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Colin arrives, with a copy of the latest edition of the New Republican under his arm. He smiles at the secretary while he adjusts his bow tie, inadvertantly making it more out of place than it was before. "Please inform Per Lundgren that Per Leary would like to see him. I don't have an appointment, but he's expecting me .... kinda."
"Hello, Mr. Speaker. You've piqued my curiousity at a minimum, so here I am. You called this meeting, so I'll let you get the ball rolling."
It was never my intention to make you believe I would try and prevent any vote from taking place on a seconded bill. Just as you acted that time under the assumption that I would prevent a vote I was acting under the assumption that you were trying to force a vote to take place without giving a fair time of waiting. Yes people should have spoken up informing you of their disproval of your amendment, however you should have approached me privatly and checked what kind of support you could get and what would be needed for MRP support of your amendment. Some of it is good some isn't, as such it was voted down by me.
As I have said I don't want any increase in the foreign intelligence budget but your proposals have not helped the issue by forcing me to act closer with the ENP then I had intended on the budget. I am no fan of the military and as such don't want a large increase allowing an expansion of it, however they do need the most modern and well maintained equipment to make sure we don't have any accidents and that we have a core military in place should an international crisis take place. I also have intentions for some of that money to go to a national guard type creation in our country, which the ENP will no doubt dislike since it would be designed to be deployed 90% of the time only for natural disasters or civil unrest that the police can't handle. The other 10% would be practice with the army on the odd chance we get invaded.
Your high court petition has....shall we say made me a little weary of your intentions? Your party mate has never shown kindness towards me and since I assumed he had more power in the party then you, it seemed your party would be acting almost entirely without regard for mrp views.
As I have said I don't want any increase in the foreign intelligence budget but your proposals have not helped the issue by forcing me to act closer with the ENP then I had intended on the budget. I am no fan of the military and as such don't want a large increase allowing an expansion of it, however they do need the most modern and well maintained equipment to make sure we don't have any accidents and that we have a core military in place should an international crisis take place. I also have intentions for some of that money to go to a national guard type creation in our country, which the ENP will no doubt dislike since it would be designed to be deployed 90% of the time only for natural disasters or civil unrest that the police can't handle. The other 10% would be practice with the army on the odd chance we get invaded.
Your high court petition has....shall we say made me a little weary of your intentions? Your party mate has never shown kindness towards me and since I assumed he had more power in the party then you, it seemed your party would be acting almost entirely without regard for mrp views.
"Mr. Speaker, my party has no hostile intentions towards your party. In fact, I personally debated between joining the PoL and the MRP before ultimately signing on with the PoL. Our platforms have many issues we can work on together, as I mentioned in my letters to you after the election."
"Jerome is outspoken and frankly that's a good thing. Sometimes he's not the most diplomatic, but I can assure its not out of any personal malice for you. He just happens to disagree with you on a few points, and he can be a stickler for procedure."
"You say I should've come to you before issuing my proposal, well maybe you're right, but it was never my intention for my proposals to be voted on as they stood. I knew perfectly well the ENP wouldn't go along with it, and there was a fair chance the MRP wouldn't either. I wanted to create a new starting point. The President's budget included extremely large increases in some areas, and extremely large and I feel irresponsible decreases in other areas. I wanted to create a new starting point, and I was certainly open to amending my proposals, as I have done on the current amendment up for debate based on my discussions with Per Park. However, when your party sits mute, I can't offer any compromises."
"But the past is the past, I assume we're here to talk about the future. If you want to try and hammer out a budget between the two of us, I'm open to suggestions. I will let you know, I've contacted several leading figures, from both your party and the ENP to try and do this exact thing, but so far we haven't produced anything concrete."
"Jerome is outspoken and frankly that's a good thing. Sometimes he's not the most diplomatic, but I can assure its not out of any personal malice for you. He just happens to disagree with you on a few points, and he can be a stickler for procedure."
"You say I should've come to you before issuing my proposal, well maybe you're right, but it was never my intention for my proposals to be voted on as they stood. I knew perfectly well the ENP wouldn't go along with it, and there was a fair chance the MRP wouldn't either. I wanted to create a new starting point. The President's budget included extremely large increases in some areas, and extremely large and I feel irresponsible decreases in other areas. I wanted to create a new starting point, and I was certainly open to amending my proposals, as I have done on the current amendment up for debate based on my discussions with Per Park. However, when your party sits mute, I can't offer any compromises."
"But the past is the past, I assume we're here to talk about the future. If you want to try and hammer out a budget between the two of us, I'm open to suggestions. I will let you know, I've contacted several leading figures, from both your party and the ENP to try and do this exact thing, but so far we haven't produced anything concrete."
