Tag Archives: democratic
UK announces plans for more flexible planning scheme for new homes
Councils in the UK will compete to process planning applications and be able to offer fast track application services under new proposals from the government now out for consultation. Ministers announced a pilot scheme which is the first step towards tackling the lack of incentive for councils to improve and speed up their planning service which has been causing drawn out applications and local frustration for both house builders and individual applicants. The proposals are expected to boost house building and speed up the planning application process by giving applicants the choice of whether to submit their plans to the local council, a competing council or a government approved organisation that would process applications up until the decision point. Councils will also be able to offer the fast track planning application service either through competition pilots or potentially through devolution deals. However, decision making on planning applications would remain with the local council to ensure decisions are taken locally and maintain the democratic link between local people and decision makers. ‘Council planning departments play a vital role in getting local house building off the ground, but for too long they have had no incentive to get things done quickly or better, resulting in drawn out applications and local frustration,’ said Communities Secretary Greg Clark. ‘These proposals will be a boost for house builders looking to build much needed new homes for hard working families and first time buyers, and for local people looking to get a planning permission for home improvements through their local council quicker,’ he added. According to Planning Minister Brandon Lewis many councils are indeed already working hard to improve the services they offer their residents, and across the country people’s satisfaction levels remain high. ‘Now we want to go further by setting out these ambitious proposals to link any future increases in application fees to councils’ performance, and testing more competition including through offering dedicated fast track application services,’ he explained. Historically councils have had a ‘closed market’ in handling planning applications, with limited incentive for innovation and efficiency. However research studies over the last three decades in the UK and abroad suggest there are cost savings of up to a fifth for competitively tendered or shared services. A consultation on the competition pilots and fast track services has been published and it also includes proposals to make any future increases in councils’ fees for processing planning applications dependent on their performance in terms of speed and quality of decisions. Further details on how the pilots will run will be published after the consultation has closed. Change is needed urgently, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). ‘Across the country small house builders continue to be frustrated by a painfully slow planning process that is holding back the delivery of new homes,’ said FMB chief executive Brian Berry. ‘The numerous sources of delays and inefficiencies in the system impact upon house building rates, and act as a major deterrent to small… Continue reading
US Congress ends default threat, Obama signs debt bill
US Congress ends default threat, Obama signs debt bill (Reuters) / 17 October 2013 Another budget showdown could loom next year WASHINGTON – The US Congress on Wednesday approved an 11 th -hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world’s biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity. Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, President Barack Obama quickly signed the spending measure, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives after Republicans dropped efforts to use the legislation to force changes in his signature healthcare law. Govt employees ordered back to work on Thursday The White House moved quickly early on Thursday to get the US government back up and running after a 16-day shutdown, directing hundreds of thousands of workers to return to work. The White House budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, issued a directive to employees minutes after President Barack Obama signed legislation that ended the shutdown and raised the U.S. debt ceiling. Her message: Get back to work on the next regularly scheduled work day, which for most workers is Thursday. “All employees who were on furlough due to the absence of appropriations may now return to work. You should reopen offices in a prompt and orderly manner,” she said. Burwell said that in the days ahead the White House would work closely with departments and agencies to make the transition back to full operating status as smooth as possible. The White House budget office told hundreds of thousands of federal workers, the bulk of whom had been idle for the past 16 days, to be ready to return to work on Thursday. The down-to-the-wire deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until Jan. 15 and raises the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, so Americans face the possibility of another bitter budget fight and another government shutdown early next year. With the deadlock broken just a day before the US Treasury said it would exhaust its ability to borrow new funds, US stocks surged on Wednesday, nearing an all-time high. Share markets in Asia also cheered the deal. Taking the podium in the White House briefing room on Wednesday night, Obama said that with final congressional passage, “We can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people.” “Hopefully next time it won’t be in the 11 th hour. We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis,” Obama said. He outmanoeuvred Republicans by holding firm in defence of “Obamacare” to win agreement, with few strings attached, to end the 16-day shutdown. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said “the global economy dodged a potential catastrophe” with congressional approval of the deal to raise the $16.7 trillion US debt ceiling. The standoff between Republicans and the White House over funding the government forced the temporary lay-off of hundreds of thousands of federal workers from Oct. 1 and created concern that crisis-driven politics was the “new normal” in Washington. While essential functions like defence and air traffic control continued during the crisis, national parks and agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency have been largely closed. Senator John McCain, whose fellow Republicans triggered the crisis with demands that the Democratic president’s “Obamacare” healthcare reform law be defunded, said earlier on Wednesday the deal marked the “end of an agonizing odyssey” for Americans. “It is one of the most shameful chapters I have seen in the years I’ve spent in the Senate,” said McCain, who had warned Republicans not to link their demands for Obamacare changes to the debt limit or government spending bill. Polls showed Republicans took a hit in public opinion over the standoff. In the end, the Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure on a 81-18 vote, and the Republican-controlled House followed suit 285 to 144. Obama signed the 35-page bill just after midnight. Political dysfunction Although the deal would only extend US borrowing authority until the first week of February, the Treasury Department would have tools to temporarily extend its borrowing capacity beyond that date if Congress failed to act early next year. But such techniques eventually run out. In addition to lifting the federal debt limit, the deal calls for creating a House-Senate bipartisan commission to try to come up with long-term deficit-reduction ideas that would have to be approved by the full Congress. Their work would have to be completed by Dec. 13, but some lawmakers say the panel faces an extremely difficult task. The agreement also includes some income verification procedures for those seeking subsidies under the 2010 healthcare law. But it was only a modest concession to Republicans, who surrendered on their latest attempt to delay or gut the healthcare package or include major changes, including the elimination of a medical device tax. The congressional vote signalled a temporary ceasefire between Republicans and the White House in the latest struggle over spending and deficits that has at times paralyzed both decision-making and basic functions of government. The political dysfunction has worried US allies and creditors such as China, the biggest foreign holder of US debt, and raised questions about the impact on America’s prestige. The Treasury has said it risks hurting the country’s reputation as a safe haven and stable financial centre. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced the fiscal agreement on the Senate floor earlier on Wednesday, and its passage was eased when the main Republican critic of the deal, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, said he would not use procedural moves to delay a vote. The agreement stacked up as a political achievement for Obama, who refused to negotiate on changes to the healthcare law, and a defeat for Republicans, who were driven by Tea Party conservatives in their ranks and suffered a backlash in public opinion polls. There was no immediate sign that House Speaker John Boehner’s leadership position was at risk despite having conceded defeat in the budget battle. Several Republican lawmakers suggested he may have strengthened his standing among the rank-and-file, who gave him a standing ovation at an afternoon meeting. But Cruz, a Tea Party-backed senator with 2016 presidential aspirations, denounced the fiscal accord as a “terrible deal” and accused fellow Republicans of giving in too easily in their bid to derail Obamacare. Obama’s Democrats avoided claims of victory. “The bottom line is, millions suffered, millions didn’t get pay checks, the economy was dragged down,” said Senator Charles Schumer. “This is not a happy day, it is a sombre day.” The fight over Obamacare rapidly grew into a brawl over the debt ceiling, threatening a default that global financial organisations warned could throw the United States back into recession and cause a global economic disaster. Fitch Ratings had warned on Tuesday that it could cut the US sovereign credit rating from AAA, citing the political brinkmanship over raising the debt ceiling. A resolution to the crisis cannot come soon enough for many companies. American consumers have put away their wallets, at least temporarily, instead of spending on big-ticket items like cars and recreational vehicles. “We’re sort of ‘crises-ed’ out,” said Tammy Darvish, vice president of DARCARS Automotive Group, a family-run company that owns 21 auto dealerships in the greater Washington area. Continue reading
US House approves one-year ‘Obamacare’ delay in bill
