Legislative Update XXI

The House of Representatives passed funding for high-speed rail projects, lifted a stupid ban on using taxpayer dollars for needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users, and passed a measure to require PAYGO, or "pay-as-you-go" budget rules. House committees approved bills to Puerto Ricans decide their island's political status and to shift student loan lending from FFELP to the Department of Education's Direct Loan program instead per President Obama's request.

The Senate approved a defense spending bill that includes the F-22 and alternate F-35 engine cuts that President Obama and the Pentagon wanted. The Senate also rejected an amendment to would have let people carry hidden guns in 48 states if they have a concealed weapon permit in any one of them. Differences now need to be resolved with the House.

As for health care, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will miss the August deadline for a vote on legislation and it will be postponed until September. The House may vote next week (or not), but work is still ongoing. The White House isn't happy, of course, but still hopeful.

Yes, this is George Bush's mess

Great article in the NY Times:

The story of today’s deficits starts in January 2001, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office. The Congressional Budget Office estimated then that the government would run an average annual surplus of more than $800 billion a year from 2009 to 2012. Today, the government is expected to run a $1.2 trillion annual deficit in those years.

You can think of that roughly $2 trillion swing as coming from four broad categories: the business cycle, President George W. Bush’s policies, policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Mr. Obama has chosen to extend, and new policies proposed by Mr. Obama.

The first category — the business cycle — accounts for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing. It’s a reflection of the fact that both the 2001 recession and the current one reduced tax revenue, required more spending on safety-net programs and changed economists’ assumptions about how much in taxes the government would collect in future years.

About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.

Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.

About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.

If the analysis is extended further into the future, well beyond 2012, the Obama agenda accounts for only a slightly higher share of the projected deficits.

So, no, our fiscal nightmare isn't President Obama's fault, and conservatives should stop lying and saying it is. They don't give a damn about out of control deficit spending until it's Democrats doing it. On the other hand, as the article also points out, the Obama administration doesn't (yet) have a serious plan to fix this. However, it is clear they recognize the problem and are beginning to take some steps. The Obama administration recently announced its desire to see "pay as you go" legislation in Congress. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said he'll introduce a bill soon as early as next week. It's not enough, but it's a start.

Of course, those "fiscal conservative" Republicans oppose it.

UPDATE: Good follow-up article from The New Republic.