us debt panel nears 11th hour with no deal seen
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

US debt panel nears 11th hour with no deal seen

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today US debt panel nears 11th hour with no deal seen

Washington - AFP

A US Congress "supercommittee" grew more pessimistic on Sunday about reaching a deal to shrink swollen US deficits as it remained unable to close partisan gaps on cutting social programs and raising taxes on the rich. The 12-member panel faces a rapidly approaching midnight Wednesday deadline to adopt a plan to cut $1.2 trillion (888 billion euros) from deficits over 10 years, with failure due to trigger draconian cuts to domestic programs and military spending. A day after the White House said the committee must "do its job," President Barack Obama trumpeted new trade deals signed during his trip to Asia as engines of job growth with US unemployment stuck at over nine percent. "This is important, because over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed. We racked up a lot of debt, but we didn't create many jobs at all," he said in Indonesia's Bali resort island Saturday. But Obama did not directly address the seemingly deadlocked negotiations in Washington, a partisan logjam likely to shape the campaign to the November 2012 elections in which he seeks a second term. The congressional effort was given a burst of urgency on Wednesday when the US government debt passed the $15 trillion mark, roughly equal to 99 percent of the size of the total US economy, a level economists consider perilous. Any deal would require majority approval on the committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, after which the full Congress would need to adopt it by December 23 to avoid the automatic cuts. In Washington, Republican Senator and committee member Pat Toomey said in his party's rejoinder to Obama's weekly remarks that "it's not too late for the United States" to avoid a Europe-style fiscal and financial crisis. "The hour is late. By law, our work on this committee must be completed this coming week. But I remain hopeful that we can meet our goal," said Toomey. However, his colleague, Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, sounded less optimistic. "I think that's pretty doubtful at this point," Kyl said about the possibility of reaching a compromise. "But obviously no one wants to quit until the stroke of midnight." Asked to describe the outline of a possible compromise, Kyl said, "I’m not sure there is one." Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported gloomily that the supercommittee was "poised to admit defeat as soon as Monday." The panel, created in an August deal on raising the US debt limit, is locked over Republican refusals of Democratic calls to raise taxes on the very wealthy in return for cuts to cherished social safety net programs. "If you're going to ask every average American who drives a car, goes to work, struggles each day to pay their bills, and they're going to somehow be part of the solution, to have something on the table that does not ask the wealthiest people in the country to share in, that would be unconscionable," Democratic Senator John Kerry, a panel member, said Friday. Republicans have rejected tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans, arguing that they would cripple job-creating investment even as the brittle US economy labors under stubbornly high unemployment of more than nine percent. They have also tried to set the stage for repealing military spending cuts which would kick in come January 2013. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned the cuts will leave US forces smaller, slower and weaker than at any time since World War II. "We are painfully, painfully aware of the deadline that is staring us in the face," Representative Jeb Hensarling, the co-chair of the panel, told reporters Friday, after a closed-door meeting with fellow committee Republicans. Hensarling said the committee would meet through the weekend if necessary to "try to find sufficient common ground" on a solution to "simultaneously address both our nation's jobs crisis and the debt crisis." Markets that should have been buoyed by some positive economic data during the week were instead held back by both the supercommittee deadlock and the failure in Europe to quell a debt crisis that threatens to spill overseas. The Dow Jones Industrial Index finished the week down 2.9 percent from the previous Friday, while the S&P 500 was pared 3.8 percent.  

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

us debt panel nears 11th hour with no deal seen us debt panel nears 11th hour with no deal seen



GMT 08:40 2013 Saturday ,02 February

Saladin

GMT 19:26 2017 Sunday ,29 January

UK Government Criticizes US Refugee Ban

GMT 21:58 2011 Wednesday ,17 August

UN withdraws \"non-essential\" staff from Syria

GMT 17:49 2011 Monday ,08 August

Chain reaction: US markets open with loss

GMT 10:25 2011 Monday ,01 August

\'Alarming\' rise in pregnant women strokes

GMT 19:01 2011 Tuesday ,19 April

Leaders pledge aid to complete Chernobyl shelter

GMT 10:24 2017 Wednesday ,12 April

Japanese skater Asada bows out with 'no regrets'

GMT 20:22 2011 Friday ,15 April

Typhoon jets used for first time in Libya

GMT 19:49 2011 Saturday ,06 August

Qatari Diar edges closer in Olympic Village move

GMT 11:22 2017 Monday ,23 January

US pop star defends explosive anti-Trump speech
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday