President Obama is armed and ready to take on the Tea Party-led GOP now that he is seeing support for financing his jobs plan with spending cuts and restoring the tax rates to 1990s level for the richest Americans.
A new Gallup poll out today shows significant majorities of Americans favor Obama paying for his latest jobs plan by taxing the wealthy and wiping out tax breaks for some corporations.
There is even more evidence of good news for Obama, including word from some of his allies who say the push-back rhetoric from Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner is an indication that the GOP is feeling the President's sting. Boehner and others on the right spent much of today whining that Obama is waging class warfare.
Now the fractured ranks of the Democratic left is liking what it is hearing from Obama so far regarding his newly announced $3.2 trillion deficit reduction plan that includes taxing the richest Americans at the same rate as middle class taxpayers.
And that is a big deal, because if Obama can shore up the disheartened ranks of his progressive supporters early on in the 2012 presidential election season it will give him ample opportunity to battle for the moderate independent voters who will be the deciding factor in next year's balloting.
"His problem isn't me or Move On so much as it is all the people who voted for him in '08 who may vote for him again. They probably won't vote for the Republican. But they're not going to go out and bring 10 people to the polls with them. They're not going to be excited about voting again. And that's where it could really hurt him," said lefty filmmaker and commentator Michael Moore.
"So, this thing that happened today is very exciting, and to have him just repeat over and over again, I will refuse to let these Bush tax cuts for the rich continue, I will refuse to rebuild this country on the backs of the poor and the middle class, that is music to my ears. We should have heard this from day one. I'll take it on day 900 if that's when I get it," Moore told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last night.
One of the most vocal and angry constituencies within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has been the gay and lesbian community. Many Gay Democrats felt the White House was just giving lip service when it came to it's support for abolishing the military's don't ask, don't tell.
"A lot of us were so ticked off at him for dragging his feet," said John Aravosis, a progressive opinion leader known for his political instincts and sometimes bombastic approach to driving home a point.
But there is euphoria today in the gay community, which has heaped millions of dollars into the Obama campaign along with their support on election day: Don't ask, don't tell is off the books and gay and lesbian Americans can now serve openly in the armed forces.
"It became real as of midnight last night, and it is true that we would not have won without a President pushing for it," said Aravosis, who is an openly gay blogger with a significant following on his AmericaBlog platform.
So Obama is finally having good week, but there remains a skepticism among some supporters that when it gets down to the 11th hour he will blink and give Republicans what they want, without a fight.
"People are more excited, but a lot of people are waiting to see if he follows through," Aravosis observed. "I have a lot of trouble believing everyone at this point is just going to say, 'Oh, ok we're going to come back now.'"
Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
CPI Probe Highlights Wasteful Pentagon Addiction to No-bid Contracts
America loves its mercenaries.
Competitive-bid Pentagon contracts are a low point since the Sept. 11 attacks, giving way to the military's addiction to hard-to-trace, fast-track no-bid contracts that have encouraged waste and fraud, according to a new report.
Private military contractors, the politically correct name for everyone from hired guns to engineers and custodians, are still cashing in since the war on terror began 10 years ago.
A new "fellow the money" investigation, dropping incrementally each day this week by the Center for Public Integrity's IWatch News, shows the Pentagon's no-bid contracts jumped to $140 billion in 2010, up from $50 billion in 2001.
"While the Pentagon says its overall level of competition has remained steady over the past 10 years, publicly available data shows that Defense Department dollars flowing into non-competitive contracts have almost tripled since the terrorist attacks of 9/11," writes author and journalist Sharon Weinberger, the accomplished national security writer whose byline is on the CPI investigative report.
The Pentagon’s competitive-bid contracts declined to 55% the first half of this year based on dollars spent, the group's analysis of available public federal records show.
The big winner in both the competitive-bid and no-bid world of Pentagon spending, is the Houston-based outfit KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root. KBR was competitively awarded an umbrella contract in December 2001, but was not required to compete for any subsequent contacts, the analysis revealed.
Over 10 years through the end of July of this year, KBR earned $37 billion, proving water systems, heaters, tents, and dining facilities, as well as electricians, cooks, cleaners and other civilian workers for military bases, CPI reported.
"The rush to war in the months following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 created an urgency in the Pentagon, not just for military operations but also for contracting," Weinberger writes in thge second of five installments of CPI's "Windfalls of War" series --- an update to an earlier groundbreaking investigation by the highly regarded watchdog group.
Competitive-bid Pentagon contracts are a low point since the Sept. 11 attacks, giving way to the military's addiction to hard-to-trace, fast-track no-bid contracts that have encouraged waste and fraud, according to a new report.
Private military contractors, the politically correct name for everyone from hired guns to engineers and custodians, are still cashing in since the war on terror began 10 years ago.
A new "fellow the money" investigation, dropping incrementally each day this week by the Center for Public Integrity's IWatch News, shows the Pentagon's no-bid contracts jumped to $140 billion in 2010, up from $50 billion in 2001.
"While the Pentagon says its overall level of competition has remained steady over the past 10 years, publicly available data shows that Defense Department dollars flowing into non-competitive contracts have almost tripled since the terrorist attacks of 9/11," writes author and journalist Sharon Weinberger, the accomplished national security writer whose byline is on the CPI investigative report.
The Pentagon’s competitive-bid contracts declined to 55% the first half of this year based on dollars spent, the group's analysis of available public federal records show.
The big winner in both the competitive-bid and no-bid world of Pentagon spending, is the Houston-based outfit KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root. KBR was competitively awarded an umbrella contract in December 2001, but was not required to compete for any subsequent contacts, the analysis revealed.
Over 10 years through the end of July of this year, KBR earned $37 billion, proving water systems, heaters, tents, and dining facilities, as well as electricians, cooks, cleaners and other civilian workers for military bases, CPI reported.
"The rush to war in the months following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 created an urgency in the Pentagon, not just for military operations but also for contracting," Weinberger writes in thge second of five installments of CPI's "Windfalls of War" series --- an update to an earlier groundbreaking investigation by the highly regarded watchdog group.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Obama Launches Summer Push-Back Tour
After a weekend of playing the punching bag, President Obama is hitting back with a three-day bus trip through the Midwest that includes five town halls and a lot of bruising shots at what he casts as a do-nothing GOP-led Congress.
Rolling out the artillery at his first stop this afternoon in Cannon Falls, Minn, Obama said, "I'm not here just to enjoy the nice weather. I'm here to enlist you in a fight. We are fighting for then future of our country and that is a fight that we are going to win."
Obama needs to make sure America's debt fatigue does not become Obama fatigue. His approval rating hit a new low over the weekend, dipping to 39%. The mainstream media and the GOP field of presidential wannabees quickly latched on to the Gallup number.
The GOP candidates, in high-profile speeches in Iowa and South Carolina, focused on questioning Obama's leadership in a stinging barrage that drew cheers, but failed to further sink the President's poll numbers. The Gallup daily tracking poll actually ticked upwards by two points today to 41%.
Obama hopes to counterattack by striking back at the most unpopular entity in Washington: The GOP-led House and filibuster-prone Senate Republicans, which have a dismal 28% approval rating, according to a Gallop survey last month.
The President and his advisors believe there is plenty of evidence that the Republicans are stalling at moving forward with a jobs agenda, instead focusing on protecting the rich from paying their fair share of taxes.
Driving home his point, Obama served up a menu today of pending and proposed legislation that Congress could pass immediately to help spur job-creation, including a payroll tax cut, tax credits for companies that hire war veterans, creation of an infrastructure bank to rebuild America and put builders and constructions workers back to work, international trade deals and patent reforms to make it easier to turn ideas into businesses.
"So there is no shortage of ideas to put people to work right now. What is needed is action on the part of Congress, a willingness to put the partisan games aside and say we're going to do what's right for the country, not what we think is going to score some political points for the next election," Obama said.
Obama picked up some support from the biggest name in Wall Street circles, when mega-investor Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled, "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich."
"While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks," Buffett wrote.
Rolling out the artillery at his first stop this afternoon in Cannon Falls, Minn, Obama said, "I'm not here just to enjoy the nice weather. I'm here to enlist you in a fight. We are fighting for then future of our country and that is a fight that we are going to win."
Obama needs to make sure America's debt fatigue does not become Obama fatigue. His approval rating hit a new low over the weekend, dipping to 39%. The mainstream media and the GOP field of presidential wannabees quickly latched on to the Gallup number.
The GOP candidates, in high-profile speeches in Iowa and South Carolina, focused on questioning Obama's leadership in a stinging barrage that drew cheers, but failed to further sink the President's poll numbers. The Gallup daily tracking poll actually ticked upwards by two points today to 41%.
Obama hopes to counterattack by striking back at the most unpopular entity in Washington: The GOP-led House and filibuster-prone Senate Republicans, which have a dismal 28% approval rating, according to a Gallop survey last month.
The President and his advisors believe there is plenty of evidence that the Republicans are stalling at moving forward with a jobs agenda, instead focusing on protecting the rich from paying their fair share of taxes.
Driving home his point, Obama served up a menu today of pending and proposed legislation that Congress could pass immediately to help spur job-creation, including a payroll tax cut, tax credits for companies that hire war veterans, creation of an infrastructure bank to rebuild America and put builders and constructions workers back to work, international trade deals and patent reforms to make it easier to turn ideas into businesses.
"So there is no shortage of ideas to put people to work right now. What is needed is action on the part of Congress, a willingness to put the partisan games aside and say we're going to do what's right for the country, not what we think is going to score some political points for the next election," Obama said.
Obama picked up some support from the biggest name in Wall Street circles, when mega-investor Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled, "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich."
"While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks," Buffett wrote.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Can The Fed End The Market Tailspins?
updated at 5 p.m. edt
The Dow gained 429 points in a late rally today after the Fed left interest rates unchanged on day that saw a bumpy roller-coaster ride with more than 700-point swing before it was all over.
After the nose-dive yesterday it all spelled a market and economy chocked with volatility. The Dow closed up by 4% at 11,239.77.
The S&P 500 jumped 53 points in positive territory for a 4.7% gainmm to finish at 1,172.53. The Nasdaq was up 124, or 5.3 percent, to closer at 2,482.52
Updated at 2:45 p.m. edt
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged today, but there were clearly jitters on Wall Street when the monetary policy-setting board warned of increased economic risks.
The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ went south on the news after posting gains for most of the day, but then rebounded. The roller-coaster ride was an indication of market volatility amid economic uncertainty.
"The (Federal Open Market) Committee now expects a somewhat slower pace of recovery over coming quarters than it did at the time of the previous meeting and anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate," the Fed's statement said.
"Moreover, downside risks to the economic outlook have increased," the statement added.
The Fed also said it would keep interests rates low "at least through mid-2013."
end update
---[
The Federal Reserve is meeting this afternoon in Washington amid the global markets tanking, but it is unclear whether there is anything that the monetary policy-setting board can do to stop the market madness.
After Wall Street had a mini-crash yesterday there was plenty of volatility overnight in the Asian markets, which mostly saw another big dip, and the European markets are again on a roller-coaster ride of there own.
Add in that the Dow Futures are on a wild up-and-down swing of their and it all spells another shaky day for Wall Street investors.
The Fed will deliver its interest-rate decision at 2:15 p.m. edt, and banks and investors are wonder whether there will be any hint of a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 -- a sort of stimulus program in which the central banks buy up stocks and other paper to try to stabilize the markets.
The Dow gained 429 points in a late rally today after the Fed left interest rates unchanged on day that saw a bumpy roller-coaster ride with more than 700-point swing before it was all over.
After the nose-dive yesterday it all spelled a market and economy chocked with volatility. The Dow closed up by 4% at 11,239.77.
The S&P 500 jumped 53 points in positive territory for a 4.7% gainmm to finish at 1,172.53. The Nasdaq was up 124, or 5.3 percent, to closer at 2,482.52
Updated at 2:45 p.m. edt
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged today, but there were clearly jitters on Wall Street when the monetary policy-setting board warned of increased economic risks.
The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ went south on the news after posting gains for most of the day, but then rebounded. The roller-coaster ride was an indication of market volatility amid economic uncertainty.
"The (Federal Open Market) Committee now expects a somewhat slower pace of recovery over coming quarters than it did at the time of the previous meeting and anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate," the Fed's statement said.
"Moreover, downside risks to the economic outlook have increased," the statement added.
The Fed also said it would keep interests rates low "at least through mid-2013."
end update
---[
The Federal Reserve is meeting this afternoon in Washington amid the global markets tanking, but it is unclear whether there is anything that the monetary policy-setting board can do to stop the market madness.
After Wall Street had a mini-crash yesterday there was plenty of volatility overnight in the Asian markets, which mostly saw another big dip, and the European markets are again on a roller-coaster ride of there own.
Add in that the Dow Futures are on a wild up-and-down swing of their and it all spells another shaky day for Wall Street investors.
The Fed will deliver its interest-rate decision at 2:15 p.m. edt, and banks and investors are wonder whether there will be any hint of a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 -- a sort of stimulus program in which the central banks buy up stocks and other paper to try to stabilize the markets.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Aviation Safety Inspectors Reinstated For Six Weeks
It took less than a minute for the Senate to fund 4,000 furloughed Federal Aviation Administration workers and airport construction projects through mid-September -- and even less time for President Obama to sign it into law today.
Congress had left town for a five-week vacation without resolving the matter. FAA inspectors had beeen paying their own way to do their jobs for the past two weeks.
Only local two senators were needed today under the "unanimous consent" procedure to approve the bill. Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) asked that the measure be passed, and the presiding officer Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., concurred and the measure passed.
The maneuver reinstates aviation safety inspectors and 70,000 constuction workers on projects at airports around the country.
Congress had left town for a five-week vacation without resolving the matter. FAA inspectors had beeen paying their own way to do their jobs for the past two weeks.
Only local two senators were needed today under the "unanimous consent" procedure to approve the bill. Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) asked that the measure be passed, and the presiding officer Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., concurred and the measure passed.
The maneuver reinstates aviation safety inspectors and 70,000 constuction workers on projects at airports around the country.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Markets Still Tanking? Debt Debacle a Yawn on Wall Street
Updated at 11:15 p.m. edt
China's largest credit-rating agency, Global Credit Rating Co., lowered its rating on U.S debt from A+ to A tonight, calling the American economy a "debt time bomb."
Stateside, Moody's credit rating service said while it has a "negative outlook" on the U.S., for now, at least, it will not lower its AAA credit rating.
Earlier Fitch, the No. 3 rating service, also said it will not lower the U.S. rating from AAA, but put Washington on notice that it's score remains under review.
end update
---[
Updated at 4 p.m. edt
President Obama signed the new budget-cutting measure into law this afternoon as Wall Street saw its eighth straight day of losses and a new poll showed Americans are disgusted with the bratty behavior in the debt-ceiling fight.
The Dow fell 265 points to finish at 11,866.84. The NASDAQ closed at 2669,24 plunging 75 points, while the S&P 500 fell 33 points, ending at 1,254.05.
The next nightmare for American markets may be the loss of the AAA credit rating the U.S. has enjoyed for the better part of a century.
"While the agreement is clearly a step in the right direction, the United States, as in much of Europe, must also confront tough choices on tax and spending against a weak economic back drop if the budget deficit and government debt is to be cut to safer levels over the medium term," the credit-rating service Fitch said in a statement.
Standard & Poors and Moody's have already put the U.S. on notice that its pristine rating is at risk.
There are also fears the U.S. could slip into a double-digit recession, especially if it turns out the Tea Party-driven debt law ends up costing more Americans their jobs, as some analysts predict.
The image of elected federal officials continued to slide in the eyes of Americans fed up over the handling of the debt debate, according to a CNN/ORC International poll taken yesterday.
The poll showed 52% of respondents are opposed to the debt ceiling deal while 44% favor it --- and 77% of Americans scoffed at the behavior of lawmakers during the debate.
"When three-quarters say that elected officials are behaving like spoiled children, it's probably safe to say that there are no winners," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
end update
---[
The new budget-slashing law did little to immediately boost Wall Street and the global markets as the house-of-cards financial system sways amid tanking economies around the world, including the U.S.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 12,000 shortly after the Senate voted 74-26 to pass the complicated, two-tiered measure that for more than a month gridlocked Washington, ravaged the financial markets and angered Americans already fed up with the shenanigans of their elected officials.
"Our economy didn’t need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis to make things worse," President Obama said after the vote. "It’s pretty likely that the uncertainty surrounding the raising of the debt ceiling, for both businesses and consumers, has been unsettling, and just one more impediment to the full recovery that we need."
He added, "And it was something that we could have avoided entirely."
Elements of the Tea Party, seen by some observers as having been duped into carrying the water for Wall Street and corporate interests, has argued that the economy would turn around by dialing down the $14.3 trillion federal debt.
The European banking crisis, stagnant U.S. employment (with more layoffs coming as a result of the new budget-slashing debt law) and unrest in the Middle East oil patch neighborhood are among the factors behind the problems for the markets, analysts believe.
China's largest credit-rating agency, Global Credit Rating Co., lowered its rating on U.S debt from A+ to A tonight, calling the American economy a "debt time bomb."
Stateside, Moody's credit rating service said while it has a "negative outlook" on the U.S., for now, at least, it will not lower its AAA credit rating.
Earlier Fitch, the No. 3 rating service, also said it will not lower the U.S. rating from AAA, but put Washington on notice that it's score remains under review.
end update
---[
Updated at 4 p.m. edt
President Obama signed the new budget-cutting measure into law this afternoon as Wall Street saw its eighth straight day of losses and a new poll showed Americans are disgusted with the bratty behavior in the debt-ceiling fight.
The Dow fell 265 points to finish at 11,866.84. The NASDAQ closed at 2669,24 plunging 75 points, while the S&P 500 fell 33 points, ending at 1,254.05.
The next nightmare for American markets may be the loss of the AAA credit rating the U.S. has enjoyed for the better part of a century.
"While the agreement is clearly a step in the right direction, the United States, as in much of Europe, must also confront tough choices on tax and spending against a weak economic back drop if the budget deficit and government debt is to be cut to safer levels over the medium term," the credit-rating service Fitch said in a statement.
Standard & Poors and Moody's have already put the U.S. on notice that its pristine rating is at risk.
There are also fears the U.S. could slip into a double-digit recession, especially if it turns out the Tea Party-driven debt law ends up costing more Americans their jobs, as some analysts predict.
The image of elected federal officials continued to slide in the eyes of Americans fed up over the handling of the debt debate, according to a CNN/ORC International poll taken yesterday.
The poll showed 52% of respondents are opposed to the debt ceiling deal while 44% favor it --- and 77% of Americans scoffed at the behavior of lawmakers during the debate.
"When three-quarters say that elected officials are behaving like spoiled children, it's probably safe to say that there are no winners," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
end update
---[
The new budget-slashing law did little to immediately boost Wall Street and the global markets as the house-of-cards financial system sways amid tanking economies around the world, including the U.S.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 12,000 shortly after the Senate voted 74-26 to pass the complicated, two-tiered measure that for more than a month gridlocked Washington, ravaged the financial markets and angered Americans already fed up with the shenanigans of their elected officials.
"Our economy didn’t need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis to make things worse," President Obama said after the vote. "It’s pretty likely that the uncertainty surrounding the raising of the debt ceiling, for both businesses and consumers, has been unsettling, and just one more impediment to the full recovery that we need."
He added, "And it was something that we could have avoided entirely."
Elements of the Tea Party, seen by some observers as having been duped into carrying the water for Wall Street and corporate interests, has argued that the economy would turn around by dialing down the $14.3 trillion federal debt.
The European banking crisis, stagnant U.S. employment (with more layoffs coming as a result of the new budget-slashing debt law) and unrest in the Middle East oil patch neighborhood are among the factors behind the problems for the markets, analysts believe.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
GOP & Dems Talking, But No Closer to a Debt Reduction Deal
The fate of raising the $14.3 debt ceiling will be decided behind closed doors now as the Democratic and Republican leadership engage in a final attempt to reach a deal that will keep the U.S. from defaulting on its loans for the first time in its history.
However, with a little more than two days until the default deadline, there was plenty of evidence of political gamesmanship in play, particularly between the GOP and Democratic leaders of the Senate.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell reopened the negotiating channels with President Obama in the past 24 hours, ending a stalemate created when Boehner walked away from the table.
McConnell spoke to Obama shortly before the President summoned the House and Senate Democratic leaders to the White House this afternoon.
"We are now fully engaged, the Speaker and I, with the one person in America out of 307 million people who can sign a bill into law," McConnell said. "I'm confident and optimistic that we're going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interest of the American people."
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused McConnell of grandstanding by saying both sides were close to agreement, saying they were no closer to a deal after meeting along with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi at the White House with Obama.
"Republican leaders still refuse to negotiate in good faith," Reid said. "The process has not been moved forward during this day."
In the only action today in the public eye, the GOP-controlled House voted 246 to 173 to reject a plan by Reid that would cut the deficit by more than $2.2 trillion over 10 years and raise the debt limit automatically in three stages, but without further votes in Congress.
There still may be a Senate vote on the Reid measure at 1 a.m. tomorrow just to get it into the record as a negotiating point.
The Republicans, led by its powerful extremist Tea Party wing, passed a bill in the House yesterday that would require Congress hold another debt ceiling vote over the Christmas holidays. The Senate rejected the measure.
Democrats charge it is a purely political move meant to embarrass President Obama and boost GOP presidential candidates ahead of the 2012 elections.
Obama and the Democrats call that idea, along with a nearly impossible provision requiring passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, a non-starter.
Pelosi accused Boehner of selling out a $4 trillion grand bargain offered by Obama by abandoning negotiations to pander to the obstructionist Tea Party Republicans.
"He chose to go to the dark side," Pelosi said to boos from the GOP on the House floor, which only prompted her to repeat the line. "He chose to go to the dark side."
However, with a little more than two days until the default deadline, there was plenty of evidence of political gamesmanship in play, particularly between the GOP and Democratic leaders of the Senate.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell reopened the negotiating channels with President Obama in the past 24 hours, ending a stalemate created when Boehner walked away from the table.
McConnell spoke to Obama shortly before the President summoned the House and Senate Democratic leaders to the White House this afternoon.
"We are now fully engaged, the Speaker and I, with the one person in America out of 307 million people who can sign a bill into law," McConnell said. "I'm confident and optimistic that we're going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interest of the American people."
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused McConnell of grandstanding by saying both sides were close to agreement, saying they were no closer to a deal after meeting along with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi at the White House with Obama.
"Republican leaders still refuse to negotiate in good faith," Reid said. "The process has not been moved forward during this day."
In the only action today in the public eye, the GOP-controlled House voted 246 to 173 to reject a plan by Reid that would cut the deficit by more than $2.2 trillion over 10 years and raise the debt limit automatically in three stages, but without further votes in Congress.
There still may be a Senate vote on the Reid measure at 1 a.m. tomorrow just to get it into the record as a negotiating point.
The Republicans, led by its powerful extremist Tea Party wing, passed a bill in the House yesterday that would require Congress hold another debt ceiling vote over the Christmas holidays. The Senate rejected the measure.
Democrats charge it is a purely political move meant to embarrass President Obama and boost GOP presidential candidates ahead of the 2012 elections.
Obama and the Democrats call that idea, along with a nearly impossible provision requiring passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, a non-starter.
Pelosi accused Boehner of selling out a $4 trillion grand bargain offered by Obama by abandoning negotiations to pander to the obstructionist Tea Party Republicans.
"He chose to go to the dark side," Pelosi said to boos from the GOP on the House floor, which only prompted her to repeat the line. "He chose to go to the dark side."
Friday, July 29, 2011
House Passes Doomed Debt Legislation; Boehner Fights for Political Life
Updated at 8:45 p.m. EDT
As promised, the Senate rejected a GOP House debt-reduction bill tonight, just hours after Speaker John Boehner pulled off a legislative victory he needed to re-ignite his leadership over his party and its stubborn Tea Party wing.
The Senate voted 59-41 to defeat Boehner's hard-fought legislation, which twice was delayed this week from being brought to the floor because the Speaker had failed to garner enough support to ensure it would pass.
The GOP-led House had passed in the House early this evening. There were 22 Republicans who opposed Boehner and voted down his measure (Politico takes a glance at who they were). A couple of hours later the Democratic-led Senate killed it.
"The bill passed today in the House with exclusively Republican votes would have us face another debt ceiling crisis in just a few months by demanding the Constitution be amended or America defaults. This bill has been declared dead on arrival in the Senate," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement issue just before the Senate vote.
"Now that yet another political exercise is behind us, with time dwindling, leaders need to start working together immediately to reach a compromise that avoids default and lays the basis for balanced deficit reduction," Carney added.
Boehner's bill would have required another debt debate at the end of this year and passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, or else the U.S. would default on its bills. A constitutional amendment requires the support of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states.
Experts say it could take up to a decade to complete the process of adding a constitutional amendment.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans this weekend to bring his own bill to the Senate for a vote. If it passes, the House GOP may return the favor and reject his debt reduction measure.
And then comes the real negotiating process, where both sides may have only a matter of hours to find a compromise on how to draw the country's $14.3 trillion debt, or at agree to at least a framework that they can use to extend the talks beyond the deadline Tuesday.
"It's time to be adults," Reid said after the Senate tabled the Boehner measure.
But with three days to go before the U.S. defaults on paying some of its bills, some lawmakers think Washington is cutting it too close.
"It is very dicey at this point. I never thought we would be three days out from driving over the cliff," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). told MSNBC.
end update
---[
The House GOP resuscitated the political life of Speaker John Boehner, passing his dead-on-arrival partisan debt ceiling measure as the Tuesday default deadline moved dangerously closer amid fears stonewalling in Washington already cost the U.S. a nearly century-old blue ribbon AAA credit rating.
The House GOP voted 218 to 210 in favor of Boehner's two-tiered measure that would guarantee the exact same debt fight at the end of the year, and calls for a balanced budget amendment in the constitution -- two measures that the White House and democrats say are deal-breakers.
Boehner tweaked the measure and scrambled for an additional 24 hours, shaking down House GOP members trying to reach the 216 votes threshold needed to pass the measure. The delay called into question Boehner's leadership and further elevated the prominence of the Tea Party Republicans in the GOP.
In his final remarks before the vote, Boehner took aim at President Obama for failing to put on paper his own debt celing plan, but the Speaker's words easily could have been meant for his detractors in the Republican ranks.
"I stuck my neck out a mile to try to get an agreement with the President of the United States. I stuck my neck out a mile, and I put revenues on the table in order to try to come an agreement to avert us being where we are now, but a lot people in this town can never say yes," Boehner said on the House floor.
Boehner's bill will fail to get through the Senate, but even if it did pass, Preesident Obama would veto it.
For the sixth straight day, the financial markets continued their decline amid the debt standoff, increasingly blamed on the unwavering Tea Party faction which threw down the gauntlet and opposed wiping out corporate tax loopholes or restoring the tax levels paid by the richest Americans during the 1990s.
Some Tea Party leaders, like Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, oppose raising the debt ceiling at all.
Obama, meanwhile, urged Americans to weigh-in on the debt debate by contacting their elected officials. His campaign put out on Twitter the contacts for House lawmakers.
"If you want to see a bipartisan compromise -– a bill that can pass both houses of Congress and that I can sign -- let your members of Congress know. Make a phone call. Send an email. Tweet. Keep the pressure on Washington, and we can get past this," Obama said. "We are now running out of time."
As promised, the Senate rejected a GOP House debt-reduction bill tonight, just hours after Speaker John Boehner pulled off a legislative victory he needed to re-ignite his leadership over his party and its stubborn Tea Party wing.
The Senate voted 59-41 to defeat Boehner's hard-fought legislation, which twice was delayed this week from being brought to the floor because the Speaker had failed to garner enough support to ensure it would pass.
The GOP-led House had passed in the House early this evening. There were 22 Republicans who opposed Boehner and voted down his measure (Politico takes a glance at who they were). A couple of hours later the Democratic-led Senate killed it.
"The bill passed today in the House with exclusively Republican votes would have us face another debt ceiling crisis in just a few months by demanding the Constitution be amended or America defaults. This bill has been declared dead on arrival in the Senate," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement issue just before the Senate vote.
"Now that yet another political exercise is behind us, with time dwindling, leaders need to start working together immediately to reach a compromise that avoids default and lays the basis for balanced deficit reduction," Carney added.
Boehner's bill would have required another debt debate at the end of this year and passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, or else the U.S. would default on its bills. A constitutional amendment requires the support of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states.
Experts say it could take up to a decade to complete the process of adding a constitutional amendment.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans this weekend to bring his own bill to the Senate for a vote. If it passes, the House GOP may return the favor and reject his debt reduction measure.
And then comes the real negotiating process, where both sides may have only a matter of hours to find a compromise on how to draw the country's $14.3 trillion debt, or at agree to at least a framework that they can use to extend the talks beyond the deadline Tuesday.
"It's time to be adults," Reid said after the Senate tabled the Boehner measure.
But with three days to go before the U.S. defaults on paying some of its bills, some lawmakers think Washington is cutting it too close.
"It is very dicey at this point. I never thought we would be three days out from driving over the cliff," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). told MSNBC.
end update
---[
The House GOP resuscitated the political life of Speaker John Boehner, passing his dead-on-arrival partisan debt ceiling measure as the Tuesday default deadline moved dangerously closer amid fears stonewalling in Washington already cost the U.S. a nearly century-old blue ribbon AAA credit rating.
The House GOP voted 218 to 210 in favor of Boehner's two-tiered measure that would guarantee the exact same debt fight at the end of the year, and calls for a balanced budget amendment in the constitution -- two measures that the White House and democrats say are deal-breakers.
Boehner tweaked the measure and scrambled for an additional 24 hours, shaking down House GOP members trying to reach the 216 votes threshold needed to pass the measure. The delay called into question Boehner's leadership and further elevated the prominence of the Tea Party Republicans in the GOP.
In his final remarks before the vote, Boehner took aim at President Obama for failing to put on paper his own debt celing plan, but the Speaker's words easily could have been meant for his detractors in the Republican ranks.
"I stuck my neck out a mile to try to get an agreement with the President of the United States. I stuck my neck out a mile, and I put revenues on the table in order to try to come an agreement to avert us being where we are now, but a lot people in this town can never say yes," Boehner said on the House floor.
Boehner's bill will fail to get through the Senate, but even if it did pass, Preesident Obama would veto it.
For the sixth straight day, the financial markets continued their decline amid the debt standoff, increasingly blamed on the unwavering Tea Party faction which threw down the gauntlet and opposed wiping out corporate tax loopholes or restoring the tax levels paid by the richest Americans during the 1990s.
Some Tea Party leaders, like Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, oppose raising the debt ceiling at all.
Obama, meanwhile, urged Americans to weigh-in on the debt debate by contacting their elected officials. His campaign put out on Twitter the contacts for House lawmakers.
"If you want to see a bipartisan compromise -– a bill that can pass both houses of Congress and that I can sign -- let your members of Congress know. Make a phone call. Send an email. Tweet. Keep the pressure on Washington, and we can get past this," Obama said. "We are now running out of time."
Thursday, July 28, 2011
House Debt Vote a High Stakes Tally for Boehner
Updated at 11:45 p.m. edt
Speaker John Boehner failed to whip up enough votes tonight to pass his debt-reduction legislation, forcing the GOP boss to postpone a vote rather than see his measure go down in flames.
It was a blow to the lawmaker's reign over a House divided between mainstream Republicans and the slash and burn Tea Party faction that arguably controls the direction of the GOP at this point.
Boehner will assemble every GOP House member tomorrow morning to try to get the debt ceiling legislation back on track.
Word of a delay first came at 5:30 p.m. Washington time, some 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled House vote. A few hours later any hopes of a vote fell apart when Boehner's arm-twisting tactics behind closed doors failed to woo enough support for his measure.
Boehner was tweaking the measure late this evening, hoping that by slashing millions in Pell Grants that help poor and middle class Americans pay for college they could buy off the Tea Party.
The White House called the GOP "dysfunctional" because they refuse to compromise, labeling the delay in the vote "a pointless partisan exercise" because the bill will die in the Senate.
end update
---[
Speaker John Boehner implored Tea Party Republicans today to back his debt-reduction legislation, ignoring Democrats' promise to put a stake in the heart of the measure if it makes it out of the House.
"After today, the House will have sent to the Senate not one, but two different bills that will rein in spending, increase the debt ceiling and bring an end to this crisis," Boehner said early this afternoon. "When the House takes action today, the United States Senate will have no more excuses for inaction."
The Speaker is applying pressure while he is under pressure. Throughout the debt wrangling, the Ohio lawmaker has had to negotiate with his own party's members as much, if not more, as he has had to parlay with Democrats. This vote is emerging as one of the biggest tests of Boehner's ability to hold his caucus together and pass legislation.
"Listen, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of our country, I'm asking the representatives in the House in a bipartisan way and asking my colleagues in the Senate, let's pass this bill and end this crisis," Boehner pleaded.
Boehner's debt legislation needs 216 votes to pass in the House.
Going down to the wire, the Speaker got a boost overnight from the Congressional Budget Office, which determined the Speaker's retooled legislation would reduce spending by $917 billion over 10 years, crossing the $900 billion needed to lift debt ceiling. CBO a day earlier said Boehner's plan would not cover the governments debt payments (CBO also said Senate Democratic plan fell short).
Wall Street, late to the fight, but now fully engaged, also stepped up its lobbying for a deal. More than a dozen leading American financiers also wrote to President Obama and the Congress, begging them to settle the debt deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. They fear a defeault -- the first-ever in U.S. history -- would be a catastrophe for Wall Street and Main Street.
"A default on our nation’s obligations, or a downgrade of America’s credit rating, would be a tremendous blow to business and investor confidence -- raising interest rates for everyone who borrows, undermining the value of the dollar, and roiling stock and bond markets -- and, therefore, dramatically worsening our nation’s already difficult economic circumstances," the bankers wrote.
Boehner knows his bill is doomed no matter what happens with his House vote this evening. The Senate Democrats are going to kill it and Obama promised to veto it. Obama is adamant that the debt resolution not be a short-term incremental fix. The Boehner measure would force another debt showdown over the holidays at the end of this year.
"Republicans cannot get the short-term Band-Aid they will vote on in the House today," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "It will not get one Democratic vote in the Senate. All 53 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus wrote to the Speaker last night to tell him they will not vote for it."
Ultimately, in the hours immediately after tonight's vote lawmakers from the House and Senate will have to decide what they can pass, and they will be forced to make a deal, or potentially send the U.S. economy into an unknown abyss.
