Gingrich Daughter: Dad’s ‘Actually Done Things that Improved Country'

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Former House speaker Newt Gingrich launched a new Website this week as a precursor to a presidential bid, a move that brings him a step closer to the announcement that he’s widely expected to make in the coming weeks.

His daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, says Gingrich is prepared to run on his record as House speaker – a tenure that included a balanced budget agreement with President Bill Clinton.

“He's exploring with the American people where we're heading, thinking very hard about running for president,” Cushman tells ABC News.

“You have to remember, he's the man that balanced the budget, the federal budget,” Cushman said. “So if you're looking for someone who has the experience, who has actually done things that have improved our country, clearly he has that record.”

She conceded that the government shutdown of 1995-1996, though it helped bring about the balanced budget her father is so proud of, probably could have been handled better.

“I think he would admit that it was the right thing to do, but it could have been handled a little differently,” she said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Mitt Romney to Call For 'New President' in New Hampshire Speech

TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images(BARTLETT, N.H.) -- Former Massachusetts governor and likely presidential candidate Mitt Romney will call for a "new president" at a speech scheduled for Saturday evening in New Hampshire -- an early primary state crucial to his chances of winning the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

In remarks at the Carroll County Lincoln Day Dinner in Bartlett, N.H., Romney intends to deliver a full-throated critique of President Obama's leadership, especially on fiscal issues, saying that the president made the economic crisis he inherited "worse."

"Senator Obama campaigned hard in New Hampshire but he apparently didn’t like what he saw. He certainly didn’t learn from it. Instead of lowering taxes, he raised them. He wrapped businesses in red tape, he grew government, he borrowed trillions of dollars, and he made it clear that he doesn’t like business people very much," Romney says in prepared remarks. "He created a deeper recession, and delayed the recovery. The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index, and it is at a record high. It’s going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work—it’s going to take a new president."

Romney also plans to address one of his biggest political liabilities -- the fact that as governor of Massachusetts he led the passage of a health care law similar to the one President Obama signed into law.

"Our experiment wasn’t perfect -- some things worked, some didn’t, and some things I’d change," Romney will say about the Massachusetts plan. "One thing I would never do is to usurp the constitutional power of states with a one-size-fits-all federal takeover."

He adds, "I would repeal Obamacare, if I were ever in a position to do so."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Senate Democrats Unveil Spending Bill, Plan Proposal Votes

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Senate Democrats unveiled their spending proposal on Friday for the remaining seven months of fiscal year 2011 and said they want to hold votes early next week on their proposal and the GOP’s plan.

“We will at least know where we stand, Mr. President, to move this ball down the road a little further,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the floor Friday.

“I’m much more concerned with keeping our country running and investing in our future than in this political game that we see,” he added.

Using President Obama’s never-enacted 2011 budget proposal as the baseline, Senate Democrats said their proposal includes $51 billion in cuts – about half of the $100 billion in cuts that the GOP wants, using that same baseline.

Republicans have argued that the president’s 2011 budget proposal is not a valid baseline since it was never enacted. The baseline that should be used, the GOP has said, is the current level of spending in the original continuing resolution. According to that baseline, the GOP has $61 billion in cuts in the spending bill passed by House Republicans last month. Under that baseline, the Democrats’ new proposal includes nowhere near $51 billion in cuts, but rather closer to $10 billion, a much smaller fraction of what the GOP wants.

Reid said he wants next week’s votes to take place on Tuesday, but the Senate’s top Republican Mitch McConnell objected for the time being saying his party would like to study the Democrats’ proposal over the weekend before agreeing to any set votes.

Republicans have vociferously argued that the Democrats’ cuts do not go nearly far enough. Earlier Friday McConnell called a similar White House budget proposal “unacceptable and indefensible” and told Democrats to “get serious.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

White House Willing to Cut $6 Billion More From Federal Budget

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- White House officials said Thursday that in their budget negotiations with GOP congressional leaders, they’re willing to cut an additional $6 billion from the president’s proposed, but never enacted, FY2011 budget. 

National Economic Council director Gene Sperling says in addition to $44 billion in cuts the White House has already agreed to, the Obama administration is "also prepared to put out specifics that will cut another $6 billion, thus moving closer to the GOP goal.  Sperling says the effort essentially splits the difference between the president's request and the House Republicans’ budget.

A Democrat tells ABC News the potential cuts include items in the House Republicans’ budget such as cutting $224 million from the Forest Service, $100 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, $90 million from the CBP Automation Modernization, and $500 million from rescinded unobligated WIC balances.  Some additional cuts include $280 million from the ARC Tunnel Cancellation, $277 million VA Information Technology, and $100 million from Embassy security, construction, and maintenance.

