Tag: debt ceiling
Republicans May Take ‘Mini’ Debt-Ceiling Deal
Senator Jon Cornyn (R-Texas) suggested yesterday that the Republicans might take “mini” debt-ceiling deal.
Schumer confirms White House considering ignoring debt limit
The law is such an inconvenient thing: Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) confirmed yesterday that the White House is considering simply ignoring debt limit should no agreement be reached in Congress.
Obama and Republicans in agreement: Senate should cancel next week’s vacation
Obama and Republicans in agreement: The Senate should cancel next week’s vacation.
Obama to directly intervene in the debt limit negotiations
Finally: The White House announced today that Obama will now directly involve himself in the debt limit negotiations.
Senate Republicans pull out of Biden debt limit negotiations
The Senate Republicans have pulled out of Biden’s debt limit negotiations.
This article strongly suggests to me that the Democrats, who hold a majority in this negotiating group, have refused to take seriously the Republicans’ demand to cut spending, instead focusing on tax increases as a solution. The problem is that you could raise our taxes to 100 percent and you wouldn’t solve the debt problem. The government has got to reduce its spending.
Moody threatens to lower the US credit rating if there is no progress on debt ceiling negotiations soon
The day of reckoning beckons: Moody has threatened to lower the US credit rating if the debt ceiling negotiations don’t show progress soon.
House torpedoes unconditional hike to $14.3 trillion debt ceiling
Good news indeed: The House tonight overwhelmingly voted down an unconditional hike to $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
The vote was 318-97, with 82 Democrats joining every Republican in rejecting legislation that would have authorized $2.4 trillion in additional borrowing by the federal government. Seven Democrats voted present on the legislation.
Now comes the business of tying the increase in the debt ceiling to some real spending reduction.
Vote on “clean” debt ceiling increase set for tonight
The next budget battle begins: A vote on a “clean” debt ceiling increase has been set for tonight by the House Republican leadership.
More than 100 House Democrats recently signed a letter demanding that Speaker John Boehner bring forward a vote for an increase in federal debt levels without any conditions for cuts or future spending curbs. Imagine their surprise when Boehner agreed and will serve up a bill that would provide enough borrowing to cover all of president Obama’s spending requests for next year without any preconditions.
It is expected that the legislation will be defeated soundly in a very bipartisan vote. To quote the article again:
The political reality is that increasing the nation’s swollen $14.3 trillion debt is a political loser. Voters hate it and lawmakers don’t even get anything new to give away since the money is going to cover existing obligations.
If the bill is defeated as predicted, it will be very good news, as that defeat will bolster the efforts of those who want big cuts in spending to go with any debt ceiling increase.
Republicans still firmly against raising debt ceiling without big cuts
I hope they mean it: Republicans still firmly against raising debt ceiling without big cuts.
GOP Senators to WH: Better start planning for a $2.6 trillion budget
GOP Senators to the White House: Better start planning for no debt ceiling increase and making do on a $2.6 trillion budget.
Reid rejects Boehner proposal for $2 trillion in spending cuts
On Thursday Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) rejected House Speaker John Boehner’s call for “trillions” in spending cuts.
Once again, I must note that while we can be rightly skeptical of the Republicans expressed desire to cut the budget, we can have no doubt that the Democrats are against it entirely, and will resist spending cuts on all fronts.
GOP senators focus on entitlement cuts
More debt ceiling negotiations: GOP senators focused on entitlement cuts in a meeting with Obama on Thursday. I found this quote quite intriguing and a refreshing change from previous such meetings:
Obama was careful not to dominate the meeting, according to Republican senators who attended. The president opened the session with brief remarks and spent most of the session listening to lawmakers’ concerns and responding to their arguments.
Americans Oppose Raising Debt Ceiling, 47% to 19%
According to a new Gallup poll, Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling by 47% to 19%.
But are those same Americans willing to accept the spending cuts that will be required at the same time? I wonder.
More Democrats Join Threat to Hold Up Debt Ceiling Vote Without Spending Cuts
This is hopeful news: More Democrats are threatening to hold up the debt ceiling vote unless there are more spending cuts.