Speaker John Boehner failed to whip up enough votes tonight to pass his debt-reduction legislation, forcing the GOP boss to postpone a vote rather than see his measure go down in flames.
It was a blow to the lawmaker's reign over a House divided between mainstream Republicans and the slash and burn Tea Party faction that arguably controls the direction of the GOP at this point.
Boehner will assemble every GOP House member tomorrow morning to try to get the debt ceiling legislation back on track.
Word of a delay first came at 5:30 p.m. Washington time, some 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled House vote. A few hours later any hopes of a vote fell apart when Boehner's arm-twisting tactics behind closed doors failed to woo enough support for his measure.
Boehner was tweaking the measure late this evening, hoping that by slashing millions in Pell Grants that help poor and middle class Americans pay for college they could buy off the Tea Party.
The White House called the GOP "dysfunctional" because they refuse to compromise, labeling the delay in the vote "a pointless partisan exercise" because the bill will die in the Senate.
end update
---[
Speaker John Boehner implored Tea Party Republicans today to back his debt-reduction legislation, ignoring Democrats' promise to put a stake in the heart of the measure if it makes it out of the House.
"After today, the House will have sent to the Senate not one, but two different bills that will rein in spending, increase the debt ceiling and bring an end to this crisis," Boehner said early this afternoon. "When the House takes action today, the United States Senate will have no more excuses for inaction."
The Speaker is applying pressure while he is under pressure. Throughout the debt wrangling, the Ohio lawmaker has had to negotiate with his own party's members as much, if not more, as he has had to parlay with Democrats. This vote is emerging as one of the biggest tests of Boehner's ability to hold his caucus together and pass legislation.
"Listen, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of our country, I'm asking the representatives in the House in a bipartisan way and asking my colleagues in the Senate, let's pass this bill and end this crisis," Boehner pleaded.
Boehner's debt legislation needs 216 votes to pass in the House.
Going down to the wire, the Speaker got a boost overnight from the Congressional Budget Office, which determined the Speaker's retooled legislation would reduce spending by $917 billion over 10 years, crossing the $900 billion needed to lift debt ceiling. CBO a day earlier said Boehner's plan would not cover the governments debt payments (CBO also said Senate Democratic plan fell short).
Wall Street, late to the fight, but now fully engaged, also stepped up its lobbying for a deal. More than a dozen leading American financiers also wrote to President Obama and the Congress, begging them to settle the debt deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. They fear a defeault -- the first-ever in U.S. history -- would be a catastrophe for Wall Street and Main Street.
"A default on our nation’s obligations, or a downgrade of America’s credit rating, would be a tremendous blow to business and investor confidence -- raising interest rates for everyone who borrows, undermining the value of the dollar, and roiling stock and bond markets -- and, therefore, dramatically worsening our nation’s already difficult economic circumstances," the bankers wrote.
Boehner knows his bill is doomed no matter what happens with his House vote this evening. The Senate Democrats are going to kill it and Obama promised to veto it. Obama is adamant that the debt resolution not be a short-term incremental fix. The Boehner measure would force another debt showdown over the holidays at the end of this year.
"Republicans cannot get the short-term Band-Aid they will vote on in the House today," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "It will not get one Democratic vote in the Senate. All 53 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus wrote to the Speaker last night to tell him they will not vote for it."
Ultimately, in the hours immediately after tonight's vote lawmakers from the House and Senate will have to decide what they can pass, and they will be forced to make a deal, or potentially send the U.S. economy into an unknown abyss.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tea Party Resolute, but Wall Street Finally Freaks Over Debt Debacle
Wall Street and global financiers finally ended a schizophrenic stand on the debt shenanigans in Washington, soundly signaling with a nearly 200-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials today that a default will likely rip apart a weary American economy.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Obama: GOP Playing 'Dangerous Game' With Americans' Livlihood
Updated throughout at 9:45 p.m. edt to add Boehner quotes, details, links, etc.
President Obama rejected tonight the House GOP plan that would force another politically charged debt ceiling battle in six months, calling it "a dangerous game" that reduces the American people to "collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare."
"The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach – an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all," Obama said.
"Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask corporate jet owners and oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get," Obama added.
The President urged Americans to contact lawmakers to let them know they want the GOP to stop the debt shenanigans.
Obama's address on the day GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid issued dueling debt proposals. Obama wants the Reid legislation that would raise the debt limit by at least $2.4 trillion all at once, instead of the politically motivated incremental approach that GOP House Speaker John Boehner is pushing.
"That is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It is a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now," Obama said of Boehner's plan. "Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare."
If a debt-ceiling compromise is not reached, Obama warned that Washington alone would be responsible for a likely economic crisis triggered by the federal government defaulting on its bills.
"We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – one caused almost entirely by Washington," Obama said, adding that Americans are "fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word."
In a brief response to Obama's nationally televised address, Boehner insisted "there's no stalemate here in Congress."
"The House passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support. And this week, while the Senate is struggling to pass a bill filled with phony accounting and Washington gimmicks, we're going to pass another bill, one that was developed with the support of the bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Senate," Boehner said.
(Editor's note: NBC "Hardball" anchor Chris Matthews accused Boehner of fibbing when he called the House bill a bipartisan effort).
"The solution to this crisis is not complicated. If you're spending more money than you're taking in, you need to spend less of it. There's no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. Break its grip and we begin to liberate our economy and our future. We are up to the task. And I hope President Obama will join us in this work," Boehner added.
President Obama rejected tonight the House GOP plan that would force another politically charged debt ceiling battle in six months, calling it "a dangerous game" that reduces the American people to "collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare."
"The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach – an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all," Obama said.
"Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask corporate jet owners and oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get," Obama added.
The President urged Americans to contact lawmakers to let them know they want the GOP to stop the debt shenanigans.
Obama's address on the day GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid issued dueling debt proposals. Obama wants the Reid legislation that would raise the debt limit by at least $2.4 trillion all at once, instead of the politically motivated incremental approach that GOP House Speaker John Boehner is pushing.
