforcement.
NASA:
The space
program would receive $18 billion, a $364 million increase. Of that, $4.4 billion is provided for the new
Orion space-launch system, which last week had its first test launch.
Food Aid:
Provides
$82 billion for food stamps as required by law; allots another $6.6 billion for
a program that provides food aid to pregnant and nursing mothers and their
young children. Another $21 billion goes to mandatory funding for the school
lunch program and child nutrition programs.
Capitol
Dome:
Provides
$21 million to continue a project restoring the iconic cast-iron Capitol Dome,
which is beset by crack and leaks.
POLICY
`RIDERS'
Likely to
be amended to include legislation aimed at shoring up underfunded multiemployer
pension plans, including a controversial provision that permits them to cut the
benefits of current and future retirees to shore up severely distressed plans.
Eases
regulations under the 2010 Dodd-Frank overhaul of financial regulations that
require banks to set up separately capitalized affiliates - ineligible for
federal benefits such as deposit insurance - to deal in more exotic and riskier
forms of complex financial instruments called swaps. Regulators could still "push-out"
risky swaps based on asset-backed securities.
- Blocks
new Transportation Department regulations that require truckers to get two
nights of sleep before restarting the clock on their workweek. One effect of the rule was to shorten the
maximum length of a trucker's workweek from 82 hours to 70 hours.
- Relaxes
rules slated to go into effect in 2017 that require more whole grains in school
foods. Put off rules to lower sodium in
school meals that were supposed to go into effect in 2017.
- Prohibits
the use of federal or local funds from implementing a referendum legalizing
recreational marijuana use in Washington ,
D.C.
- Blocks
the Fish and Wildlife Service from placing the Sage Grouse on the Endangered
Species list, which Republicans claim will have economic benefits for Western
states.
- Blocks
the Justice Department from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in states
where they are permitted.
-
Prohibits the use of funds for a "National Roadside Survey" by the National Highway
- Bars
funding for renovation of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, a new
London embassy and debt relief for foreign countries.
-
Withholds money from the U.N. population fund, dollar for dollar, if it
operates a program in China
-
Prohibits the transfer or release of detainees held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ;
also bans construction of facilities to hold detainees within the U.S.
- Prohibits funding for
the administration "light bulb standard," which prevents the
manufacture or sale of incandescent bulbs.
- Bars funding for the
White House to order the IRS to determine the tax-exempt status of an
organization.
- Prohibits the use of
funds for painting portraits.
-
Prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead in
ammunition or fishing tackle.
~~~
~~~
Senate
to vote on funding Saturday
By Ted Barrett and Faith
Karimi, CNN
updated 8:10 PM EST, Sat December 13, 2014
Washington (CNN) -- [Breaking news update, 8:04 p.m. ET]
The Senate will vote
Saturday night on the government funding bill, Sen. Harry Reid announced on the
Senate floor.
[Previous story, 4:45 p.m. ET]
The Senate passed a
short-term spending bill that will fund the government through Wednesday,
averting a shutdown while the chamber debates a bill to fund the government.
The bill on the
short-term funding will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature. Without the short-term measure, funding was
slated to dry up Saturday evening.
The Senate is expected
to vote Monday on the $1.1 trillion package, which has already passed the
House, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Barbara Mikulski said late Friday.
'Policy riders' in the 2015 spending bill
Obama: Parts 'I really do not like'
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid made a procedural move to set up a vote on final passage in the
Senate no later than Monday.
McConnell, the incoming
Senate majority leader, had reached a deal with Reid to adjourn for the weekend
and resume Monday to clear the bill.
Late-night maneuver
But in a surprise
development, some of McConnell's junior members defied the agreement after he
left.
Reid tried to get
unanimous consent for an adjournment until Monday when there would be enough
votes to end a filibuster, but Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, objected
because Reid would not guarantee a vote on an amendment dealing with
immigration funding.
Republican Sen. Ted
Cruz of Texas also joined the objection, forcing the Senate to meet on
Saturday.
Reid then announced to
an almost empty chamber that the Senate would be in session beginning at noon
Saturday.
Will the government keep operating?
The Senate was facing a
Saturday deadline to approve the spending bill and avert a government shutdown,
but that was pushed back.
The chamber has been
sifting through many of the same arguments that tied up the House on Thursday,
when disagreements over immigration and provisions related to Wall Street and
campaign finance nearly derailed the bill. Senate lawmakers wanted votes on amendments
that would address those issues.
Two votes are expected
Monday: a procedural vote to block a filibuster and end debate on the bill, and
a second one on the final passage.
'Using every tool available'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
D-Massachusetts, and Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, filed an amendment that
would strip a provision that softens financial regulations on banks from the
spending bill.
READ: Congress in disarray "Congress
should not put taxpayers on the hook for another bailout, and this giveaway
that was drafted by Citigroup lobbyists has no place in a critical government
funding bill," Warren
Cruz, a chief critic of
Obama's recent executive action on immigration, also said he wanted a vote to
block it.
"I think it is
critical that the Senate have the opportunity to have a clear up or down vote
on funding President Obama's illegal executive amnesty," he told
reporters. "I am using every tool
available to help bring about that vote."
But by making the
procedural move, Reid prevented those amendments from being considered. Amendment votes could have been risky, because
if either measure passed, the spending bill would have to go back to the House
to be voted on again.
