Supercommittee Member Blames Failure On 2012 Politics

By Mike Hothi

Supercommittee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) Tuesday blamed the bipartisan panel’s recent failure on “forces pulling the Democrats away from an agreement.”

“We have a Presidential campaign that is now premised on the idea that the President is running against a do-nothing Congress,” Toomey said during an appearance at the Heritage Foundation.

Toomey said that he believes success in the Super Committee would have made the President’s message meaningless.

“If the select committee had come to a great bipartisan agreement that could pass both houses and get signed into law, it would rather muddle the message that the President is trying to run on,” Toomey said.

The Super Committee was tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in savings to avoid automatic sequestration, a task the 12 person panel failed to accomplish.

Toomey also blamed the far left wing of the Democratic party for meddling in the committee’s negotiations. He stated that while there were some Democrats that tried to reach an agreement, many in the committee “found it impossible to break from the left wing of their own caucus.”

Going forward, Toomey said he believes that in order for true reform to be undertaken, the U.S. must “await another election cycle for further clarity and guidance from the voters.”

Republican Suggests Obama Wanted Super Committee To Fail

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R- Mich.) accused the Obama administration Tuesday of intentionally benefitting from the Super Committee’s failure.

“It appears from the outside that they [Obama’s administration] made a calculated political move,” Huizenga told TRNS about the Super Committee’s failure. “They didn’t do much to help that process along and if there was a real desire to help that, the President could have and should have gotten engaged.”

Due to the Super Committee’s failure to reach a deficit reduction deal by Thanksgiving, there will be $1.2 billion in mandatory cuts in government spending beginning in 2013. Around $600 billion will be cut from defense and the rest will be deducted from domestic spending.

“We are going down a dangerous road here,” Huizenga remarked to TRNS.”The thing we need to do to revive this is revive our economy so people will come off of assistance and pay more in taxes.”

In regards to Obama’s proposed payroll tax extension, Huizenga stated that a reformed permanent tax code needs to be instated.

“We are continuing to do economic and tax policy piece meal - a little bit here and a little bit there. We aren’t doing comprehensive reform,” Huizenga said. “If were going to do it, it makes more sense to have permanent tax policy rather than temporary after temporary after temporary tax policy.”

Huizenga mentioned that an ideal tax code would be a flat tax that would eliminate loopholes and tax credits.

Obama Downplays 'Hot Mic' Exchange

President Obama addressed his “hot mic” conversation with French President Nicholas Sarkozy during a press conference in Hawaii Sunday, explaining that the conversation was focused on the U.S’ dedication to Israel’s security, not bad-mouthing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu.

“The primary conversation I had with President Sarkozy in that meeting revolved around my significant disappointment that France had voted in favor of the Palestinians joining UNESCO,” Obama said, noting that he would not comment on the specific comments the two leaders made regarding Netanyahu.

In this exchange, Obama told Sarkozy that the Israel-Palestine issue could only be resolved through direct negotiations. Going through the UN, Obama told Sarkozy, would short-cuircuit the peace process and result in further distress in the Middle East.

“I had a very frank and firm conversation with President Sarkozy about that issue,” Obama said. “And that is consistent with both private and public statements that I’ve been making to everybody over the last several months.”

During an intended private conversation between Obama and Sarkozy at the G20 summit, Sarkozy reportedly called Netanyahu a “liar” to which Obama allegedly responded, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.” Unbeknownst to Obama or Sarkozy, reporters were listening to the entire exchange over a headset connected to Obama and Sarkozy’s microphones. The Obama administration has been trying to smooth things over since the exchange was made public last Tuesday.

Obama To Cut Federal Swag With Executive Order

President Obama will take matters into his own hands Wednesday by signing an executive order that will cut federal spending.

According to a statement released by the White House, the order will prevent federal agencies from “using taxpayer dollars to buy swag.”

The administration defines “swag” as “non-essential items used for promotional purposes.” Items like clothing, mugs, non-work related gadgets and “other unnecessary promotional items” will be removed from federal agency wish lists.

The order also puts limits on the number of “information technology devices” such as cell phones, smartphones, tablets and laptops federal agencies can provide for employees. Additionally, Obama will direct agencies to limit the amount of money spent on travel and will shrink the “executive fleet” of the federal government. The President takes cutting waste to a deeper level by stopping the unnecessary printing of documents and requiring agencies to post these documents online when possible.

“From the day I took office, I’ve said we’re going to comb the federal budget, line by line, to eliminate as much wasteful spending as possible… We can’t wait for Congress to act,” Obama said. “We’re cutting what we don’t need so that we can invest in what we do need.”

The White House has indicated that, within 45 days, agencies will begin to implement these changes, reducing costs up to 20 percent below FY2010 levels by FY2013.

Pipeline Protesters Plan To Surround The White House

By Mike Hothi

Environmentalists are planning to encircle the White House  Sunday in an attempt to convince President Barack Obama to come out against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Young people still believe in Barack Obama but we know that he’s going to need a little bit of a push from us to make the right decision,” Maura Cowley, co-director of the Energy Action Coalition, said during a press conference Friday.

Organizers believe that surrounding the White House will provide that push.

“There will be no attack on the President on Sunday. Every banner that will be there will simply be a quote from President Obama in 2008,” stated Bill Mckibben of 350.org, referring to statements the President made on the campaign trail, such as “Time the end the tyranny of oil. On my watch the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal.”

The Keystone XL pipeline, which will transport oil form Alberta, Canada through Texas, will need a presidential permit from the State Department since it crosses a national border. The State Department expects to make a decision on the pipeline by the end of the year.