Code:
Expenditures
Leary Lundgren President
Government Admin. 4.5 4.5 4.5
Defense 7.5 8 9
Foreign Intelligence 1.5 1 2
Foreign Aid 1 .75 .5
Foreign Affairs 1.5 1.5 2.5
Attorney General
Federal Law Enf. 5.5 5.75 5.5
Domestic Intelligence 2 2 2
Border Protection 1 1 1
Court System 3 3 3
Interior Minister
Land Transportation 3 3 4
Air Transportation 2 1 2
Sea Transportation 2 3.5 3
Coast Guard 3 3 3
Environ. Protection 1 1 1
National Parks 1.5 1.25 2
Postal Service 2 2 2
Government Media 3 2.75 2
Finance Minister
Industry and Labor 6.5 6.5 6
Trade and Customs 4 4 4
Natural Resources 3 3 3
Treasury Enforcement 2 2 2
Social Services Minister
Public Health 9 9 8
Welfare 13 12 9
Omnicare 8 8 6
Sports 1 1 .5
Education 4 4 3
Science and Research 2 2.25 2
Drug Control 1 1.25 2.5
Provincial Subsidy 0 0 5
Surplus 1.5 2 0
Total Expenditures 98.5 98 100I believe this is your newest proposal included?
(should smaller decimals then .5 be allowed
)
I'll address these by section.
Presidential Portfolio:
If you want to create a national guard of some kind, I can agree to that. If you agree to work with the PoL to create a bill mandating the creation of a national guard and mandating it recieve the funding your suggesting (which I assume is the 0.5 increase above my proposal), I can agree to that. I'll also go along with cutting foriegn aid down to .5, as the ENP suggests, if you'll increase the Foriegn Intelligence budget by 0.25.
So in short, this is what we'd be looking at
Government Admin - 4.5
Defense - 8
Foreign Intelligence - 1.25
Foreign Aid - 0.5
Foreign Affairs - 1.5
Total - 15.75
Attorney General:
You want to bump up general law enforcement a notch, I can go along with that, just drop the increase for drug control spending in the Social Service portfolio. We can deal with that via reform legislation later in the term.
Federal Law Enf. - 5.75
Domestic Intelligence - 2
Border Protection - 1
Court System - 3
Total - 11.75
Interior Minister:
I can agree to 3.5 on Sea Transportation, but I have to insist on an increase of 1.5 for Air. Trimming national parks is workable for me, its still an increase. And I can agree to trimming Government media by 0.25
Land Transportation - 3
Air Transportation - 1.5
Sea Transportation - 3.5
Coast Guard - 3
Environ. Protection - 1
National Parks - 1.25
Postal Service - 1
Government Media - 2.75
Total - 17
We agree on the Finance portfolio, so we can move along to the Social Services portfolio. I already mentioned I'd go along with an increase in law enforcement in exchange for keeping drug control at the same level. I'll go along with increasing Science and Research, but I'd ask that you keep Welfare at 13. I have some ideas on reforming welfare, and I'd prefer a little flexibility in getting funding for those reforms, as they may have some short term expenses.
I think we both favor, along with the ENP, privatizing Omnicare, so that's something to consider for the agenda down the road.
Public Health - 9
Welfare - 13
Omnicare - 8
Sports - 1
Education - 4
Science and Research - 2.25
Drug Control - 1
Total: 38.25
So, let's see if we still have a balanced budget
Presidential: 15.75
Attorney General: 11.75
Interior: 17
Finance: 15.5
Social Services: 38.25
I come up with 97.75 spent out of 100. There is a question of what do with the surplus. I don't like the President's idea of subsidizing the provinces. I don't see any need for it. I'd prefer to create a reserve fund for the government. This fund would be used to cover any one time costs associated with new legislation. This could be a road, or some sort of large scale reform, or whatever. At the end of the term, whatever is left would be distributed back to tax payers in the form of a tax refund.
What do you think?
Presidential Portfolio:
If you want to create a national guard of some kind, I can agree to that. If you agree to work with the PoL to create a bill mandating the creation of a national guard and mandating it recieve the funding your suggesting (which I assume is the 0.5 increase above my proposal), I can agree to that. I'll also go along with cutting foriegn aid down to .5, as the ENP suggests, if you'll increase the Foriegn Intelligence budget by 0.25.
So in short, this is what we'd be looking at
Government Admin - 4.5
Defense - 8
Foreign Intelligence - 1.25
Foreign Aid - 0.5
Foreign Affairs - 1.5
Total - 15.75
Attorney General:
You want to bump up general law enforcement a notch, I can go along with that, just drop the increase for drug control spending in the Social Service portfolio. We can deal with that via reform legislation later in the term.
