One of the biggest injustices in the sequester is that fact that congress salaries does not cut at all. I say that we should sue congress on the grounds that they purposely and knowingly worked the sequester to protect themselves, and have violated their oaths to the American people in doing so. The goal would be to have a federal judge rule that part of the cuts must be to congressional salaries, preferably cutting them in half.
It was congress who wrote the sequester my friend, and it was they who made it so their salaries can not be lowered as part of it. I would happily add the president, and every other federal official to the lawsuit as well though.
Daggdag, I can show you multiple videos where the sequester actually came from the White House. Congress, obviously, had to agree to it, but the White House originally drew it up. Let's make sure we get that one correct first. Secondly, what I'm more so concerned with is the budget. Great, they cut $85 billion dollars, now where are they going to re-allocate the money to, is the question. Any money that isn't being spent is a win in my book. All of the money that has been spent on the various government assistance programs need to be eventually cut anyway. I'm tired of hearing how we need to keep spending money because if we stop now, all hell is going to break loose on the economy. Ah yes, just like the six figure's spent on the Obama's dog care provider, let's not cut that out. Let's also not cut out those lavish vacations they take every year. Living the high life while we all suffer. Please, cut spending and stop whining.
I mispoke. I am sure Obama and his advisors has something to do with it, but it WAS congress that added the fact that they were immune. They make the cuts worse for the people to protect their own pockets.
Oh I agree, again, with you. What's spark my anger even further is when Nancy Pelosi talk's about how they should get a pay increase for doing their job. Ah yes, destroying America as we know it, what a great job to have. Sure, take more money from my pocket to line yours because those six figures you make now and after you retire just isn't good enough. Please, allow me to open up my pockets some more because I know I should give them more. Moreover, since when did it become we work for them?
Sue them? It's is one of the few decent things they've done over the past 20-or 30 years. Why would I due them for that, when there are so many other things, like passing Obamacare even though it was clearly against the will of the citizens and condoning the extra-judicial killing of American citizens by the President , that we should be suing them over?
I say that congress should have their pay docked if they do not balance the budget, and their pay for the next year should be halved. And there should be a minimum amount of funding for education and other essentials. Government payroll should be the first thing cut.
I'm not sure, but I think something like this is in the works. Maybe it was during the debt limit increase talks, but I think it was agreed if the Senate doesn't pass a budget by April (?), they get docked.
Here's the story I was talkin about, Dagg. http://www.dailyprogress.com/opinio...cle_143fba34-67f9-11e2-8e1a-0019bb30f31a.html
The budget does not need to be balanced. under that law, only passed. The sequester serves as a budget. And that is the problem. The new budget is full of unjust spending cuts on essential services, while allowing congress to keep their full salary and benefits. What we need is a law that says if congress does not pass a balanced budget, while maintaining a minimum amount of funding to education, infrastructure repair, and other much needed programs, their pay is halved, and they lose all benefits, such as their tax paid health care.
Ayuh,.... So why aren't ya chasin' Harry Reid,..?? He ain't brought a Budget Bill to the Senate floor in over 4 YEARS....
Moreover, how about we go after Harry Reid for not bringing the Senate Bill S 202 to the floor as well? Let's see what the Federal Reserve has been doing with our money over the past several decades. I would love to get a full report on that and see how messed up they've gotten our dollar. Let alone the amount of money they've been 'secretly' printing.
There have been several budget resolutions brought to the floor. The problem is that they can't agree on anything long enough to pass it and have it sent to committee.
Partisan Much? Hate to burst your bubble, no I'm not, but Congress set the sequester in place before Obama was ever elected and it is up to Congress to come up with a working budget, not the President. Glad to help clear those facts up for ya.
Hold on, what? The sequester was signed into law in 2011, well within Obama's first term. I don't know where you get your facts but you aren't clearing up anything by creating more confusion. The deal came out of the White House by Jack Lew & Rob Nabors. From there, Obama agreed to the deal and asked for the House leader, John Boehner, & Senate leader, Harry Reid, to the White House to discuss the proposal. Initially, they were against it. As time went on, they were shown how it would work and they went along with it. More information can be found here: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/02/27/opinion/sequester-concept-came-from-the-white-house.html We can pass blame on both sides of the isle, I'm not going to dispute that. However, to state something that is completely false, I won't go along with that. Moreover, if the House and/or Senate can't come up with a budget, why is the President automatically free and clear from creating one? As a leader of any type of collective group, if those under me can't formulate a plan, it's my job & responsibility to aide them in that process. To state that the President isn't responsible to come up with one, at all, is highly preposterous. Agreed, Congress should come up with it first, but if they can't agree on anything, it's the President's responsibility to take action. Not go around and "campaign" your ideas to every American citizen. Sit down with your team, come up with a plan that will work, and begin to implement it. Why is this always so hard to figure out? That's why I'll never be a politician because the way it works now, I'll never go for and I will change everything there is about it.
You are correct. Oh here is some more on the subject: http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/04/the-sequester-is-a-republican-inflicted-wound/
Here is an even better breakdown of the numbers: http://archive.mises.org/16107/bushs-huge-budget-numbers-blamed-on-obama/ Moreover, regardless to whomever did what, the fact remains that the debt is ridiculous. As noted in the article I just attached, any one of the politicians could have vetoed or voted against any such measures. What this ultimately boils down to, in my eyes, is the lack of a budget. They last minute policy things and we, the people, take the full brunt of the recourse. If a budget would've been proposed in the end of last year/beginning of this year, the tax code & sequester wouldn't of mattered. The problem is that a budget wasn't made so taxes went up, cuts were made, now a budget needs to be done. To me, that's equivalent to me finding a second job, stop spending money on food, and then sitting down to figure out that if I'd just re-organize my bills, I wouldn't had to do the first two in the first place. Then again, this is the case with politicians. They want to stir up the chaos because, then, citizens will go into a frenzy. 'Oh no, my taxes are going up. WE NEED TO TAX THE RICH MORE! PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE'! Then, they cut spending and certain programs get threatened, citizens become in an uproar over this, 'NO, don't cut spending for my programs'! Then, in the end, politicians come and swoop in, like a super hero, balance the budget, your taxes won't be felt as much and your programs will stay funded, then America will go back to the way it was before. Wash, rinse, and repeat, election after election. Aren't most, if not all, of you getting tired of this?
Tired of it, sure am. Get rid of the current tax system, go to a flat or consumption tax and vote out anyone that does not do the job of the Nation, meaning knowing when to stand firm and when to compromise.
This just in.... The last time Democrats in the United States Senate adhered to the law and put forward an annual budget was back in calendar year 2009, just after the last presidential election. Now that another major national electoral contest is in the rearview mirror, it appears that Harry Reid's motley crew is preparing to make good on their magnanimous pledge to actually do their jobs this year. Via a senior Republican source at the Senate Budget Committee: We expect to mark up a Senate Democrat budget next week. We dont have a date, we dont know details such as whether Republicans will be allowed to offer amendments, and we dont yet have any assurance that Chairman Murray will provide Republicans, reporters, and the American people with the text at least 72 hours in advance. But we do expect it to happen next week, and think its important that Chairman Murray keep her public commitment to doing a budget this year.
And what would the basis of that be? In our system, what right do we have to sue the government for making cuts?
And of course we aren't talking about actual cuts merely a decrease in the spending increase. And of course rather than making sure these miniscule reductions have as little impact on the American people as possible, the beaureacrats in charge will do every thing they can to magnify the pain.
