Budget

Kent Conrad's retirement provides the Senate Budget Committee chairman with two years to press onward with what could be some vastly unpopular spending-cut and policy suggestions to reduce the deficit. 

The North Dakota Democrat, who announced Tuesday that he won't run for reelection in 2012, has been outspoken on reining in spending for what he's called an "unsustainable" fiscal path for the nation. 

"What's critically important is that we have a comprehensive, long-term plan to deal with deficits and debt," he said during a recent interview with CNBC. "We are on a course that is simply unsustainable, and it needs to be addressed. But it is also the case that we have got to be careful with respect to the timing. We can't pivot too soon, or we jeopardize this recovery that is just gaining strength."

Conrad said his top priorities in the next two years include getting the federal budget on a sound fiscal course, reducing the nation's dependence on foreign energy and crafting a new farm bill. 

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare announced Tuesday it is launching a new $1 million advertising campaign to stop congressional or White House proposals that would cut Social Security benefits as part of any deficit-reduction plan.

Liberal groups are worried that the president will announce Social Security reform as an olive branch to Republicans in next week's State of the Union address.

Former Connecticut Rep. Barbara Kennelly and Social Security Coalition co-leaders Nancy Altman of Social Security Works and Roger Hickey from Campaign for America's Future will be featured in radio ads this week. 

The committee boasts more than 3 million members and supporters nationwide, and led the campaign to defeat then-President George W. Bush’s proposals on Social Security reform in 2005.

“The American people, in poll after poll, have said they do not support cutting benefits in the name of deficit reduction. They understand Social Security has not contributed one dime to our current fiscal meltdown, yet it’s clear Washington’s fiscal hawks intend to ratchet up their attacks on the program in the new Congress,” Kennelly said in a statement.

The first Democrat to announce retirement this cycle, Sen. Kent Conrad said he didn't want the distraction of a campaign.

House Republican freshmen lawmakers, elected on platforms to reduce spending and the deficit, are saying they're prepared to play hardball and vote against raising the debt ceiling in order to extract an agreement on possible budget cuts. 

If there's no agreement on what to cut from the federal budget by the time a vote rolls around, Rep. David Schweikert, (R-Ariz.) a freshman lawmaker, is positioning himself to vote against raising the nation's debt limit. 

"We're walking a bit of a tight rope," Schweikert said Monday on Fox News.

"I'm being asked to pay off the credit card for the crazy spending from this president and the House of Democrats," he said. "The problem is they've already spent the money. The bill is now coming due. So for someone like myself, you know, you look your constituents in the eyes and say, I cannot vote for this debt ceiling unless we have substantial, you know, systematic changes in spending."

The House Rules Committee announced Monday that it will vote Wednesday on a rule effectively setting a spending ceiling for the second half of fiscal 2011.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was given rare powers to unilaterally set the ceilings for the rest of 2011 in a rules package the House adopted this month. The powers were necessary since Congress never adopted a 2011 budget resolution. The new rule would guide Ryan to set ceilings that assume “a transition to non-security spending at fiscal 2008 levels.”

The hiring of Vice President Joe Biden’s new chief of staff Bruce Reed last week may bolster the chances that the administration and Congress can agree on a long-term deficit reduction package, sources said.

Reed most recently served as the executive director the president’s deficit commission and played a key role in drafting the plan by its chairman to reduce the nation’s debt. The mix of spending cuts, entitlement reform and tax reform gained bipartisan support by a surprising 11 out of 18 members of the commission. 

At issue is an administration policy that was announced in September 2009 by the outgoing White House ethics czar.

A majority of those asked prefer cutting spending to raising taxes as a way to reduce the federal deficit, according to a CBS News poll. 

In the poll, 77 percent prefer to cut spending, 9 percent want to raise taxes and another 9 percent want to do both.

While reducing spending is a top priority, most couldn't volunteer a program they'd be willing to see cut in order to reduce the deficit  with only 38 percent naming a program they would support cutting. 

The top responses were military/defense (6 percent), Social Security/Medicare (4 percent) and welfare/food stamps (4 percent).

The House Republican conference heard from three experts with distinct ideas on spending cuts during a Friday morning panel on the budget deficit at their annual retreat.

The budget and debt event in Baltimore featured former Bush economic adviser Keith Hennessey, the American Enterprise Institute’s Kevin Hassett and Boston University economist Larry Kotlikoff.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said at the retreat that three main points of focus at the retreat are whether and how to raise the debt ceiling, the continuing resolution that expires March 4 and the 2012 budget.

The Office of Management and Budget confirmed Friday that it is the administration’s position that Congress should not tie any other business to a bill raising the nation’s debt ceiling.