Federal Law Enf. - 5.75
Domestic Intelligence - 2
Border Protection - 1
Court System - 3
Total - 11.75
Interior Minister:
I can agree to 3.5 on Sea Transportation, but I have to insist on an increase of 1.5 for Air. Trimming national parks is workable for me, its still an increase. And I can agree to trimming Government media by 0.25
Land Transportation - 3
Air Transportation - 1.5
Sea Transportation - 3.5
Coast Guard - 3
Environ. Protection - 1
National Parks - 1.25
Postal Service - 1
Government Media - 2.75
Total - 17
We agree on the Finance portfolio, so we can move along to the Social Services portfolio. I already mentioned I'd go along with an increase in law enforcement in exchange for keeping drug control at the same level. I'll go along with increasing Science and Research, but I'd ask that you keep Welfare at 13. I have some ideas on reforming welfare, and I'd prefer a little flexibility in getting funding for those reforms, as they may have some short term expenses.
I think we both favor, along with the ENP, privatizing Omnicare, so that's something to consider for the agenda down the road.
Public Health - 9
Welfare - 13
Omnicare - 8
Sports - 1
Education - 4
Science and Research - 2.25
Drug Control - 1
Total: 38.25
So, let's see if we still have a balanced budget
Presidential: 15.75
Attorney General: 11.75
Interior: 17
Finance: 15.5
Social Services: 38.25
I come up with 97.75 spent out of 100. There is a question of what do with the surplus. I don't like the President's idea of subsidizing the provinces. I don't see any need for it. I'd prefer to create a reserve fund for the government. This fund would be used to cover any one time costs associated with new legislation. This could be a road, or some sort of large scale reform, or whatever. At the end of the term, whatever is left would be distributed back to tax payers in the form of a tax refund.
What do you think?
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2.25 extra ehh?
That should be able to allow a 1.25 corporate tax cut of some kind as well as still leaving some funds for the surplus. Perhaps the best way is writing a bill mandating the small corporate tax cut at the 1/2 way mark in the term if the money is still there so that any big expenses should have been discussed by then and it can instantly go into affect. If for some reason non of it is spent, the left over can go next term to complete the formation of the "national guard" of which we need a new name. But basicaly I see it as a 2 term formation, first term it gets founded and its purpose defined as well as a commander named and structure put into place. The money for it this term would be mostly for starting construction of and planning of facilities and very little resources would be put into recruiting and training this term or buying equipment. Since it wouldn't need any serious firepower like bombers or heavy tanks or heavy artillery, it would not require any large complicated purchases. Lots of small arms a few transport helicopters and some light armored vehicles and transport vehicles is it.
That should be able to allow a 1.25 corporate tax cut of some kind as well as still leaving some funds for the surplus. Perhaps the best way is writing a bill mandating the small corporate tax cut at the 1/2 way mark in the term if the money is still there so that any big expenses should have been discussed by then and it can instantly go into affect. If for some reason non of it is spent, the left over can go next term to complete the formation of the "national guard" of which we need a new name. But basicaly I see it as a 2 term formation, first term it gets founded and its purpose defined as well as a commander named and structure put into place. The money for it this term would be mostly for starting construction of and planning of facilities and very little resources would be put into recruiting and training this term or buying equipment. Since it wouldn't need any serious firepower like bombers or heavy tanks or heavy artillery, it would not require any large complicated purchases. Lots of small arms a few transport helicopters and some light armored vehicles and transport vehicles is it.
I think instead of doing a conditional tax break at the mid point of the term, we could do a bill at the start, mandating that any monies in the surplus unspent at the terms end are refunded to the tax payers. I'd prefer it to go to the indivual tax payers over corporations, but we could split it. Say 60% of the rebate to individuals and 40% to corporate tax payers? This route doesn't create a permanent tax reduction, so should the government need the money next term, it will be available.
So we're in agreement on the actual budget?
So we're in agreement on the actual budget?
Woodrow Park drops by the Speaker’ office to file a bill for later consideration.
Woody notices Colin and Michael had budget proposals spread all over a table.
“Is this a private session or can the second largest party contribute some ideas to this discussion?”
“I don’t think this will be a very high priority, but it shouldn’t be very controversial either. So it could be handled quite quickly.”
Woody notices Colin and Michael had budget proposals spread all over a table.
“Is this a private session or can the second largest party contribute some ideas to this discussion?”
This one here is the current version we intend to go with. If you could give your opinion swiftly? I need to get this over to the ENP asap before the next vote goes up.
The small surplus is still up in the air but that doesn't need to be decided with the budget. Its use can be decided later.
The small surplus is still up in the air but that doesn't need to be decided with the budget. Its use can be decided later.
