View Full Version : Boehner Wants Debt Ceiling Plan by Sunday
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59718.html
"A man's gotta know his limitations."
House Speaker John Boehner hopes to have a framework for a debt-limit plan in place by Sunday afternoon to avoid roiling the Asian markets, he told colleagues on a Saturday conference call.
An immediate deal would raise the debt ceiling and cut spending, Boehner said, and there are still options on the table for more comprehensive deficit reduction of $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to GOP sources on the call. He is also aiming for a framework in the form of Cut, Cap and Balance — the plan that has failed in the Senate, Obama hasthreatened to veto but House Republicans passed overwhelmingly.
He acknowledged that he might not be able to get the details of a plan to all members by the time he makes an announcement tomorrow, but warned colleagues that they risk losing leverage in the negotiations if something isn’t enacted by Aug. 2.
Congressional lawmakers may meet later Saturday to continue discussions, Democratic and Republican sources said.
The Ohio Republican also said his goal is to avoid using the Senate’s “McConnell plan,” which would allow the president to raise the debt ceiling at several junctures over the next year-and-a-half, subject to congressional disapproval.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be strong,” he said, according to one of the sources.
Michael Steel, Boehner’s spokesman, said the speaker is “working with congressional leaders on a path forward that will prevent a default. He is aware of the White House’s concerns about the Asian markets.”
He discussed several options for reaching some of the longer-term goals of House Republicans and the White House later in the process. He received credit from several lawmakers for his work as a negotiator and his defense of GOP principles, sources on the call said.
Boehner walked away from talks for a large-scale deficit deal Friday, saying the White House abandoned an agreed upon number for a revenue increase and was insisting on tax hikes. That move, GOP aides and lawmakers said, was seen favorably by House Republicans, who are wary of deal making with Obama.
Boehner recounted to participants on the call what he told Obama.
“As I read the Constitution, the Congress writes the laws and you get to decide what you want to sign,” Boehner said, recounting what he told the president, according to two sources.
Utah Bob
07-24-2011, 19:43
Didn't get it.:rolleyes:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/24/debt-brinkmanship-goes-down-wire/
From the article:
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is working on a plan to raise the debt limit by $2.7 trillion, coupled with an equal reduction in projected future spending. In a concession to Republicans, he said that plan would not include tax increases, but that the new debt level would last through the 2012 elections.
That classifies as caving.
Slantwire
07-25-2011, 10:51
From the article:
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is working on a plan to raise the debt limit by $2.7 trillion, coupled with an equal reduction in projected future spending. In a concession to Republicans, he said that plan would not include tax increases, but that the new debt level would last through the 2012 elections.
So Reid is offering to cut none of the current spending, but reduce how much MORE spending will be added?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEBT_SHOWDOWN_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-25-13-20-03
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is reiterating his call for a deficit-cutting plan that cuts spending and that also increases tax revenue by making the wealthy and corporations pay more to help stabilize the long-term debt.
The president made his comments to the National Council of La Raza on Monday as congressional leaders struggled against time to come up with a plan to meet an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation's debt ceiling.
Obama said the wealthy and big corporations have to "pay their fair share, too." And he alluded to the difficulty of cutting a deal, saying "compromise is becoming a dirty word."
Only when it means "acquiesce".
Paragrouper
07-25-2011, 12:12
Obama said the wealthy and big corporations have to "pay their fair share
Bruce Almighty--what a comedian!
He should have had a show of hands at the La Raza meeting of those that pay any taxes. Bueller .... Beuller.
Is it just me or did the President look like a PFC trying to snivel a NO GO into a GO.
(Mon nite address).
He's looking diminished.
Is it me or did I hit the go button twice
Yep, that double-tap mode will do it pardner.....
Yep, that double-tap mode will do it pardner.....
I do remember the .45 holes in the table and shed roof at the Mott Lake range. Least I missed my foot.
Airbornelawyer
07-25-2011, 21:21
So Reid is offering to cut none of the current spending, but reduce how much MORE spending will be added?