While the House is
technically in session, most members have left Washington
A day after his
administration scrambled to save the bill when it appeared it might be defeated
in the House, the President said he was pulling for it in the Senate.
"I'm glad it passed
the House and am hopeful that it will pass the Senate," Obama said.
CNN's
Ted Barrett reported from Washington, and Faith Karimi wrote from Atlanta
~~~
Congress sends Obama $1.1 T
spending bill
Dec 13th 2014 10:16PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress cleared a $1.1 trillion spending bill for
President Barack Obama's signature late Saturday night after a day of Senate
intrigue capped by a failed, largely symbolic Republican challenge to the
administration's new immigration policy.
The vote was 56-40 in
favor of the measure, which funds nearly the entire government through the
Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. It also
charts a new course for selected shaky pension plans covering more than 1
million retirees, including the possibility of benefit cuts.
The Senate passed the
bill on a day Democrats launched a drive to confirm two dozen of Obama's
stalled nominees to the federal bench and administration posts, before their
majority expires at year's end.
Several Republicans
blamed tea party-backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for giving the outgoing majority
party an opportunity to seek approval for presidential appointees, including some
that are long-stalled.
It was Cruz who pushed
the Senate to cast its first vote on the administration's policy of suspending
the threat of deportation for an estimated four million immigrants living in
the country illegally. He lost his
attempt Saturday night, 74-22, although Republican leaders have vowed to bring
the issue back after the party takes control of the Senate in January.
"If you believe
President Obama's amnesty is unconstitutional, vote yes. If you believe
President Obama's amnesty is consistent with the Constitution, vote no,"
he said.
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid rebutted instantly, saying Cruz was "wrong, wrong, wrong on
several counts," and even Republicans who oppose Obama's policy abandoned
the Texan.
The spending bill,
which cleared the House on Thursday, was the main item left on Congress'
year-end agenda, and exposed fissures within both political parties in both
houses.
It faced opposition
from Democratic liberals upset about the repeal of a banking regulation and
Republican conservatives unhappy that it failed to challenge Obama's
immigration moves.
While the legislation
assures funding for nearly the entire government until next fall, it made an
exception of the Department of Homeland Security. Money for the agency will run out on Feb. 27,
when Republicans intend to try, and force the president to roll back an
immigration policy that removes the threat of deportation from millions of
immigrants living in the United
States
The legislation locks
in spending levels negotiated in recent years between Republicans and
Democrats, and includes a number of provisions that reflect the priorities of
one party or the other, from the environment to abortion to the legalization of
marijuana in the District of Columbia.
One, which drew
vehement objections from the Democrats, would repeal a regulation imposed on
banks in the wake of the near economic collapse of 2008. Critics called it a bailout for large
financial institutions, but more than 70 House Democrats voted for it previously,
and Obama made clear he didn't view it as a deal-killer.
The pension provision
was a bipartisan agreement that opens the door for the first time to benefit
cuts for current retirees covered by multi-employer funds in shaky financial
condition.
Supporters said it
would protect retirement income to the maximum extent possible without also
endangering the solvency of the government fund that guarantees multi-employer
plans. Critics said it posed a threat to
the pension recipients, and that it could also become a precedent for other
pensioners.
Immigration was at the
heart of the day's events in the Senate.
Cruz seized on the
issue late Friday night when he tried to challenge the bill. That led swiftly to the unraveling of an
informal bipartisan agreement to give the Senate the weekend off, with a vote
on final passage of the bill deferred until early this coming week.
That, in turn, led
Reid, D-Nev., to call an all-day Senate session devoted almost exclusively to
beginning time-consuming work on confirmation for 13 judicial appointees and 11
nominees to administration posts.
The list included
Carolyn Colvin to head the Social Security Administration and Vivek Murthy as
surgeon general.
As the day wore on,
senators were forced to spend hour after hour on the Senate floor to cast their
votes. One, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.,
sat at her desk quietly for awhile reading a book.
By evening, cocktail
hour in the East, strains of Christmas carols could be heard from behind the
closed doors of rooms that surround the chamber.
Republicans tried to
slow the nomination proceedings, but several voiced unhappiness with Cruz, a
potential presidential candidate in 2016.
"I've seen this movie before, and I wouldn't pay money to see it
again," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., recalling Cruz' leading role a
year ago in events precipitating a 16-day partial government shutdown that
briefly sent GOP poll ratings plummeting.
Cruz, in turn, blamed
Reid, saying his "last act as majority leader is to, once again, act as an
enabler" for the president by blocking a vote on Obama's policy that
envisions work visas for an estimated 5 million immigrants living in the
country illegally.
Reid blamed a
"small group of Senate Republicans" for the turn of events.
Asked if Cruz had
created an opening for the Democrats, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah said, "I
wish you hadn't pointed that out."
Hatch added, "You
should have an end goal in sight if you're going to do these types of things
and I don't see an end goal other than irritating a lot of people."
The GOP leader,
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, made no public comment on the events, even
though Cruz suggested Friday night McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner,
R-Ohio, should not be entirely trusted to keep their pledge to challenge
Obama's immigration policy. "We
will learn soon enough if those statements are genuine and sincere," Cruz
said.
_____
Associated Press writer Darlene
Superville
contributed to this report.
~~~
If the good Lord is
willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again next week. I think I am beginning to feel much better
and the Congress is now gone until next year, so I will concentrate on the
season and it's real meaning.
God Bless You All
&
God Bless the United States of America
Floyd
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