I readily acknowledge my mistake, and yes, I could have sworn it passed. I hope that makes you happy Lloyd. The compassionate liberal in me likes to make people happy.
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO FORUM
I readily acknowledge my mistake, and yes, I could have sworn it passed. I hope that makes you happy Lloyd. The compassionate liberal in me likes to make people happy.
Obama Says House Republicans are Wasting Time
President Obama, "warning that time is running out to lift the federal debt ceiling, said Friday that a House GOP plan has 'no chance of becoming law,' and he urged Senate Democrats and Republicans to come together on a "bipartisan compromise," the Washington Post reports.
"Obama spoke as House Republican leaders labored Friday to rescue a debt-limit plan opposed by their party's arch-conservatives. But he reiterated that the House leaders are wasting their time by trying to pass a measure that includes a short-term raise of the debt ceiling."
New York Times: "But there was no clear signal what the next step would be. Among the several possibilities were changes to the House bill, an attempt by Senate Democrats to leapfrog forward with their own plan or a new attempt to reach a compromise on the part of all the major players."
Corker: Multiple Debt Ceiling Hikes Bad For The Economy
The Washington Post's Greg Sargent reports:
This seems signfiicant: GOP Senator Bob Corker said on MSNBC just now that hiking the debt ceiling in stages -- as the House GOP plan calls for -- could fuel economic uncertainty, lending support to a key Democratic argument against the Boehner plan.
In essence it would act like a tax hike.
Bob Corker: More 'Healthy' To Extend Debt Ceiling Through 2012 Election
Posted: 7/29/11 11:18 AM ET
WASHINGTON -- GOP opposition to a deal that would extend the debt ceiling through the 2012 elections softened a bit on Friday as an influential Senate Republican said he supported the idea of putting off the issue for another year and a half.
Appearing on MSNBC, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said that in light of the drama and political theatrics of the past few weeks, it would not be "healthy" to have to raise the debt ceiling again in six months -- something that House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) bill would require.
"Well, I mean, I would love to see us go ahead and achieve all the savings that we can get right now," said Corker, who has played a leading role in his party in debt reduction conversations. "Again, I'd like, of course to push it towards $4 trillion, which is what the markets have said we need to do. But I do agree with the fact that having these debates in the middle of an economic downturn that we're having right now is not healthy, and there's no question that business people, those people that hire employees across our country, watch this and become uncertain."
"So, in a perfect world, and I know we're not in a perfect world, but if we can … over the next several days [get] something that actually achieves all those savings on the front end and also extends the debt limit beyond this next election, to me that would be a perfect solution and I hope we can do that," he said.
Those sentiments seemed to be echoed later Friday morning when a Senate GOP leadership aide told CNBC's John Harwood that the party would be comfortable extending the debt ceiling past the 2012 elections, provided that they had some sort of guarantee that a second round of spending cuts and entitlement reforms would take place.
The softening of the Senate GOP's position is a breakthrough of sorts in the debt ceiling debate. For days, House Republicans have argued that they would not sign off on a debt ceiling deal that put off another vote until after the election, accusing the President of simply trying to remove a potentially problematic political issue from the campaign docket. The most common argument has been that Congress has always extended the debt ceiling in smaller increments, making Boehner's bill the norm and Senator Harry Reid's bill -- which would push the vote until after 2012 -- the exception to the rule.
Yet looking at past debt ceiling votes, that hasn't always been the case. In May 2003, Congress passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling to $7.4 trillion. It was, at the time, the equivalent of an 18-month increase -- roughly the same time extension (not monetary extension) that Obama is requesting -- and it put the issue off through the 2004 election. (The next debt ceiling vote was held in November 2004).
Even Paul Ryan thinks S&L and the Republicans have gone too far to the right. The world has turned
upside down. LOL. Headline: S&L to the right of Paul Ryan.
FRI JUL 29, 2011 AT 09:30 AM PDT
Paul Ryan: Balanced Budget Amendment is not 'realistic'
byJoan McCarter
These are so not serious legislators. Paul Ryan, last night.
Speaking with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, Ryan said it’s not “realistic” to expect that Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would force the large number of members needed to change the Constitution to “vote against their conscious”:
RYAN: What I never really agreed with is the idea that we would expect Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to deliver 40 [and] 15 votes from Democrats for our version of the Balanced Budget Amendment. You know, I just never thought that was realistic, to demand Democrats vote against their conscious for our version of the Balanced Budget Amendment. So I just never thought that would work.
And that unrealistic option is precisely what is Speaker John Boehner is proposing, in the hopes, as ThinkProgress notes, that "the ensuing economic 'chaos' would force Democrats to switch their votes."
Just a reminder: a Constitutional Amendment would require a two-thirds majority, in both chambers of Congress. By August 2nd. Right.
Making the Case for Democrats
Glenn Thrush says the GOP has made the case against raising the debt ceiling in two phases:
"The last three days of Republican chaos, arm-twisting and ineffectual whipping are, from the perspective of Democrats -- and a growing number of conservatives -- a compelling argument for Harry Reid's do-it-all now $2.2 trillion extension."
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