Thanks for the info, I will analyze and get back to ASAP, but if it is not in time, I understand.
Woody takes his leave.
Woody takes his leave.
A phone call arrives at the Speaker's Office. A female voice of a secretary is at the other end.
"The President would like to meet with the Speaker to discuss the issue of the budget."
"The President would like to meet with the Speaker to discuss the issue of the budget."
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Mr. Leary, there is still the matter of resolving the high court issue?
Just a moment phone call,
"Hello? The President wants to meet? Did he say where or when?"
Just a moment phone call,
"Hello? The President wants to meet? Did he say where or when?"
Colin waits patiently for the Speaker to finish his phone call before responding.
"Yes there is still that matter between us." Colin sighs and unconsciously tugs at his bow tie. "Mr. Speaker, having spoken with you and having reached an agreement on the budget, I can say that you are a reasonable man. However, I cannot accept your claims that we were simply misunderstanding each other. Your words and subsequent actions leave little doubt to their meaning, and they in no way support your claims that you were speaking about not allowing an immediate vote. Similarly, my words in no way can be interpreted as demanding an immediate vote."
"What I think happened, after having had this opportunity to talk with you and to reflect upon the situation a bit, is that you were most likley under heavy pressure from the ENP to deliver some sort of tangible results after they supported you for Speaker. Acting under those pressures, you sought to get the ENP budget approved with minimal changes and as quickly as possible. My proposal threw you for a loop, and you misspoke in the heat of the moment. My own response was less than diplomatic and your subsquent actions were made in a state of anger, pressure, and stress. This is an important point because acting in the heat of the moment is very different than acting out of a premeditated partisan agenda."
"Now, while this makes your actions more understandable, and perhaps more forgivable, it does not make them proper. I feel strongly that the Court should be allowed to rule in this matter, if for no other reason than to prevent future Speakers from attempting to abuse their position. I would be willing to withdraw my request for a formal censure of you, but I cannot withdraw the entire suit, as I feel a court ruling is the best interest of the nation as a whole."
"Yes there is still that matter between us." Colin sighs and unconsciously tugs at his bow tie. "Mr. Speaker, having spoken with you and having reached an agreement on the budget, I can say that you are a reasonable man. However, I cannot accept your claims that we were simply misunderstanding each other. Your words and subsequent actions leave little doubt to their meaning, and they in no way support your claims that you were speaking about not allowing an immediate vote. Similarly, my words in no way can be interpreted as demanding an immediate vote."
"What I think happened, after having had this opportunity to talk with you and to reflect upon the situation a bit, is that you were most likley under heavy pressure from the ENP to deliver some sort of tangible results after they supported you for Speaker. Acting under those pressures, you sought to get the ENP budget approved with minimal changes and as quickly as possible. My proposal threw you for a loop, and you misspoke in the heat of the moment. My own response was less than diplomatic and your subsquent actions were made in a state of anger, pressure, and stress. This is an important point because acting in the heat of the moment is very different than acting out of a premeditated partisan agenda."
"Now, while this makes your actions more understandable, and perhaps more forgivable, it does not make them proper. I feel strongly that the Court should be allowed to rule in this matter, if for no other reason than to prevent future Speakers from attempting to abuse their position. I would be willing to withdraw my request for a formal censure of you, but I cannot withdraw the entire suit, as I feel a court ruling is the best interest of the nation as a whole."
Ok you need to propose in the assembly the new budget we worked out, I will present it to the enp privitly to try and build support from there if possible and if not then the elp must be on board as well as full party unity from all 3, mrp pol elp.
Well I would have to see how you adjust your petition to see how my response would be. We should have adjurned for lunch when the arguement started to prevent confusion and heated emotions. We had started to spin our wheels on the budget in the assembly anyways then.
Well I would have to see how you adjust your petition to see how my response would be. We should have adjurned for lunch when the arguement started to prevent confusion and heated emotions. We had started to spin our wheels on the budget in the assembly anyways then.
Well, we have to clear the business on the docket before the new proposal can be debated and brought to a vote. I'll introduce the budget, and a motion to end all debate on current business - namely the two amendment's I've proposed that have received a second, and the President's original proposal which has been seconded. We'll vote on the amendments, then vote on the President's proposal which may or may not include the amendments. After that, we can focus on the new proposal. So its important the President's proposal is voted down, or he can remove from the docket himself if you can convince him.
OOC: I got class tonight, so I'll give you till I get back to persuade the Prez (if he's online). When I get back, I'll introduce and make the motion to suspend debate and vote.
OOC: I got class tonight, so I'll give you till I get back to persuade the Prez (if he's online). When I get back, I'll introduce and make the motion to suspend debate and vote.
