Live Q&As

The president supposedly will announce some additional reductions in military spending when he speaks at 130 today.  I've heard $150 billion over the next 10 years.  The fastest savings come from reductions in personnel, but that's unlikely given the overall unemployment rate.  Operations and maintenance is where the savings are likely to come from.

Certainly.  You should ask that question about the others involved in the debate as well.

I have two mock movie posters on my wall in my office that make fun of the last two times the BBA was considered.  It's almost always a symbolic effort designed to score political points rather than make a serious change in the budget outlook.  Even if it was passed by Congress...which is extremely doubtful...it would have to be adopted by the states and that would take years.  In the meantime, nothing would happen on the deficit in Washington.  And that's just the tip of the story about why it's a bad idea.

The Washington Post published a good breakdown yesterday that you shoudl check.

It appears that the administration actually negotiated a better deal than its supporters want to admit.

Medicare is one of the toughest budget issues of all, on a par with taxes for the intensity of feelings.  All polls...including those of just tea party people, show that close to 60 to 70 percent of Americans feel that Medicare should be left alone or increased rather than decreased.

This actually points out something that has gotten lost in all the harsh words over the past few months.  While the GOP keeps saying that Americans want smaller government, the polls show that what they really want is the same or more government that costs less.  I wrote about this on my blog, capitalgainsandgames.com.  Take a look.

You're being rational.  Cut it out.

The answer is "a lot" but perhaps not as much as many people assumed.  The tea party clear pushed the debate over the past few weeks to the right.  But when they voted against the 3-week extension of the CR a month or so ago (and now apparently will be voting against this deal) they forced Speaker Boehner to work with the Democrats to get the required votes.  That pushed the deal back to the center and gave the Dems influence they would not have otherwise had.  If the tea part would take half a loaf, they'd change the world.

Apparently, neither do financial markets.  Demand for Treasuries remains high and, other than rhetoric, there's no sign that will change any time soon.  There's obviously got to be a balance between borrowing to deal with current problems and avoiding future problems by reducing borrowing when you can.

The Bowles-Simpson plan was VERY controversial.  It was easy to get bi-partisan support when it was clear that the plan would not get the required 14 votes to move the proposal along.  The fact that both House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp were against the plan in the commission makes me think that partisan issues would doom it to fail like most other big budget initiatives.

There are lots of breakdowns available.  Try the Bureau of the Public Debt's website for specifics.

Just a few names...and remember that understanding the gravity doesn't mean that they are free in the current political environment to do much about it.

Five of the most understanding are:

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan

Rep. Bobby Scott

Rep. David Price

House Budget Committee Ranking Democrat Chris Van Hollen

Don't take it personally if I didn't mention someone you think highly of.  There are others.

I understand your frustration and wish I had good news for you.  Each agency will handle the situation differently do there's no way to know how fast your particular situation will resolve itself.

You shoudl know that this same situation is being played out in lots of other ways.  Many procurements are being delayed or cancelled because of the uncertainty.

Unfortunately, this is not going away any time soon.  My prediction is that we'll be facing another shutdown possibility in September.

My guess is that it wasn't much of a concern at all.  Thanks for asking.