Page 84 - Hot Button News Today

A beautiful, sunny, spring and rather enjoyable day here in new york city. the senate, about to vote on that 2011 budget deal struck by speaker boehner, senator reid, and the president last week. while over in the house, lawmakers about to vote on two separate provisions related to that deal. the first would de-fund obamacare. the second would eliminate funding for planned parenthood. both will likely pass in the house. and both are expected to fail in the senate. so why would they do this? all ...

Sides of the aisle. over the past several weeks there has been, im told by sources negotiating on both sides of the aisle, a good-faith effort. trouble, as weve seen, over the last couple of days. thats why theyve enlisted the president in the series of meetings. i was told by the congressional sources who were negotiating that more progress had been made but they do, as dan said, have some gap, important gaps,en how much to cut, more importantly, where to find the cuts from. and the policy ride...

Didnt want to sign on to this. >> thats become a political football, too, in all of this. i mean, are the sticking point the same? >> reporter: they are the same. of course, weve talked about the number, right? just what kind of spending cuts, what is the amount of spending cuts the democrats, republicans can agree on. theres other moving parts here, and it has to do with hot button social issues. there are not just numbers in this bill. there are policy provisions, particularly a couple that ho...

Yet. there have been a couple things, bills put forward and strip-away salary and make that clear, especially because its unclear what would happen to service members, men and women in uniform and what happens to their salary especially if a shut down goes a long way. its a hot button. easy to point fingers at congress. they know that. those i talked to, a senator that just came up and said hello after being on the treadmill with four members downstairs and theyre watching, they say, this mornin...

But democrats are opposed to this because they say they want to get an agreement on the big picture for the next six months, the remainder of the fiscal year. so theres a battle over even the plan "b" attempt. there is some issue here today with these policy ideas. some call them emotional and partisan issues, and its not just about the funding anymore. thats really sort of how this debate has changed today. where you have speaker boehner talking about the importance of policy riders, attachment...

A lot of finger pointing. what are the major sticking points here? >> reporter: it has to do, of course, with the number, how much in the way of spending cuts are there going to be. another important thing to consider. actually, hot button social issues have come into play. there are policy provisions in what republicans want. for instance, they want to defund health reform. the presidents signature legislative item. they want to defund planned parenthood. you see abortion comes into the mix the...

Senate majority leader harry reid. both democratic and republican sources telling us that it was positive that it led to discussions today among top aides, and sources telling us the fact there isnt a meeting at the white house, that maybe you can read into that as a positive sign, suzanne. >> what are the sticking points for the new budget? >> of course, the sticking points have to do with the amounts of cuts, the dollar amounts. theres also something else in play that has to do with hot button...

Republicans want to defund abortion and the planned parenthood and take on the environment tall protection agency and there are some cuts to head start programs. these are things that are on the table and certainly, house republicans, if they can get more in the way of some of the hot button social issues, they could go with less cuts. you can see how the number is really contingent on those things. >> all of those things add up to what, 1/50th of the budget. we are not talking about that much m...

Compromised reached between democrats and republicans. a lot of numbers are being tossed around, $73 billion in cuts, $10 billion in cuts, $40 billion in cuts. the most pressing number right now, two, two days away from the first government shutdown in 15 years. brianna keeler on the phone from capitol hill. i understand you got stuck in traffic, brianna. we understand that perfectly. >> reporter: certainly, no government shutdown here. it is very bustling in the capital today. i think when we l...

The american people, recognizing we have a president that doesnt want to cut that much spending and the democratic senate that doesnt want to cut that much spending and then let get on to the real topics about saving our country. >> am i too cynical to look at this point at this specific debate, senator, as having ultimately resulted in a political agendai to attack certainly politically unpopular things, whether it is the epa, planned parenthood, or whatever, which by the way, may be subject fo...