John Carney Wants to Know How You’d Manage the Federal Budget
He is holding 3 meetings on Wednesday, June 8 in conjunction with the Concord Coalition, which is billed as a non-partisan policy organization. Here is the invite from Representative Carney that came in my email:
June 3, 2011
Dear Friends,
Are you concerned with balancing the federal budget and reducing the national debt?
Do you have ideas for controlling the budget that you want to share with me and members of our community?
On Wednesday, June 8, I’m hosting three interactive meetings throughout the state to discuss fiscal responsibility, reducing federal spending, and lowering the national debt. The meetings will be in Georgetown, Dover, and Stanton.
Participants in these meetings will begin by reviewing the spending and priorities in the current federal budget. Then, working in small groups of five to ten, those in attendance will be given the opportunity to draft their own budget proposal which reflects their ideas and priorities for federal spending. The groups will then come back together to discuss the proposals and their decision-making process.
Locations & Times:
Georgetown Meeting
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
CHEER Center
20520 Sand Hill Rd.Dover Meeting
1:00 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Delaware State University,
Bank of America Building
1200 North Dupont HighwayStanton Meeting
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
DelTech Stanton Campus Conference Center
400 Stanton Christiana Rd., Newark, DE 19713These meetings are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to my office at (302) 428-1902 or (800) 292-9541.
I’m eager to hear your input on how to approach the debt problem, and I hope to see many of you at these meetings on Wednesday.
This is an interesting opportunity, given that many of us have plenty of ideas on how to address the budget and debt issues. Frankly, it would be a good opportunity to ask the Congressman why he is prioritizing Pete Peterson’s project over jobs for Americans. Or when he hosts an idea session on how to get Americans back to work. Or maybe remind him that getting alot more Americans employed would put a dent in the debt on its own.
Are you going? If so, let us know and write up your experience — we’ll publish it here so that everyone can get a sense of this process. Email me and we’ll work out the details.
Tags: Federal Budget, John Carney
This sounds like a good opportunity. I sure hope someone reminds the Congressman that businesses and households routinely run debt?
I like the idea of breaking the participants up into groups and giving them a synopsis of the current spending priorities in the federal budget. Sounds like a serious minded approach.
Are you concerned with balancing the federal budget and reducing the national debt?
Question #1: Why are you setting up a Republican frame for this meeting?
WE should be asking the questions, not John Carney.
Or when he hosts an idea session on how to get Americans back to work.
Well, that IS how you start balancing the budget and reducing the national debt. That, and restoring the Clinton tax structure. So feel free to use the Wednesday meetings to explain how you’d put people back to work and let the tax cuts for the rich expire.
Well, the Stanton meeting is real close. I’m going to hold this DINO’s feet to the fire ala Puck.
It sounds like Carney is controlling the format closely to avoid those kinds of questions. It doesn’t sound like there is a free Q&A. So you will have to make your point within the structure of the format. Bring facts, lots of facts, and plan on asserting them within your group.
In particular, bring plenty of color printouts of the CPPB deficit chart.
And focus on the upper income tax cuts. Remember, unlike Coons, Carney gets a pass because he wasn’t in Congress for the December capitulation.
But Carney did state during the JCC campaign debate that he was in favor of extending all the Bush tax cuts temporarily.
On Wednesday Carney needs to be asked what is his current position on extending the upper-income tax cuts. Obama has promised to fight for those cuts to expire in 2012. Does Carney support the President’s position on upper income tax cuts?
The other thing that will come up is health care costs. The focus should be on cutting costs, not benefits. Cut costs by stopping consumer gouging from insurance companies and providers, not from beneficiaries.
Frame the health care costs as entitlements flowing to insurance companies and high-end providers. Put them on a diet, not our senior citizens. Cite the attempt to waive the medical cost ratios in Delaware as an example. And bring up drug price negotiation as another untapped cost-containment strategy.
Wow, puck, you just intimidated the hell out of me.
I have no access to stuff like that.
For God’s sake, I’m a simple[and some say, simpleton] constituent.
Maybe I’ll just go and cheer for those who ARE prepared.
You going to this one?
Just bring your fighting spirit, Skip.
Also, for those who are going, review and bring the Progressive Caucus’ The People’s Budget, a 12 page PDF at http://grijalva.house.gov/uploads/The%20CPC%20FY2012%20Budget.pdf
The blows holes in the Republican frame (which Rep Carney appears to be hanging onto), and avoids the direction which may be sought (see, it’s really difficult, WAY TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT). It is based on FAIR TAXES, reduction of corporate welfare, sensible defense spending reform, needed reform to health care and education, and improving reform for Income Security (social security, medicare, medicaid)
I think the Stanton meeting will be very important for setting the tone of Carney’s term in office and for his upcoming campaign. Anyone who is an articulate member of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, and is willing to mix it up, using logic and facts, should drop what they are doing and go to this meeting.
Make the RSVP call now.
Because the Stanton meeting is in NCC, it will be the one Carney pays attention to (Sorry downstaters). And not only Carney, but Carper and Coons will be watching too to see which way the wind is blowing in our most populous county.
If the Democratic wing fails to show up, the meeting will become a justification for Carney to continue his DINO ways, and Carper and Coons may well draw the same lesson.
Castle used to pull this trick all the time. He would hold short-notice, limited attendence meetings, and then later when you sent him a letter complaining about something wingnutty he did, he would say he was responding to voter feedback. Don’t let Carney get away with this trick. Don’t let the teabaggers take over this meeting.
I’ll be there; hopefully with lots of like-minded companions.
puck, look for me. I’ll be the guy with the coffee can on my head.
