"Lobbyists prepare to wage new fight on US spending; ‘Perfect storm’ on horizon with billions at stake" by Eric Lipton | New York Times, October 20, 2013
WASHINGTON — Throughout the tense fiscal deadlock in recent weeks, some of the most powerful forces in Washington — including retirees and defense contractors — largely sat on the sidelines. Now they are preparing for a political fight with billions of federal dollars at stake.
With automatic cuts to the military set to take effect by January and a separate round of cuts scheduled for Medicare, lawmakers will have to decide who gets hit the hardest.
Related: Farm bill talks focus on size of food stamp cuts
This government literally taking food from your mouths.
Washington’s lobbying machine — representing older citizens, doctors, educators, military contractors, and a wide range of corporate interests — is gearing up to ensure that the slices of federal money for those groups are spared in new negotiations over government spending.
Israel never mentioned, doe$n't have to worry.
Related: Budget deal may not lower United States debt
And since they removed the ceiling it can go as high as the $ky!
It is a debate that almost no one involved wants to have so soon after the nasty fight over the federal budget, which produced the 16-day shutdown and again failed to reverse the automatic cuts resulting from previous disagreements. But Congress managed to reopen the government and extend the nation’s borrowing limit largely by creating a new series of deadlines that run through February, giving special interests several chances to influence the process.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Sour Grapes
Even the shutdown and reopening is going to cost money.
So far, the defense industry is likely to be hit the hardest since the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, set for January would slice an additional $20 billion from the Pentagon’s budget.
Yeah, the "poor" "defense" industry that is cutting the fat, according to today's Boston Globe.
“It’s fair to say the volume in Washington is going to be deafening,” said Marion Blakey, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are determined to mitigate those cuts by spreading them among various social programs, like education and Social Security, bringing dozens of other special-interest groups into the picture.
Related: Other DC Doings
And Obama is all for it.
“The perfect storm is coming,” is how one health care industry lobbying coalition put it, in an advertisement, complete with dark clouds and lightning, that ran the day the shutdown ended. “Tell Washington, no more hospital cuts.”
AARP, the giant nonprofit group that represents older citizens, has kicked off a million-dollar radio advertising campaign warning that “Seniors are no bargaining chip.”
Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said he regretted that Congress had created a situation in which another budget fight is about to begin — right after a crisis ended. “I have to believe the American people are totally fatigued with this issue, and to be candid, I am pretty fatigued with it myself,” he said in an interview Friday. “It is almost an embarrassment to keep bringing it up.”
I'm not fatigued, I simply recognize it's an endless attempt at division after we all rose up and said "Hell No!" to war agenda regarding Syria. Getting all those calls against, nearly unanimous, frightened the cultural and societal managers of AmeriKa. Thus the good old shop-worn false paradigm of liberal and conservative(?), Democrap and Repuglican was trotted out.
But at least, Corker added, the focus this time will be on how the government spends its money, a debate that he said is important to the nation at large.
For lobbying firms, fights like this are good for business. Their revenues have dropped over the last two years because little legislation has moved forward. Now industry lobbyists say they see hints that this is the right moment to reengage.
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Major American corporations like the Silicon Valley tech companies are once again preparing to intensify their campaign to persuade Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration law, an effort that has been dormant since late spring.
Related: Obama urges action on immigration
Rubio said that is going nowhere (except for the work vi$a bills the House has already written) now because no one trusts the president, and the Globe has been pushing that agenda only sparingly the last few weeks. Tech lobby gonna get what they want$ though.
That will include a late November “Hackathon” that will bring together executives and immigrants without work documents to contact members of Congress to push the cause.
Where they holding that, M.I.T.?
Technology companies want immigration legislation that would expand the number of visas issued to foreign workers who can fill engineering jobs.
I'm $ure they are going to get what they want.
At the same time, many of the major business groups — including the National Retail Federation and the National Federation of Independent Business — plan to push for modest changes in President Obama’s health care law.
Why not just cancel the f***ing thing? I pretty much already have anyway!
They are convinced that the defeat of the Republican plan to defund the law has presented them with an opening to seek revisions, like changing the definition of a full-time worker who is entitled to health insurance to one who works 40 hours a week, up from the 30 in the law.
So they can make you work longer without providing insurance!
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Also see: Congre$$ Back to Pa$$ing Around the Pork
Do you remember the last debt deal?
