Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,162,801 members, 7,851,699 topics. Date: Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 05:50 AM

Obama Defends Budget Proposal - Politics - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Obama Defends Budget Proposal (706 Views)

Senate Turns Down Budget Proposal For Information Ministry / Shocking Revelation From The Buhari Budget Proposal...... / Ambode Presents Y2016 Budget Proposal Of N665.588bn To House Of Assembly (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply)

Obama Defends Budget Proposal by judach2008: 3:24pm On Mar 18, 2009
The White House has begun a full frontal assault to get President Obama’s first budget through Congress. During an appearance on Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Obama took a swipe at Republican critics of his $3.6 trillion budget and its agenda for health care, energy, taxes and economic recovery.

“If there are members of Congress who object to specific policies and proposals in this budget, then I ask them to be ready and willing to propose constructive, alternative solutions,” Mr. Obama said. “ ‘Just say no’ is the right advice to give your teenagers about drugs. It is not an acceptable response to whatever economic policy is proposed by the other party.”

The strong words were the latest in a push that has come to resemble elements of the two-year-long presidential campaign. Mr. Obama may hold his second prime-time news conference as president, perhaps as early as next week, to talk up the budget.

On Wednesday and Thursday, he is taking his budget show on the road to California, where he will hold two town-hall-style meetings and will even try to talk about the economy on Thursday on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Supporters of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign have been receiving a barrage of e-mail urging them to call their Congressional representatives to voice support of Mr. Obama’s economic recovery plans.

MoveOn.org, the influential liberal advocacy group, has been urging its members to send scripted e-mail messages to their friends about Mr. Obama’s “ambitious, amazing and unapologetically progressive” budget.

The Democratic National Committee has been putting up advertising on Web sites rebutting Republican criticism of the budget. And Mr. Obama’s advisers have been coordinating with interest groups to rally support for his agenda.

Last week, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, e-mailed millions of Mr. Obama’s campaign supporters, similar to the e-mail that sought support during the presidential campaign.

“In the next few weeks, we’ll be asking you to do some of the same things we asked of you during the campaign — talking directly to people in your communities about the president’s ideas for long-term prosperity,” Mr. Plouffe wrote.

Mr. Obama’s advisers have made no secret of their plan to use the huge campaign apparatus assembled over two years, along with the millions of names and e-mail addresses acquired, to mobilize his supporters during his presidency.

The idea is centered on the premise that the traditional ways of communicating with voters and motivating them are giving way to new channels such as Facebook built around social networking.

Mr. Obama met Tuesday morning at the White House with the chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees, Representative John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina and Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, to discuss how to proceed.

Congressional and administration officials said the chairmen assured Mr. Obama that they would deliver a spending plan that reflected his priorities on health care, energy, education and fiscal discipline but that it would require some adjustments from his original plan.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Tuesday that he expected the House and Senate Budget Committees to draft and debate their proposals next week before votes by the full House and Senate the following week. A final budget would then have to be negotiated between the chambers in April.

Mr. Reid also encouraged his colleagues to “choose sound policy over sound bites.”

“We may not agree on everything,” he said, “but I know that we can agree that after eight long years of irresponsibility, we must pass a budget that puts the American people first.”

Opponents of the plan were unleashing their own concerted attack on the budget Tuesday, with Senate Republicans criticizing the tax elements and saying that the energy proposals would drive up costs for all consumers.

“Even though the president talks about only taxing the wealthy and giving everybody else a tax cut, the reality is that his budget proposals will vastly increase the burden on American families,” said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, warned Democrats against using procedural tactics that could bar filibusters against budget-driven proposals on health care and energy. Mr. Gregg said using such tactics would undermine the nature of the Senate.

“You’re talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them into the Chicago River,” said Mr. Gregg, referring to the waterway in Mr. Obama’s (and Al Capone’s) hometown.

http://www.yourdailyworldnews..com
http://www.obamaforwhitehouse..com

(1) (Reply)

Ibinabo Granted Bail / Are We Moving Forward? / National Assembly Is No Longer Safe!

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 14
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.