No, that’ll look TOO crazy.
I’ll just carry it.
I don’t see the format as some kind of plot enabling Carney to avoid difficult questions. I see it as a realistic acknowledgment of what is on the agenda in DC and as an attempt to get feedback on it: namely, cutting the federal budget deficit. If this gives me an opportunity to argue that we should defund America’s wars, make deep cuts in overall defense spending, end most corporate welfare, and spare entitlement and job creating programs, then I am all for it.
I agree that we need to show up, informed, calm, and yet passionate.
I have a conflict with a housing authority board meeting and am unable to attend.
Please show up and please speak up!
does he want to know b/c he cares? or b/c he wants us to think he cares?
sort of like when he could have voted against the credit card industry and it would have been great for everyone, but it was only great for the banks. That sort of caring?
Here is my question for John Carney. Seymour Hirsch, reporter for the New Yorker magazine has come out swinging on the Isralie march to attack Iran. Hirsch says “we are about do do another Iraq, only this time its Iran”. Before the run up to the Iraq War, 16US non partisan intelligence agencies told Bush and Cheney there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The IAEA also told them the truth, but they ignored the facts and set up their own intelligence agency inside the White House.
Hirsch spoke at length on Democracynow.org last week, about how we are about to go postal on Iran, who is not going nuclear, have no plans to go nuclear, and are watched every moment of every day by cameras installed by the IAEA, and personell on the ground and by satelite. Both former head of the IAEA and the new one concur Iran has signed onto the Nuclear Profileration Agreement and they have not been building any bombs or even attempted too since the bad intelligence back in 2003.
So are we going to believe the Israelies again? Or, are we going to believe “our” intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency? We know that AIPAC has huge control over the Congress and the Senate, but will our legislators today do a right turn like Bush and Cheney and permit Israel not only to destablize the entire middle east, but to use their Nuclear weapons on Iran. Why are the liberals not admitting to the well established fact that Israel has nuclear weapons and have had them for decades. Israel is the ONLY middle east power with nuclear weapons, but their PR is so overpowering, and they deflect the truth about their weapons and blame it on countries who dont have them. Why hasnt Israel signed on the Nuclear Profileration Treaty? Why havent they permitted the IAEA to go in and monitor them? Thats my question.
Thanks for the heads up on this one!
Does anyone know who or what the Concord Coalition is?
And Paul is right — definitely brush up on the Progressive Caucus budget to see how budget issues get addressed without buying into the Pete Peterson project so much. There was also the NYT feature that let you fix the budget with the data they presented. But fundamentally, cutting back government programs and support to state governments is shedding lots of jobs and there isn’t enough demand in the pipeline to take up that slack. So no matter how they want to cut it, working on deficit/debt reduction now — while the economy is still so anemic — is silly. Just look at Great Britain, who is on an austerity program and their economy is *shrinking*.
Sadly, the Progressive Caucus budget *was* the Democratic platform not so long ago.
There was no Q&A. Just an exercise to reduce the FED budget set up by The Concord Coalition.
I happened to sit at a table with THREE conservatives and was out-voted 3 to 1 on the progressive ideas.
I didn’t recognize any allies or I would have sat with them, obviously.
Only about 25 people showed.
Guess I didn’t recognize you either Skip – sorry.
Remember this workshop was presented in Sussex in the morning, Dover in the afternoon, and Stanton in the evening. Reports of attendence were:
Georgetown – 80
Dover – 30
Stanton – 25
That’s pathetic, bitches!
Carney basically outsourced the meeting to the Concord Coalition. The Coalition has a canned budget workshop which is what was presented yesterday.
Carney wasn’t even there until near the end. It was a small group so he did engage somewhat, but all the discussion centered on the Coalition worksheet. I can’t say I blame Carney for wanting a controlled format, to avoid a takeover by the Flat/Fair tax freaks and the LaRouchies (yes, they were all there).
First was the “deficit scare” presentation by the Coalition guy. Heespecially lingered on one deficit chart featuring an implausible long smooth upward slope from now to 2050 – “deficits as far as the eye can see.” Sound familiar? There was no discussion over the economic projections – we were expected to accept them as a baseline.
The worksheet presented binary choices on preselected budget options. The choices were maddening in their incompleteness.
The experience overall was like getting a push poll.
There were clearly too many questions to complete the worksheet in the time allowed. So the Coalition emcee asked all the groups to complete 4 questions in particular. The selection of questions was bizarre:
“Would you support eliminating the $1 bill? (saves $3 billion).
“Cancel the ‘Future Combat System Program” (saves 22 billion). Well OK, but what about other military systems? Which systems are more important?
“Eliminate charity tax deductions for those donating less than 2% of income” (WTF? They are seriously considering this)? Saves $219 billion (!!)
“Raise Social Security retirement age to 70” (saves $120 billion). But no mention of the next option on the list, eliminate SS taxable income caps, saves $457 billion.
So when Carney showed up toward the end, those 4 questions became the agenda for discussion. At this point it felt more like a right wing focus group.
Carney expressed dismay and sympathy for all the corporate money “stranded” offshore because corporations weren’t willing to pay US taxes on it. Apparently rescuing this money with lower taxes is a big topic in Congress.
And he amazingly repeated the canard that when Social Security was created, the average lifespan was 65.
The topic of expiring/extending the Bush/Obama tax cuts was neatly trumped by the Concord Coalition emcee, who explained that his 40-year deficit scare graph took the expiration of those tax cuts into account.
Hey puck, were you the pretty blond with long legs?