TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
AP: 754f45f5-a510-41aa-ae89-c955ca30ff23
Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., center, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev.,left, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., holds up a copy of a "warn notice" that would be sent to workers if furloughed from their jobs under the automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The 11th hour has arrived

BY Dave Ross  on March 1, 2013 @ 5:40 am (Updated: 9:36 am - 3/1/13 )

The 11th hour has arrived - will it move the budget debate?

One more time, the Speaker of the House John Boehner said Republicans have done their job, it's up to Democrats. "The President hasn't offered a plan. Senate Democrats haven't passed a plan. It's time for them to pass a plan."

So I talked to a top Senate Democrat, Patty Murray, who chairs the budget committee, and asked why won't she agree to trim Social Security and Medicare spending as Republicans demand.

"Let me just be very clear," said Murray on Seattle's Morning News. "I made some very serious offers on those kinds of changes to public policies that will bring us savings in the long run. As budget chair today - I'm in deep discussions with my committee about how we can impact the cost of healthcare overall, moving forward. It's one of the biggest drivers in our budget. But, we have to have a partner on the other side."

They're saying they've dug in. I asked, do you think you can really get them to move?

"Without the revenue piece on this, average, middle-class families bear the brunt of the entire deficit because we went to war without paying for it and we passed big tax cuts in the early part of the decade," said Murray.

But she's made the point. We know where each side stands. Republicans are just willing to be a little more ruthless than the Democrats. I asked, at some point, don't you just have to say, 'Alright, we're going to try it your way just to get this thing off the dime'? And if it turns out you're wrong, you will lose at the polls next time around.

"This is going into place because they hold the card of - by doing nothing - they get all their cuts."

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
More Dave Ross

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Comments (55)


  • Add A Comment

  • CH wrote...
    2014
    March 1, 2013 5:17 am
    we will see who is sitting on their thumbs. My money is on the Republicans. Kiss your butts good-by[buy]House Republicans 2014!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    special note to 'edgar allen pho'
    March 1, 2013 6:19 am
    CH got first post on this one - are you happy???
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    you mean
    March 1, 2013 6:38 am
    Someone else's money
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    The Senate can't even write a budget
    March 1, 2013 7:03 am
    And you blame Republicans? GET REAL!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    monroemad - they did propose a budget
    March 1, 2013 8:23 am
    didn't you read the article?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Not to be a stickler, but............
    March 1, 2013 8:53 am
    Patty Murray may be the head of the Senate Budget COMMITTEE, and in deep DISCUSSIONS, but where does it say the Senate actually proposed a budget ?

    Ideas in a committee meeting ain't the same as proposing.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    NO! A proposal is not a budget
    March 1, 2013 9:07 am
    A proposed budget was NEVER voted on or submitted to the House, so it is just passing gas. 4 YEARS?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    The eleventh hour ofthe eleventh day of the eleventh month. The end of the funding cust to end all funding cuts.
    March 1, 2013 5:36 am
    OK, so it's the 1st of March, not 11/11. But Oz HAS proclaimed that the world will end at 11:59 PM tonight (but if you can put things off nearly 24 hrs, why not another year?). .. And the President also has said he will never make budget cuts until he gets more revenue (again and again and again and again),so tis really could be Armageddon. ....

    Oh, and while the world comes to an end, can someone explain how cutting about the same $85B we scraped together for hurricane Sandy relief can cause by my calculation, based on all doom reports, nearly a trillion dollar shortfall to all federal programs in existence that are good and helpful. ..... And can someone else explain just why the Presidents' paycheck, congressional paychecks and congressional staffing will NOT face this same Armageddon ???

    .

    Note to the Land of Oz - what happens when we wake up tomorrow and the roads are still there and we have not been conquered by Iran?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    the war part of the debt is .4 trillion
    March 1, 2013 5:36 am
    the other .8 trillion is Obama's stimulus...that only gets us up to the congressional budget offices print out of 2012. The several other trillion added on after that is also from the Obama administration. This is all public record and can be found on the congressional budget offices website. It is FACT! I am so sick of everybody blaming the war and Bush for our massive deficit. The fact is it is Obama's administration who has spent the trillions we now do not have. FACT!!!!!Patty right here says "we went to war with out paying for it..." That was .4 trillion. the rest was all spent by our ruling class the current administration and the political puppets who do not play by the same set of rules! Hypocrites!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Sicko
    March 1, 2013 11:24 am
    So if a ship captain runs his ship onto the rocks and a new captain takes command and go's about making repairs that the 2nd captain is responsible for the repairs to put the ship back into operation?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    and if the new captain runs the ship into the same rocks, but harder ?????????????
    March 1, 2013 12:04 pm
    Oz had only 2 modes - Blame Bush and excuse his own mistakes because 'Bush did it too' (translation into messiahese: you let Georgie play in the street, so why can't I?).

    Heck, at least Jimmy Carter didn't have an ego problem.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    The fact is it is Obama's administration who has spent the trillions
    March 1, 2013 5:54 am
    so what's your answer clown? Spend nothing and go into a depression? Answer me this one O wise one - did Bush use the master card for [WMD] wars? If you make the minimum payment on your credit card how many years will it take to pay it off? After King Obama took over there[their] is a lot of republican ink on the papers to save the Country. Where were you, when your clowns were swiping the master card?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    the dependent class gets angry
    March 1, 2013 6:36 am
    In their normal state of stoned bliss they are unable to form a coherent sentence. Threaten to cut off their allowance and they suddenly come to life. That alone is a worthy cause.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    Well, I'm search your moronic, well lunacy of monkey
    March 1, 2013 9:09 am
    islands. Nilpotent sardonic lap chase.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • bigdogina4x4 wrote...
    Read This Post....
    March 1, 2013 11:51 am
    I'm sure it makes someone's point?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Concerned US Citizen wrote...
    More Taxes?
    March 1, 2013 5:54 am
    Is that all the Democrats know i more taxes? They and the president just got their tax increase on the rich in January and already those pigs are back at the trough for more money. That doesn't include the 2% increase in social security taxes that should never have been reduced anyway. The slimey Republican ads alrady are blaming the Dems for that increase when all it did was restore the funding to social security to the level it always has been. Please you big spenders of BOTH PARTIES STOP SPENDING NOW for my children and grandchildren's sake!!! Sequestration only has a 2 tenths of 1 % cut. Those of you in private business know that a cut this small is next to nothing. We in industry are use to budget cut of 3 to 5% every year. It is time our govenment does th same rather than live like kings on the backs of us taxpayers!! Cut out the million dollar conferencs an freeze travel for 6 months like industry does in tough time. Ever hear of Skype instead of flying?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Skyping golf with Tiger is just not the same.
    March 1, 2013 5:59 am
    Some times you've just got to fire up that old Air Force One and go.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    concerned Citizen
    March 1, 2013 11:27 am
    The SSI tax was not increased it was returned to the rate it was before it was cut. And who in government is actually living like KINGs?Besides a few politicians
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleD wrote...
    Republicons are blaming Obama for coming up with the idea of sequestration
    March 1, 2013 6:08 am
    Why didn't Obama come up with the idea of Republitards jumping off a real cliff?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • scottinshoreline wrote...
    SeattleD
    March 1, 2013 6:12 am
    I dunno...maybe cause he doesn't think killing someone with an opposing viewpoint is an appropriate solution...just sayin'
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleD wrote...
    When a Republitard jumps off a cliff just because Obama suggests it
    March 1, 2013 6:17 am
    that would be suicide, not murder. And it would be a very appropriate solution.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Keitho wrote...
    Obama is an adolescent
    March 1, 2013 6:41 am
    He refuses to negotiate. He wants it his way or he's taking his ball and going home. He asked for the sequestration. He wants the sequestration. The GOP has proposed several spending cut plans. All were rebuffed. They even voted to give Obama total authority over discretion of the cuts. He vowed to veto the bill and the Dems would not pass it in the senate. Other than selling the country out to the Dems there is nothing the GOP can do to aviod the sequester. We passed the massive tax increase already. Time for just a small concession from the white house. Bring on the sequester!! And I cant wait until the end of this month when we face a total shut down regarding the budget continuing resolution!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    they are all adolescents
    March 1, 2013 6:57 am
    Barry is Lord of the flies.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cdbtx wrote...
    Nov 11, 2011
    March 1, 2013 6:27 am
    In a speech (Google it Dave, after you pull your head out of the sand). He specifically said "I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR CONGRESS WITH REGARDS REDUCING THE SEQUESTRATION CUTS, AND IT'S VERY SIMPLE, "NO", IF THEY ATTEMPT TO REMOVE 1 CENT FROM SEQUESTRATION I WILL VETO IT"

    Man.. I'm confused..... help me understand what the TRUTH IS DAVE?

    Oh.. not to mention the Bloomberg headline this morning.

    Disposable income, or the money left over after taxes, dropped 4 percent after adjusting for inflation, the biggest plunge since monthly records began in 1959

    Feeling stupid yet???????????

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Keitho wrote...
    It better not
    March 1, 2013 6:32 am
    After the GOP caved in January and we got slammed with higher taxes and no cuts they had better not cave again. The demand by Obama and the Dems for a balanced approach again is maddening. Its like the tax hike a month ago never happened. They got their wish to punish us with new taxes now its our turn to get something back in just a meager decrease in the rate of growth of the budget.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    You expect the Senate do do something?
    March 1, 2013 7:01 am
    2% cut? They just gave me that by going back to Bill Clinton taxes. The Senate has not even constructed a budget for 4 years as the Constitution demands. They are in default and should all be summarily dismissed and brought up on charges. Start wit Pork Barrel Patty
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mobeta wrote...
    Who cares?!?!? We are going down anyway, sooner rather than later!
    March 1, 2013 7:11 am
    This is only the start, wait until the end of March when the big one hits. This will look like child's play. We have such poor leadership and this country and we are so divided more than ever in my life time that the only way to get together is to have a total collapse of the system. It will be time to pay the piper that the democrats have caused with all their give a way programs and this ponzi scheme is about to run out. They want this, crisis after crisis while stealing the American peoples tax money. Stupid is as stupid does, we deserve this.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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