So has anyone apologized to former Governor Sanford of South Carolina? Remember how he was demonized by Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) when he tried to refuse "stimulus" funding? His argument was that the so-called stimulus wasn't simply a short-term boost, but would be used to justify a newer, higher baseline, forcing still more borrowing and higher taxes in the future.
Some of us were also demonized as partisan hacks when we said the Afghanistan and Iraq war spending should be kept off-budget. We claimed that putting it on budget would then be used to claim a higher baseline, so that as the wars wound down, the lower spending would be called a budget cut and used to justify spending elsewhere. That alone is a major chunk of Reid's claimed savings.
All this bickering among the White House, House and Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats (House Democrats haven't really mattered) ignores these facts. Whether you cut $2 trillion or $3 trillion or $4 trillion over the next 10 years or 12 years, and frankly whether you do it with tax increases, spending cuts or smoke and mirrors accounting tricks, you are still talking about a drop in the bucket when Congress and the White House managed to increase the Federal budget baseline by about $1 trillion a year.
Congress Warned of Credit 'Downgrade' if War Savings Counted as Deficit Reduction
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/25/congress-warned-credit-downgrade-if-war-savings-counted-as-deficit-reduction/#ixzz1TCsjlxXV
A look at the "cuts" that are being talked about- smoke and mirrors, folks, smoke and mirrors.
"...........But to reach $1 trillion in war costs, budget scorekeepers simply look at current funding for the wars and spread that out over 10 years, rather than projecting what is going to happen in the future. ................."
and
"................The budget deficit went from $161 billion in 2007 under George W. Bush to more than $450 billion in 2008, before soaring to a projected $1.5 trillion this year under Obama. Both presidents dealt with war costs, but budget tables show that as tax revenues fell, discretionary and entitlement spending rose significantly over the past few years. Mandatory spending rose by nearly $500 billion between 2007 and 2010. Federal spending as a percentage of GDP rose from 19.6 percent in 2007 to 23.8 percent in 2010.................."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/07/obama-poll-jobs-democratic-base-crumbling.html
With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said:
"I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition."
This is political treason 469 days before a presidential election. Yes, yes, this is just a crusty old New England independent for now, albeit one who caucuses loyally with Harry Reid's Democratic posse.
But while most of the media focuses on Republican Boehner and the tea party pressures on him to raise the debt limit not one Liberty dime, Sanders' mumblings are a useful reminder that hidden in the shadows of this left-handed presidency are militant progressives like Sanders who don't want to cut one Liberty dime of non-Pentagon spending.
Closely read the transcript of Obama's Monday statement on the debt talks stalemate. The full transcript is right here. And the full transcript of Boehner's response is right here.
An Unbalanced Approach to a Balanced Approach
Using political forensics, notice any clues, perhaps telltale code words that reveal to whom he was really addressing his Monday message? Clearly, it wasn't congressional Republicans -- or Democrats, for that matter.
The nation's top talker uttered 4,526 words in those remarks. He said "balanced approach" seven times, three times in a single paragraph.
That's the giveaway. Obviously, David Plouffe and the incumbent's strategists have been polling phrases for use in this ongoing debt duel, which is more about 2012 now than 2011. "Balanced approach" is no sweet talk for old Bernie or tea sippers on the other side.
Obama is running for the center already, aiming for the independents who played such a crucial role in his victorious coalition in 2008. They were the first to start abandoning the good ship Obama back in 2009 when all the ex-state senator could do was talk about healthcare, when jobs and the economy were the peoples' priority.
Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governor's offices largely as a result of that and Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. And then came last November's midterms when voters chose the approach of that historic pack of House-bound Republicans.
Republicans have their own poll problems in some areas. But even without an identified GOP alternative, we've had a plethora of recent polls showing Obama's fading job approval, especially on the economy.