“We feel we’ve come halfway,” said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer.

The White House reaches that viewpoint by using as the baseline for cuts the president’s never-enacted FY2011 budget, which was for $1.1283 trillion.  The House Republicans’ budget, H.R. 1, was $1.026 trillion, hence the difference is $102.3 billion.

The president’s FY2011 budget never was enacted, so a series of temporary spending bills have passed instead.  The original temporary spending bill represented in totality $40.8 billion less in spending that the president’s original proposal.  The one the president signed into law Thursday -- funding the government until March 18 -- represents another $4 billion in cuts.

The White House argues the president has already essentially agreed to $44.8 billion in spending cuts from his original proposal.  Add the $6.5 billion in new cuts proposed Thursday and that bumps the total up to roughly half of $100 billion.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

House Passes Repeal of 1099 Requirement of Health Care Law

Comstock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal the 1099 mandate of the health care reform law that Republicans say tangles small business owners in red tape and hampers job creation.  But Democrats say the repeal will reduce federal revenues created by the health care reform law and increase taxes on the middle class.

The vote on H.R. 4 -- the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act -- passed Thursday afternoon by a count of 314-112, with 76 Democrats joining a unanimous House GOP to strike the requirement.

Enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to help off-set costs of the law, the 1099 provision stipulates that corporations that are not tax-exempt report payments of $600 or more, creating nearly $22 billion in federal revenue over the next 10 years.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the repeal would increase federal budget deficits by $21.9 billion over 2011-2021.  In order to make up for those lost revenues, the Republicans’ legislation sought to modify the health care reform law’s repayment schedule for a portion of health care tax credits received by recouping subsidies to purchase insurance provided to lower- and middle-income families if their income grows beyond certain levels.

After the vote, Speaker of the House John Boehner said in a statement that he was pleased that the House once again is fulfilling another promise from the GOP’s Pledge to America.

“The 1099 mandate has been a major source of uncertainty for small businesses trying to grapple with the costs and consequences of the government takeover of health care,” Boehner said.  “Having run a small business, I know how Washington mandates like this one can threaten jobs by increasing costs, creating uncertainty, and burying employers in red tape and paperwork.”

“By repealing the 1099 mandate, we are continuing to listen to the American people and taking another step towards creating a better environment for job creation in America,” Boehner added.

The Senate passed its own repeal of the 1099 mandate Feb. 2, but the House did not take up the Senate’s legislation.  The fate of the 1099 is uncertain since the two chambers will have to reconcile their differences and agree on the same legislative language.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Wisconsin Republicans Threaten Missing Dems with Contempt

Photo Courtesy - Mark Hirsch/Getty Images(MADISON, Wis.) -- The Wisconsin standoff escalated a notch Thursday when Senate Republicans threatened to hold their missing Democratic colleagues in contempt if they don’t return to the chamber in Madison by 4 p.m. Central time Thursday.  Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said, “They’re insulting the very fabric of our representative democracy.”  The 14 Senate Democrats have been hiding out in Illinois since February 17th to stall a vote on Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to dismantle collective bargaining for state employee unions.  Fitzgerald said the Democrats could be taken into custody if they enter Wisconsin.  Attorneys who drafted the contempt order point to precedents including the U.S. Capitol Police carrying “Senator Bob Packwood feet first into the Senate chamber” when the Senate ordered the arrest of absent senators to fulfill a quorum during a campaign finance debate in 1988.

Democratic Senator Spencer Coggs told ABC News the stalemate “has taken an ugly turn” and that Republicans were attempting to be “punitive” instead of negotiating in good faith. 

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Biden to Lead First Meeting on Bipartisan Spending Negotiations

Photo Courtesy - Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Vice President Biden will be on Capitol Hill Thursday to start negotiations between Congressional Democrats and Republicans on a long-term spending deal.

Now that Congress passed a stop-gap bill earlier this week, lawmakers have until March 18 to strike a deal that will fund the government through the rest of this fiscal year and avert a federal shutdown.

The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said he will attend Thursday's meeting, signaling a new willingness on the part of the GOP to sit down at the negotiating table.  But that doesn't mean he has high expectations regarding cooperation across the aisle for the talks: "We're happy to go to the meeting, but putting a meeting on the schedule doesn't change the fact that neither the White House nor a single Democrat in Congress has proposed a plan that would allow the government to remain open and that would respond to the voters by reining in spending," McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday morning. "All we get is talk."

