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Category Archives: Debt Ceiling

Boehner wants a two-part deal?

24 Jul

Republican Tea Party (GOTP) House Speaker John Boehner told FOX PAC Sunday he’s working to get out a two-part plan to raise the nation’s debt limit, but he can’t say whether it will include Democratic support.

How many times does the GOTP House have to pass some nonsensical bill that gets slapped down in the Senate before they get it through their collective idiocy that any bill starting in the House eventually has to “include Democratic support”?

Boehner said he hopes to have a bipartisan approach to solve the problem, but he’s ready to move forward with a Republican plan if a deal couldn’t be reached.

Why would he be ready to move forward if a deal can’t be reached? Because he’s hoping to be able to pin any economic disaster resulting from a national default on the President, that’s why.

Boehner also flatly rejects the White House insistence the plan get the country through the next election instead of offering a short-term fix while a longer-term solution can be worked out.

It’s “not physically possible to do all of this in one step,” he said.

How ridiculous is this? Pretty ridiculous; there is absolutely nothing complicated in raising the debt ceiling through the next election, but it is completely ridiculous to raise it once a month, and rehash this argument over and over again. Boehner is –without a doubt – one of the worse Speakers of the House; he has absolutely no control over his caucus and he should – and no doubt soon will – be replaced.

Political reality is, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised and the nation defaults – for the first time ever – the Republican Tea Party House will take the hit. The President has negotiated far beyond any other president ever has; he was not only willing to make cuts but doubled down on the depth of those cuts and Boehner balked. Clearly the GOTP isn’t truly seriously about the debt or the deficit.

Political reality is also that the debt ceiling will be raised, and the longer the GOTP plays this game its portion of what it wanted will get smaller. If they choose to live by “we’re not raising taxes ever”, then they will eventually die by “we’re not raising taxes ever”. You can’t continuously insist on not raising taxes on the wealthiest 2% while concurrently insisting on slashing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans benefits and not pay a hefty political price for it. It’s almost comical the way the GOTP doesn’t get this; that it doesn’t get that standing up for tax loopholes on corporate jets while wanting to reduce Social Security benefits isn’t absurd. But that’s the new Republican Tea Party.

 

 
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Posted by on July 24, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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McConnell says ‘a big deal’ is off the table?

10 Jul

The Senate’s Republican/Tea Party (GOTP) so-called leader Mitch McConnell is reported as saying a major proposal on cutting spending that’s being pushed by the President is off the table as far as the GOTP is concerned.

He says the tax increases that are part of the $4 trillion deficit-reduction package backed by President Obama are the reason.

McConnell whined on “FOX PAC News Sunday” that raising taxes is a bad idea given the country’s weak economy.

GOTP House Speaker John Boehner reportedly said late yesterday that House GOTP members would also not accept tax increases in President Obama’s plan. Boehner further said he’s looking at a deal about half the size of the president’s proposal.

We have Boehner – on record – saying he won’t support $4 trillion dollars in budget cuts, but that he will support $2 trillion dollars in cuts, and McConnell – whose only goal in life is defeating President Obama – saying he won’t support any tax increases. So, this leaves us where? It leaves us knowing Boehner and McConnell aren’t – in any way – serious about cutting either the federal budget or the deficit, and that it’s all political smoke and mirrors to the GOTP.

 
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Posted by on July 10, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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Boehner seeks smaller $2 trillion deal?

09 Jul

And so it begins; Republican/Tea Party (GOTP) House Speaker John Boehner has sent a message to President Barack Obama saying that he while he shares the President’s desire to cut the deficit, he wants to pursue a much smaller $2 trillion reduction deal, and not the larger $4 trillion effort sought by the White House.

The vaunted leader of the GOTP House has flinched and round one goes to the President. And what’s the Speaker’s reasoning of asking for a lower number? The President is asking for tax increases on the top 2%, and the GOTP just can’t support that; instead, he said negotiators should focus on deficit reductions identified by a bipartisan group led by Vice President Joe Biden.

OK and what exactly does that mean? Which specific deficit reductions identified by the bipartisan group are you supporting Mr. Speaker? Cue crickets …

“The good news is, we agree on some of the big things,” President Obama said. “We agree that after a decade of racking up deficits and debt, we finally need to get our fiscal house in order. We agree that to do that, both sides are going to have to step outside their comfort zones and make some political sacrifices.”

Of course Boehner has said that the two sides were far apart.

“It’s not like there’s some imminent deal about to happen,” he said. “There are serious disagreements about how to deal with this very serious problem.”

The President’s larger plan would combine new tax revenues and significant spending reductions in large government programs.

GOTP House members are saying media reports suggesting Boehner was willing to entertain the possibility of higher tax revenues as part of a “grand bargain” that included cuts to benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare are greatly exaggerated.

“Conservatives are just not going to vote for a tax increase on this economy,” Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said, reflecting a common view among his GOTP compadres. “It’s just not going to happen.”

So, the GOTP will refuse to endorse tax increases of any kind – especially on the wealthiest of Americans – while no doubt being more than willing to throw the elderly and the poor under the bus, and if they won’t agree to a higher deficit reduction number, and they won’t agree to tax increases on the rich, then they’ll come across as the obstructionists they are, and the President will come off the winner. There is no way for the GOTP to win this battle. If they refuse to negotiate and do raise the debt ceiling they will be painted as being unwilling to put the country before politics, and the President wins. If they do negotiate, then the President wins being seen as a leader and facilitator and again the GOTP loses; Boehner needs to decide which loss is more acceptable.