House Republicans defy Obama; shutdown nears (Reuters) / 29 September 2013 The US House of Representatives on Sunday, ignoring a White House veto threat, approved a one-year delay in funding major provisions of President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law as part of a government funding bill. The House of Representatives early on Sunday brought the federal government closer to a shutdown as it voted to delay President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law for a year as part of an emergency spending bill. By a mostly partisan vote of 231-192, the Republican-controlled House approved the ‘Obamacare’ amendment, despite a veto threat from the White House. It also voted 248-174 to repeal a medical device tax that aims to help fund healthcare programs under the 2010 law. And in a sign that lawmakers might be resigned to a government shutdown beginning Tuesday, the House unanimously approved a bill to keep paying US soldiers in the event the government runs out of money to run many programmes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated on Saturday that the House bill would be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is not scheduled to meet until 2 p.m. on Monday. Obama also threatened to veto any bill that delays his healthcare restructuring. There is a slight chance the two sides could reach a funding deal before the government’s fiscal year ends at midnight on Monday. Congress could also act at any time to end the impasse if a shutdown did occur. But the bitterness of the House debate on Saturday night that spilled into early Sunday did not bode well for prospects of a compromise. “You have been hijacked by a group called the Tea Party,” Democratic Representative David Scott of Georgia said angrily, referring to the powerful conservative, anti-government movement that holds significant sway over Republicans. “The American people deserve to have time to see what this monstrosity will do before it is implemented,” shouted Republican Representative John Culberson of Texas, referring to ‘Obamacare.’ The high-stakes manoeuvring between Democrats and Republicans is likely to continue through much of Monday. The standoff is also a harbinger for the next big political battle in Washington: a far more consequential bill to raise the federal government’s borrowing authority. Failure to raise the debt ceiling by mid-October could result in the government defaulting on its obligations. Medical device tax The funding impasse is the culmination of more than three years of failed conservative efforts to repeal ‘Obamacare,’ a programme aimed at extending health insurance to millions of those without coverage. Republicans argue that ‘Obamacare’, which is set to launch on October 1, is a massive and unnecessary government intrusion into medicine that will cause premiums to skyrocket and damage the economy. Failure to pass a funding bill would close down much of the government for the first time since 1996. More than a million federal employees would be furloughed from their jobs, with the impact depending on the duration of a shutdown. The current timetable could leave House Speaker John Boehner with the most difficult decision of his career: whether to approve a straight-forward spending bill passed on Friday by the Senate or allow the government shutdown to begin. Neither side wants to be the last to cast the final vote that would lead to a shutdown, a concern that has turned the funding measure into a hot potato tossed between the two chambers. While polls consistently show the American public is tired of political showdowns and opposed to a shutdown, House conservatives were jubilant about the fight. “This is a win-win all the way around,” said Republican Arizona Representative Matt Salmon, who described the mood of Republicans before the vote as “ecstatic.” Republicans and a handful of Democrats also approved an amendment to the bill repealing a tax on medical devices that helps fund the healthcare law to the tune of about $30 billion. That provision, sought with heavy lobbying by the medical device industry, has been supported in the past by some Democratic senators. In a government shutdown, spending for functions considered essential, related to national security or public safety, would continue along with benefit programmes such as Medicare health insurance and Social Security retirement benefits for seniors. But civilian federal employees – from people who process forms and handle regulatory proceedings to workers at national parks and museums in Washington – would be temporarily out of work. The last government shutdown ran from December 16, 1995 to January 6, 1996, and was the product of a budget battle between Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republicans, led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. Republicans suffered a public backlash when voters re-elected Clinton in a landslide the following November, a lesson never forgotten by senior Republicans, including Boehner. This time, Boehner tried to avoid a showdown but was overruled by his rebellious caucus, largely influenced since the 2010 election by newcomers endorsed by the Tea Party. While Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the top House Republicans, worked behind the scenes, they did not deliver floor speeches in support of the bill – something they often do on major legislation. Instead, some of the House’s most conservative members who drove the ‘Obamacare’ delay effort, dominated the debate. With Boehner effectively sidelined, rank-and-file Republicans boasted of their unity. Members chanted, “Vote, vote, vote, vote,” in their closed-door meeting, they reported later. Afterward, Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York, took to the House floor to accuse Republicans of throwing a “temper tantrum” about ‘Obamacare’ under pressure from ‘Tea Party extremists.’ Conservative and liberal groups, from the Tea Party to women’s rights organisations, have been cashing in on the showdown over ‘Obamacare,’ using it to rally supporters and raise money for next year’s congressional elections. Continue reading
