Budget

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said House Democrats will unveil a 2012 budget plan of their own on Wednesday, framing it as a clear alternative to the Republican budget blueprint released last week.

In a speech at the liberal Center for American Progress, Van Hollen, ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said Social Security would be separated from the House Democrats’ discussion of the 2012 budget. But he did not divulge many details of his party’s plan, especially on how it will handle healthcare entitlements.

Van Hollen sharply criticized the House GOP budget, crafted in large part by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the Budget Committee chairman.

“When you strip away all the soothing, sweet-sounding talk of reform, at its core — at its core — the Republican budget is the same tired formula of extending tax breaks to the very wealthy and the powerful at the expense of the rest of the country,” Van Hollen said. “Except this time, it’s on steroids.”

The six-month spending package unveiled early Tuesday morning by House Republicans would ramp up the oversight of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The bill, which would fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, includes a provision that would require the CFPB to submit to two audits per year — one conducted by the Government Accountability Office, and another by an independent auditor.

House Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Tuesday he would oppose the FY 2011 spending agreement reached late last week because it does not cut enough.

"While I respect that some of my Republican colleagues will ultimately support this spending deal, I believe voters are asking us to set our sights higher," Jordan said. "Americans want us to reach higher, act bolder, and remember the job we were sent here to do."

The White House did not rule out marrying spending cuts to an increase in the debt limit, presenting an opening to GOP negotiators.

A bipartisan group of senators is unhappy that regulators might force higher down payments as part of financial reform.

Hopes for a broad settlement with banks over mortgage documentation problems seem to be fading as regulators push different punishments.

Brazil's president is talking trade on his visit to China, as the two emerging markets meet.

As gas prices continue to climb, economists wonder when it will begin having an adverse economic effect.

Appropriators revealed details of the spending-cut deal early Tuesday, missing a self-imposed midnight deadline; House vote planned for Thursday.

(LATE MONDAY’S) BIG STORY:

Get the kids ready for bed — it could be a late night. 

House and Senate appropriators were scrambling Monday to draft a bill that fleshes out Friday’s 2011 spending deal, and to beat a midnight deadline in the process.

Why the deadline? Under new House rules adopted this year, legislation must be able to be viewed on three separate weekdays to be voted on. And with the House slated to vote on the spending measure on Wednesday, that means the legislation would need to be seen sometime on Monday.

Walker will head to Capitol Hill this week to talk about his battle with public-sector unions in Wisconsin.

Several House Republicans said Monday that the Obama administration needs to provide a more detailed accounting of how it determined which transportation projects would receive about $10 billion in economic stimulus funding. 

Two separate Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports released Monday suggest that the Transportation Department and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) needed to better document the selection process for $8 billion in stimulus funding for FRA grants and $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), and Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) are calling on the administration to provide greater transparency for the process. 

“The rationale for the administration’s awards of billions of dollars under a failed high-speed rail program remains shrouded in mystery,” Mica said. 

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Republicans should not "play chicken with the economy." 

Liberal congressman Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) has gathered 20 signatures by Democratic colleagues on a letter urging House Democratic leadership to back a clean raising of the nation's debt ceiling in May.

Over the weekend, the Obama administration began sending signals it could be open to attaching a deficit-reduction plan to the debt ceiling hike. The liberal members want the caucus to establish a "position" that only a bill without any such attachments is acceptable.

According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. will reach the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by May 16. Republicans are demanding deep spending cuts as a concession for raising this limit.

"Congress will soon be required to vote on whether to extend the debt limit, which, according to Secretary Geithner, will be breached by mid-May. We ask you to convene a caucus to discuss and establish a Democratic position in favor of a clean extension of the debt ceiling," the Welch letter states.

"The debt ceiling vote is about one thing: affirming that America pays its bills. It does not authorize new taxpayer obligations; it affirms to the world our commitment to pay obligations already incurred.

"To do otherwise, or to threaten to do so, or to leverage our duty to pay our bills to achieve a partisan advantage in budget disputes, jeopardizes the full faith and credit of the United States of America," it states.