 
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Posted by on July 9, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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Have a little faith liberals …

08 Jul

Everyone on the left seems to joining the conservatives in bashing the President over his insistence that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to the budget discussions. To everyone whining on the left I say, “Have a little faith baby.” President Obama is not selling out Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, and this is what Presidents do; they bring all sides to the table and hammer out programs, budgets, etc … and besides that, when the President says “nothing is off the table” and the Republican/Tea Party (GOTP) members of Congress fire back that “tax increases to wealthy are not on the table” who looks immature and not ready for the prime time? That’s right, the GOTP.

Have you considered that putting everything on the table doesn’t mean he’s going to radically change them? No, it hasn’t. We’re all just going to join in and start bashing away with comments that “he’s too conservative” and “he shouldn’t be willing to negotiate.”

Regarding putting Social Security “on the table”, what if the President’s selling point would be that he forces the GOTP Congress to accept that every dollar earned must be collected on effectively ending the FICA tax loophole everyone earning more than $110,000 per year benefits from increasing the Social Security trust fund and effectively making it solvent well into the future? Not something Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and every member of Congress would be in favor of, but it bring hundreds of billions of dollars – if not trillions – into the fund.

And let’s suppose the President puts “everything on the table” and the Republican/Tea Party (GOTP) Congress still refuses to negotiate, who comes off looking bad? The Congress of course, because there are members of the Congress on the right who will not negotiate, no matter what, Congressman Cantor and Senator McConnell both come to mind, and they’ll come off looking like the bad guys. They’ll come off looking like the smucks they are.

So, before you drink any more Hatorade, take a deep breath, and have a little faith. This President has accomplished more than any other progressive president since FDR, let’s not forget that. He isn’t going to throw the big three under the bus in spite of what Ed Schultz claims, who by the way is beginning to sound as wild and crazy as Limbaugh more and more every day. Ed, ratchet it back a few, you’re beginning to sound ridiculous. President Obama will force the GOTP to the table, and he will come off the winner politically, and the American people will come off the better. If we default – as some on the far right would like to see – then the country will be in serious trouble. When the dust settles, the far right Tea Party members of the Congress will be standing there looking as morose as ever, and feeling foolish. They will not be heroes, and will then be painted as the frauds they are.

So, I repeat, “have a little faith baby.”

 
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Posted by on July 8, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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Brown says tax increase is off the table?

06 Jul

Republican Tea Party (GOTP) Senator Scott Brown has jumped into the ring regarding the fight over the federal budget.

During a stop in Springfield last week Brown reportedly said the President has proposed a debt reduction plan that includes $400 billion in tax increases, but as far as he was concerned tax hikes are off the table.

“There’s a whole host of things you can do before raising taxes. Why is it that the first thing people think about? We could repatriate our money, streamline, consolidate, we can. Payroll tax deduction for businesses to create jobs to stimulate the economy,” Brown said.

Yeah, we’ll just give more tax breaks to the wealthy, that’s worked so well during the past ten years, and we should just keep doing that. What? Were you seriously dropped out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down? Why is the GOTP answer – every time – when talking about the debt to cut taxes for the rich and cut programs for the poor? So now Senator Brown has shown he’s just like every other conservative in the Congress, bought, paid for and elected by and for the wealthiest among us.

 
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Posted by on July 6, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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Last-minute budget proposal from the President would be irresponsible?

03 Jul

Republican Tea Party (GOTP)  Senator John Cornyn claims it would be irresponsible for President Obama to present a last-minute proposal in the budget debate, the GOTP Texan says time is running out for the president and the GOTP leadership in Congress to negotiate a deal with an Aug. 2 deadline looming to raise the government borrowing limit.

So, let me get this straight Senator, the President presenting a proposal – last minute as you claim – would be irresponsible, but Republican Tea Party members of Congress holding the nation hostage over raising the debt ceiling isn’t? Of course the fact that you, and almost every other conservative member of Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling repeatedly during the Bush Administration was OK, but now it’s tantamount to a  capital crime? That may play well with the Tea Party crowd, but the rest of the country isn’t nearly that stupid.

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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Constitutionality of the debt ceiling

29 Jun

Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4 of the United States Constitution states, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…, shall not be questioned.”

In other words, the question of raising – or not raising – the debt ceiling is a constitutional one, and not a political one; thus the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) members of the House who are holding the nation’s credit hostage to force draconian budget cuts are actually violating the very document they claim to love and revere.

But of course to the GOTP the 14th Amendment is also one of the most hated and vilified amendments to the Constitution because it also protects the rights of citizenship of anyone born in the United States, a thorn in the side of conservatives who want to send all “illegal” immigrants and their children – to include the ones born here – packing. Now we know two reasons why the far-right wants to repeal the 14 Amendment.

Regarding the debt however the conservatives need to either follow the Constitution, or not follow it, but they need to stop acting as though it’s a buffet from which you pick and choose what you want, and ignore the rest when it suits you. To coin a well-used conservative phrase, “Love it, or leave it”.

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2011 in Debt Ceiling

 

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