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A day after the House of Representatives passed the compromise bill on raising the debt ceiling and reducing spending, U.S. Senators passed the same bill 74-26. President Obama signed the bill into law the same day. The goal of Republicans was to reduce spending more than the amount that the debt ceiling was raised. Despite the fact that the bill includes $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, Tea Party advocates in the GOP expressed dismay that the cuts weren’t larger. The details of where the cuts will occur are to be decided by a 12-member so-called “super committee” of Congress. There is concern that the workings of this committee and its decision making process will be behind closed-doors. Before the ink from President Obama’s signature had even dried, lobbyists were preparing to fight cuts to their industries. While much was made of a possible financial default if the debt ceiling was not raised and the possible subsequent impact on the economy, the bill did not include even the slightest tax increase for the wealthy and corporations, nor did it include any measures for job creation. Mainstream media coverage this week has focused more on the political impacts of the battle in Congress and the White House, rather than the details of the bill and the impact of cuts to ordinary Americans.

GUEST: Aimee Allison, co-executive director of RootsAction, former host of KPFA’s Morning Show

Find out more at www.rootsaction.org.