Cut, Cap, and Tax Compromise, Like Everything Else, Dies in the Senate

In the spring President Obama's proposed budget went down to defeat 97-0. Amazingly, he could not garner a single vote in U.S Senate within his own party, for a budget he and his staff spent months developing. Though New Mexico's senators will no doubt use duplicitous "words" to praise the president's efforts at "compromise" they certainly cannot possibly explain their uncompromising votes against his budget and every other budget they have seen. Today after Democrats voted against another measure to keep government functioning Obama stood before the press corps in Washington and pretended all the rejections in the Senate, including rejections of his own budget never happened. Somehow the president clings to the hope that voters will now believe that only HE is a man of "compromise."

Jeff Bingaman

Will these theatrics work for the man who led the nation, in the number of golf rounds played by an elected official in Washington D.C. this summer? Or are the American voters starting to wise up to the colossal mistake they made in November of 2008, when they turned over the national checkbook to this guy? Time will tell. Today Obama used the term "but" countless times during his latest blame shifting afternoon press conference. He did so in the hopes that Americans might not realize that anything he said before he used the word "but," was meaningless.

Tom Udall

After the president said he did not want to point fingers, he proceeded to do just that. And during the entire press conference not one reporter asked him to acknowledge that his budget proposal got zero votes from people he purported to be willing to "persuade." Once again this president was unpersuasive today.

On  Monday morning every working person in America will head off to work knowing full well they pay social security taxes on their wages to the federal government. There are no exceptions on FICA taxes because retired seniors are considered a priority. Will anyone ask the question: Where are all of our social security contributions going if they are not going to finance the checks to current seniors? This question was also never asked or answered at the press conference. Why didn't New Mexico's senators vote in favor of a debt ceiling extension that included spending cuts, spending caps, and a balanced budget? You will have to ask them. You will find their phone numbers here: News New Mexico

Cut, Cap, and Tax Compromise, Like Everything Else, Dies in the Senate

Udall and Bingaman Reject Compromise Impasse Continues

New Mexico's senior citizens wondering about their social security checks arriving on time got bad news from four of the five the elected officials this state sent to Washington this week. Earlier in the week Rep. Martin Heinrich, who wants to be a senator, and Ben Ray Lujan who wants to be re-elected, rejected a compromise bill that would have kept the government running and raised the debt ceiling. And this morning Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall drove a couple more nails in the compromise coffin when they also rejected the same Cut, Cap, and Balance compromise plan in the U.S. Senate. When it was all said and done Senators Udall and Bingaman have voted NO to every proposed budget this year, while proposing nothing themselves. Both New Mexico Senators voted against President Obama's budget, and they also voted against Paul Ryan's budget. Now they have voted against a compromise debt ceiling lifting proposal that passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a comfortable margin earlier in the week. While never getting a chance to vote on the president's budget (since it failed to garner a single vote in the Senate), NM Rep's Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich have also fail to say YES to all budget proposals.

It would seem that Rep. Steve Pearce is the only elected official representing New Mexico in Washington willing to compromise. And it now appears that President Obama will have to decide if seniors get paid next month. No doubt if he decides to stiff the elderly in New Mexico, it won't be Lujan, Heinrich, Udall, and Bingaman that he blames. Instead, and despite the fact that their votes are prolonging the crisis, he will no doubt blame leaders like Steve Pearce who have actually cast votes to keep government running but with the provision that government be put it on a budgetary diet. New Mexico voters should pay attention to the shell game and know  who is going to shut down government and who wants to keep it running.

Udall and Bingaman Reject Compromise Impasse Continues