Now, comes a new ABC News/Washington Post poll with a whole harvest of revelations, among them, strong indications that Obama's liberal base is starting to crumble. Among the nuggets:
Despite those hundreds of billions of blown stimulus dollars and almost as many upturn promises from Joe Biden, 82% of Americans still say their job market is struggling. Ninety percent rate the economy negatively, including half who give it the worst rating of "poor."
A slim 15% claim to be "getting ahead financially," half what it was in 2006. Fully 27% say they're falling behind financially. That's up 6 points since February.
A significant majority (54%) says they've been forced to change their lifestyle significantly as a result of the economic times -- and 60% of them are angry, up from 44%.
To be sure, 30 months after he returned to home cooking, George W. Bush still gets majority blame for the economy.
But here's the breaking news for hopeful Democrats: George W. Bush isn't running for anything except exercise.
"More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base," the Post reports.
Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy has plunged from 77% to barely half.
Obama's overall job approval on the economy has slid below 40% for the first time, with 57% disapproving. And strong disapprovers outnumber approvers by better than two-to-one.
All I heard in his speech was shared sacrifice. How much more do we have to share. It's not just income Taxes, in fact I can accept paying Income Tax. It's how they get their grubby little hands on every aspect of our finances.
Bottom line. Not lowering the deficit will hurt his chances greatly at being reelected. The only way to reduce it at this point and time. Is to raise Taxes. I hope Boehner and the boys hold their ground.
Not lowering the deficit will hurt his chances greatly at being reelected. The only way to reduce it at this point and time. Is to raise Taxes.
IMO what happens between Boehner and Obama over this issue will be a political harbinger for the next 9 years.
Boehner and crew need to reach down and check package.
lonewolf726
07-26-2011, 12:11
INTERESTING QUOTE
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA, MARCH, 2006
.
INTERESTING QUOTE
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA, MARCH, 2006
.
:D Typical
Don't look now, but the linguini supporting the GOP's collective spine just got wet:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/26/house-gop-revolts-against-boehner-debt-plan/
House Republicans do not have enough support to pass their debt-ceiling increase plan on their own, a top conservative said Tuesday as his party’s leaders tried to cobble together a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to put the bill over the top.
“There are not 218 Republicans in support of this plan,” Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who heads the powerful conservative caucus in the House, told reporters Tuesday morning.
That means Speaker John A. Boehner will have to rely on Democrats to pass the $1.2 trillion spending cuts plan — support Democrats’ top vote-counter said he’ll be hard-pressed to gain. Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said “very few” Democrats will vote for the Boehner plan, though he acknowledged there could be some.
A vote in the House is expected Wednesday, and Republican leaders are trying to round up enough support to pass their version. They hope that if it can pass the House, that will pressure Senate Democrats to drop their alternative and accept the GOP’s plan.
Mr. Boehner’s bill would reduce future discretionary spending by $1.2 trillion, grant an immediate debt increase of $1 trillion, and set up a committee to work on trillions of dollars in future deficit reduction either through more spending cuts or tax increases, which would then earn another future debt increase. It would also require both the House and Senate to hold votes on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
But conservative Republicans in the House, many allied to the tea party movement, said they don’t just want votes on the amendment, they want an assurance it will be sent to the states. Mr. Jordan and other conservatives said they would prefer the Senate vote on the debt increase the House passed last week, that includes deeper spending cuts and requires both chambers approve a balanced budget amendment and submit it to states for ratification before any debt increase happens.
Don't look now, but the linguini supporting the GOP's collective spine just got wet:
That's one for the record, +1 for 2011 best quotes :D :lifter
.............
Don't look now, but the linguini supporting the GOP's collective spine just got wet:
..................
I'm just wondering if it's a little more steel than some think.
It's the conservatives/tea party folks who ain't buying the "cuts down the road" story this time.
I'm just wondering if it's a little more steel than some think.
It's the conservatives/tea party folks who ain't buying the "cuts down the road" story this time.
Good point, Bro...
I America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
Yeah, we do...and you weren't it.
Next.