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BREAKING

House Republicans Will Vote to Raise the Debt Ceiling

But their proposal is just a prelude to more political wrangling

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

House Republicans plan to vote next week to raise the debt ceiling for three months. But if that sounds like they're giving it up to Obama, there's a catch. The debt ceiling raise will come with a provision that will stop pay for Congress members if the Senate fails to pass a budget, Politico reports.

With those conditions attached, the measure won't pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. In other words, "this is not a final solution to the debt ceiling battle, or anything close," Politico explains. The proposed bill is a piece of political grandstanding, and as such, is a prelude to a debt ceiling showdown between the House, the Senate, and the president.

The proposal may come as a disappointment to Democrats beguiled by recent rumors that Republicans would agree to raise the debt ceiling unconditionally.

Via the Atlantic Wire and Politico.
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Comments (view in Forum)

  • u
    Bambi
    !
    Where do you get your info that the Koch brothers control Republicans? Is it still sour grapes because they used their wealth to help Republicans in the election instead of dems? As to that, I guess I can say that George Soros is pulling obama's strings and thereby the entire Democratic congress and anything else he chooses to. He's a hateful and despicable old man.
  • u
    Libertyiskey
    !
    @Bambi Yeah I think it's safe to say both were/are happening. Wake up and realize this bought and paid for two party stranglehold is destroying our nation!
  • u
    AceLuby
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    @Bambi 'Help Republicans'? Were you watching the same election I was? Their money lost them seats in the House and Senate...
  • View all 22 replies >
  • jessejaymes
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    we're servicing debt from the past. There is no way to get around this debt and get it paid off unless we cut everything in the govt across the board by 10% (except social security and medicare but including welfare and medicaid) and cut the defense spending by 25%. This is not rocket science. It's basic math and then start adding zero's. Pretend you're working with a thousand dollars. It's the same premise. Nothing else works. Anything else and this bullcrap about raising the debt, not raising the debt is just that. CRAP. You either cut spending or you raise the debt. All there is to it.
  • Knightkore
    !
    Then cut spending....why can't we afford current spending because we have not jobs....to raise tax revenue....work on getting the economy, specifically companies created more jobs....and the revenue will be there....
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @Knightmare That's not true. the rich had the lowest tax rates of any time since taxes existed for 11 years. And we lost 12 million jobs. Simply not true.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    The problem w/ across the board cuts is that it will mean less people paying taxes and more people utilizing the social safety net, both of which add to the deficit. If we go down the 'cut, cut, cut' path w/out thinking about the repercussions of those cuts we will be chasing our tail as we watch the GDP plummet.

    My plan would be:

    1) Cut $400 billion from military projects
    2) Use that $400 billion the first year and invest in a coast to coast high speed rail while creating incentives to hire the jobless. The goal being to drop UE to 5%.
    3) With UE down to 5% we save another $400 billion in new tax revenue and less people using the social safety net
    4) Balance the rest of the budget by means testing SSI, cutting TSA and homeland security as they are redundant, let medicare part D negotiate Rx drug prices, legalize marijuana while severely cutting the DEA, and bring our troops home to secure our border.

    We'd have a balanced budget by the 2nd year and a roaring economy.
  • jessejaymes
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    @AceLuby While I agree with your plan I still believe that 10% cuts are possible simply by cutting graft and exorbitant spending. A 220,000.00 bathroom man? come on now. there is 10% fat in EVERY D.C. Department in existence.
  • Knightkore
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    @jessejaymes The rich....does not translate into companies....most of those jobs are small businesses....okay....example. ...take Hobby Lobby....with much of the rules and regulations and taxes they've had to reinvest all their earnings back into the company just to keep it going....if Hobby Lobby goes under the owners have nothing left either....yet now they will be hit with Obamacare taxes....we're not talking GE or Google here who are multi-billion dollar corporations that support the progressive liberal agenda and politicians and who get breaks from taxes....
  • View all 23 replies >
  • u
    Cheenoguy
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    They will because they don't want another recession or a balanced budget either. They just want to be able to tell the teabaggers they tried.
  • DARSB
    !
    See, it's all about their comfort level. To reach a reasonable decision, all the GOP had to do was get out of DC and settle in for a week in Williamsburg, Virginia, where a faithful recreation of colonial days is located. Basking in the nostalgic glow of those heady days, when herds of wealthy white men roamed the Earth and frequently owned everybody else, really helps today's Republicans act like adults...

    Also I think they realized another credit rating cut would be catastrophic for their electoral chances in 2014.
  • kathyparsell
    !
    See how easy it is just listen to DARSBY! The GOP is to blame as always. One way to insure I once again vote Republican is for them to vote No on raising the dept ceiling. No more monopoly money for Washington!!!
  • DARSB
    !
    @kathyparsell "The GOP is to blame as always"

    No, just responsible. They do control the House and this means they, and only they, can do something about the debt ceiling.
  • PNWest
    !
    This is just some political grandstanding designed to fool the GOP base into thinking that they actually will stand up for their principles. They know it won't go anywhere and soon the GOP house will fold like a cheap lawn chair.
  • PNWest
    !
    @kathyparsell A cheap lawn chair. Just like they did to start the year. Just wait. I was right about the election, I was right about the fiscal cliff and I'll be right about this. I will give you this one though - no substantial gun control legislation will pass this term.
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    @AceLuby Give it a week. Whenever Obama gets pissed again, he and Bernake will declare another one. I think shutting down the government will make it worse for awhile, but we'll be better off in the long run.
  • cat2009
    !
    Yes it will . But not the one the Republicans propose because if it's not Obama's he won't have it and if they don't pass one then he will blame the GOP and then America will be pissed at the GOP just as Obama planned on.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    So GOP Representatives are so committed to debt control that they include a provision that will prevent Senators from getting paid unless they pass a budget? Seems like they left out a provision that prevents THEMSELVES from getting paid, too. Include that and I might take them seriously.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    I may be reading it wrong, but the article says "... with a provision that will stop pay for Congress members if the Senate fails to pass a budget." Key words being "Congress members" which does include the House, right?
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    @Denizen_Kate Either I misread it or it was edited. Good chance I misread it, but now I have to struggle with feelings of disbelief that they actually proposed something that the average citizen has been saying for years. If the bill passes both Chambers then I will probably need to be sedated.
  • u
    CaryNickel
    !
    Congress has a habit of caving into this administration when the chips are down. Witness the nonsense over the phony "fiscal cliff" crisis. The Senate is in Obama's front hip pocket, so he can diddle them whenever he needs to, and the House pretends to be the opposition until the old guard establishment Republicans twist enough arms to get their way and go with the big government socialist plan. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the original big screen Batman movie, Washington D.C. "needs an enema".
  • kathyparsell
    !
    My husband and I were once deeply in dept. We made some very hard decisions. We sold our home and moved 80 miles away from my husbands job to move ourselves and our children in with my parents. Instead of a 10 minute drive to and from work he worked his 10 hours and drove an hour and twenty minutes to and from work. I cut up all my credit cards, we quit going on several vacations a year, and quit eating out. I quit going to the best salons to have my hair done, etc. We made every cut we could to enable ourselves to raise our children the way we wanted and pay off our depts. Thank God we didn't have to file for bankruptcy! I am sure that thousands of other Americans have had to do the same. Thousands of otherswere not as fortunate and ended up homeless. Why should our efforts be in vain and our government place my children in dept? My future grandchildren? This is disgusting and unsupportable. This current populace needs to suffer for the mistakes and waste we have allowed our politicans to perpetrated upon us and quit punishing future generation for our failures.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    Ok. As I understand this... The democrats would rather default on our national debt than have to choose between getting paid or passing a budget...

    Did I get that right?
  • u
    seedtick
    !
    I am for guaranteeing the payment of certain critical bills and then letting the rest shut down...but, the bite must be put on the spending of Barack Husssein Obama and company. Hell, the first thing you do when you are in a hole is to stop digging. Then, instead of sitting in the bottom of the hole and crying for help, you take the same shovel you dug the hole with and start digging steps or a slope in the side of the hole. Wake up, people, cut up the credit card and pay as you go for a change.
  • mudpike
    !
    Just more proof of the corruption & agenda of those at the top. They are ALL , regardless of Party , nothing more than HOGS feeding at the same trough. They toss that Dem. & Rep. crap out there to keep the peons (all of us) divided. Their plan is one & the same - keep the people distracted, eradicate the middle class thru taxation to support the 'chosen ones' on welfare & 'illegal aliens' fully reliant on Gov't. handouts to produce a needy, beggar style voter base . Without term limits on these bass-turd pimps,' we gotz us sum seerius problems'.
  • ConserveUSA
    !
    I wish I could raise my household debt limit. If you don't the bills, the utilities are cut off. I pay my bills first, buy groceries then Save Money if I plan a trip are something. Going to Hawaii is mighty expensive.
  • u
    Grubby
    !
    Unfortunately the debt ceiling will have to be raised. Hopefully the Republicans can get some kind of budget cuts along with the negotiation. Obama is hell bent on ZERO budget cuts, only increases. So far he has done nothing, and offered nothing. The so-called "offered" cuts were not real spending cuts. Things like "avoiding spending on future wars". That is hardly a cut. It is kind of like your wife telling you that she cut spending by deciding NOT to buy something in the future that she wasn't planning to buy anyway. There is a pending problem here, but Liberals just don't get it. In this morning's China Daily (China edition), China vowed to stop increasing its holdings of US debt and to gradually decrease them (which it has since November 2011). Who do you think will finance the Liberal's continuing spending addiction? Europe? Don't count on it with all their own problems. The rich? When Obama takes all their money and finds out he still needs more just to balance the current year budget, he has just a few choices: 1) massive tax increases on everyone 2) massive devaluation of the American dollar (inflation) or 3) severe austerity measures (like Europe - but wouldn't be the choice of a Liberal). So get ready for 1) or 2)- because one or both are coming very soon. Choices have consequences. You are about to see the consequences of the 2012 election. Do you suppose the Liberals can succeed in blaming Bush for what is coming? I bet they try.
  • Republican
    !
    I have completely lost faith in my own political party. Republicans are becoming more and more like democrats. The Republican Party is no longer being conservative. In fact they are almost becoming as liberal as democrats. What a shame.
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