The Senate in the United States is fairly divided. There are 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the Senate. However, to pass a bill, 60 votes are needed. Thus, at least some bipartisan support has to exist for anything to be accomplished.
Wednesday, both Republicans and Democrats presented their spending proposals to the Senate. Republicans wanted to see a high amount of cuts made to spending in America. Democrats are not as quick to cut funding from the various programs and departments in the United States.
Not surprisingly, the two sides could not find common ground and now a long procedure to find a fair compromise is underway.
Democrats are hoping to extend cuts to take care of the national deficit issue. Cuts would be imposed on entitlement programs. Also, Democrats are hoping to raise taxes.
Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, said, “Our goal is to fund the government the rest of this year and then out-years. This isn’t just for the next few weeks. We want to try to get a universal deal and do something good for the country.”
The two sides have been struggling to find middle ground for quite some time now. The government had been facing a shutdown earlier this year and there is already talk about putting together another extension so a new agreement could be constructed without a government stoppage.
The goal of the United States Congress right now is to come up with a spending deal that would save the most money for the state without taking too much away from the American citizens.
The House of Representatives has already agreed on a deal that would see the country save $61 billion. Now the Senate is being waited on.
As of now, the hope is to get a spending agreement for the year by next Friday. However, based on the recent history of the legislature negotiations by the two parties, the odds of a compromise coming in the next week are slim.
If no deal can be agreed on by next week, then a short-term plan must be constructed. The chances are that any short-term deal would see the current spending deal extended until a new one can be set.
Even though it is important to get the best possible deal assembled, it is always disappointing to see the two parties so split on such important matters.
Leave a Reply