"If the president's measure of success as he said is a plan that makes sure we live within our means the way most people do, count on me showing up early," he added.  "Unfortunately, I suspect the president is once again just saying things people want to hear.  The fact is if Democrats had a plan of their own that would cut one dollar in spending, I think we would have seen it by now.  But we haven't."

Republicans have expressed reluctance to start negotiations on a long-term deal, saying that Senate Democrats should either come up with a plan of their own that cuts spending or simply take up the House-passed bill with $61 billion in cuts.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called that GOP stance "shallow" and "foolish," while the Senate's number-two Democrat, Dick Durbin, remarked that it would take "a superhuman effort" from both sides to reach a long-term deal.

Also attending Thursday's meeting will be House Speaker John Boehner, the leading House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, and Reid.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Social Security Scare: Is Government Running Out of Funds?

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are hesitant to put Social Security on the chopping block, but with the U.S. debt so large, time to reform the 76-year-old program is running out, experts say.

The debate over a program that has become a sacred cow for senior citizens comes at a time when Democrats and Republicans are wrangling about how to fund the government for the rest of the year and beyond.

Democrats charge that the Republicans' continuing resolution would cut essential funds from the Social Security Administration and in turn hurt thousands of retirees who may not get their benefits or be able to enroll on time.  The cuts, Republicans say, would amount to $125 million from current levels and $500 million from the reserve fund.

The SSA has warned of possible worker furloughs if the Republicans' plan is approved.

Republicans say the cuts are needed to balance the budget.  They blame President Obama for not seizing the opportunity to lead the charge on reforming Social Security, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will post a deficit of $600 billion over the next ten years.

Social Security comprises 20 percent of the White House's 2012 budget proposal.  Even though the report acknowledges that the program faces a "long-term financing shortfall," it doesn't suggest any reforms.  Instead, the budget provides an additional $1 billion from 2010 -- for a total of $12.5 million -- to reduce the backlog of disability claims.

More than 54 million Americans -- about one in four U.S. households -- receive benefits each month through Social Security.  About 70 percent of those checks, which average $1,076, go to retired workers and their families, and the rest to disabled Americans and recipients' survivors.

The number of enrollees is expected to grow as the baby boomer generation begins retiring, while the pool of workers who contribute to Social Security grows relatively smaller.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Senate Dems Signal Support for House GOP's Two-Week Spending Bill

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- All that talk about a government shutdown can be put on hold for another two weeks.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Tuesday that the Senate – with some Democrats on board – will pass the two-week spending bill that is set to emerge from the GOP-controlled House.

As his spokesman did last Friday, Reid contended that the GOP’s stopgap measure that would cut $4 billion in spending is a modified version of what Democrats have wanted all along since it is full of cuts they had already supported.

If both chambers of Congress had failed to agree on an extension by the end of Friday, funding would've run out and the government would've shut down. But despite fears in recent weeks that a shutdown could occur, that no longer appears to be a possibility.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Gov't Stalemate Thaws as Dems 'Encouraged' by New GOP Proposal

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The prospect of a government shutdown next week appeared to become less likely Friday as Republicans unveiled a new short-term spending proposal that earned praise from Democrats.

The GOP’s latest proposal -- a two-week spending bill with $4 billion in cuts -- was designed to be hard for Democrats to resist because it is full of cuts they had already supported. For instance, the Republicans’ plan included $1.24 billion in cuts proposed by President Obama in his 2012 budget and about $2.7 billion in cuts to earmarks that both parties have already renounced.

“The American people want the government to stay open and they want us to cut spending,” Speaker of the House John Boehner said in a statement. “These stop-gap measures are only necessary because the Democrats who run Washington failed to pass a budget, failed to stop the spending binge that’s threatened job growth and failed to lead.”

The House will come back into session on Monday and is expected to complete debate and vote on the two-week extension on Tuesday. Boehner predicted they would pass it in short order and called on Senate Democrats to follow suit.

Judging from their response to the GOP’s plan, it’s clear Democrats are indeed warming up to it. Case in point: now they’re using words like “encouraged” and “moving closer” and “good idea.”

“We are encouraged to hear that Republicans are abandoning their demands for extreme measures like cuts to border security, cancer research and food safety inspectors and instead moving closer to Democrats’ position that we should cut government spending in a smart, responsible way that targets waste and excess while keeping our economy growing,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesman Jon Summers said in a statement Friday.

In fact, Democrats argued, the GOP’s new plan is just “a modified version” of what they have been proposing all along.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio