skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Expert: Debt Ceiling Confused with Budget Deficit

play audio
Play

Tuesday, August 2, 2011   

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - As Congress and President Obama are on the verge of a deal on the federal debt ceiling, an organization that analyzes the impact of federal budget priorities says it's a bad deal, for Nutmeggers and other Americans.

Jo Commerford, executive director of the National Priorities Project, says that, if the deal agreed to Sunday night by the President and legislative leaders passes, it will change the face of government as we've known it for more than 50 years.

"The way we think about government services - for example, government spending on national parks, on health research, Government payments, for example - the ones we receive from Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare - you know, they're all hanging in the balance."

The deal doesn't cut those three big government programs right away, but opens the door to such cuts as part of any agreement by a "super panel" of Democratic and Republican lawmakers going forward.

Commerford likens the deal to sending a one-armed boxer into the ring, because, she says, it contains no new taxes.

"This quote-unquote 'compromise' really only looks at spending cuts as part of the package. We're not looking at all at corporate or individual revenue, especially revenue gained from tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans."

She points out that the debt ceiling has no economic or legislative connection with the federal budget deficit, but says Republicans in Congress successfully made that link in the minds of many Americans and fellow lawmakers.

"The Right, if you will, was very successful in making us believe that the only way to raise the debt ceiling was to enact commensurate spending cuts. And now, we'll get a deal that is very close to where they wanted to be."


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021