"That is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It is a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now," Obama said of Boehner's plan. "Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare."
If a debt-ceiling compromise is not reached, Obama warned that Washington alone would be responsible for a likely economic crisis triggered by the federal government defaulting on its bills.
"We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – one caused almost entirely by Washington," Obama said, adding that Americans are "fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word."
In a brief response to Obama's nationally televised address, Boehner insisted "there's no stalemate here in Congress."
"The House passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support. And this week, while the Senate is struggling to pass a bill filled with phony accounting and Washington gimmicks, we're going to pass another bill, one that was developed with the support of the bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Senate," Boehner said.
(Editor's note: NBC "Hardball" anchor Chris Matthews accused Boehner of fibbing when he called the House bill a bipartisan effort).
"The solution to this crisis is not complicated. If you're spending more money than you're taking in, you need to spend less of it. There's no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. Break its grip and we begin to liberate our economy and our future. We are up to the task. And I hope President Obama will join us in this work," Boehner added.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Dems to Obama: You Gotta Be (Expletive Deleted) Kidding Me
Updated 2 p.m. edt
As expected, the Senate rejected today what Democrats said was a draconian House plan to cut government spending, raise the federal debt limit and amend the constitution to include a balanced budget amendment.
Senators voted 51 to 46 along party lines to defeat the measure known as the "cut, cap and balance" bill.
President Obama had vowed to veto the bill had it passed in the Senate.
end update
---[
President Obama finds himself at odds today with senior congressional Democrats, who are angry at him over concessions to Republicans in debt-ceiling talks, further complaining that they are being at left out of the negotiations.
Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are reportedly discussing a plan that could include up to $3 trillion in spending cuts, but would delay implementing much of the tax and revenue provisions, congressional aides said.
Democrats do not like the deal.
At an often testy two-hour meeting yesterday with White House budget chief Jack Lew, Democrats protested -- loudly -- that the White House was undercutting their re-election hopes with the Social Security and Medicare giveaways that the President has proposed.
Veteran Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, complainted to The Washington Post that the Tea Party convinced Obama "to go along with a deal that basically gives them everything they want but yet still takes away from those who are our most vulnerable."
But the smart money says Democrats have little to fear: Obama is banking that the GOP will not take him up on his his latest Machiavellian offer to tinker with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Aug. 2 is the drop-dead deadline for a deal to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its loan payments. If there is no serious progress made in talks this weekend it diminishes the chance of a comprehensive deal.
As expected, the Senate rejected today what Democrats said was a draconian House plan to cut government spending, raise the federal debt limit and amend the constitution to include a balanced budget amendment.
Senators voted 51 to 46 along party lines to defeat the measure known as the "cut, cap and balance" bill.
President Obama had vowed to veto the bill had it passed in the Senate.
end update
---[
President Obama finds himself at odds today with senior congressional Democrats, who are angry at him over concessions to Republicans in debt-ceiling talks, further complaining that they are being at left out of the negotiations.
Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are reportedly discussing a plan that could include up to $3 trillion in spending cuts, but would delay implementing much of the tax and revenue provisions, congressional aides said.
Democrats do not like the deal.
At an often testy two-hour meeting yesterday with White House budget chief Jack Lew, Democrats protested -- loudly -- that the White House was undercutting their re-election hopes with the Social Security and Medicare giveaways that the President has proposed.
Veteran Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, complainted to The Washington Post that the Tea Party convinced Obama "to go along with a deal that basically gives them everything they want but yet still takes away from those who are our most vulnerable."
But the smart money says Democrats have little to fear: Obama is banking that the GOP will not take him up on his his latest Machiavellian offer to tinker with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Aug. 2 is the drop-dead deadline for a deal to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its loan payments. If there is no serious progress made in talks this weekend it diminishes the chance of a comprehensive deal.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Obama likes Gang of Six Proposal; House GOP Moves on Draconian Plan
Updated 9 p.m.
The House passed the Tea Party-backed "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan 234-190 this evening as expected, but the measure will now die a certain death in the Senate, with President Obama's promised veto a final backstop to kill the measure.
"I think everyone's estimation is, is that that is not an approach that could pass both chambers, it's not an approach that I would sign and it's not balanced, but I understand the need for them to test that proposition," Obama said ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, the latest polls show the GOP hardline approach is turning off a lot of Americans and is bolstering Obama's approach. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows more Americans would blame the GOP if the U.S. does not raise the debt ceiling and defaults on its bills.
The same poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans want the Democrats and Republicans to compromise -- something the House GOP, led by House Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, has refused to do.
end update
---[
The House GOP is set to approve today its dead-on-arrival "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan to raise the debt ceiling, but the more mainstream Republicans in the newly reformed bipartisan Senate Gang of Six are proposing a popular $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade.
President Obama called the Gang of Six plan "a very significant step" because it appears to take a balanced approach to making significant cuts while increasing the revenue stream by eliminating some corporate tax loopholes, as well.
"We now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach," Obama said at an afternoon appearance today in the White House briefing room.
"We are now in the same playing field," Obama added, noting there is still a long way to go before a final agreement is reached.
The Gang of Six, which is calling in its plan for $500 billion in immediate cuts as a down payment, re-convened after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla,) succeeded in getting the group to agree to some cuts in health care programs. Coburn had left the group in May over disputes in how to cut into the $14.3 trillion debt.
Some Senate Republicans and Democrats have signaled they like so far what they see form the Gang of Six. Other senators from both parties say they want to hear more before endorsing the newly emerging plan.
The Gang of Six -- Coburn, Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) -- presented an outline of the plan top 49 senators this morning.
"I cannot suggest they all signed up," Durbin told the Senate. "I would never expect that to happen, but it is significant that at this moment in our history so many felt positive towards what we are doing."
The Senate was prompted to take the lead in the debt-ceiling debate after House Republicans, led by GOP leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), gridlocked the negotiations with a refusal to allow any new revenue streams to be created as part of a deal.
The two leaders of the Senate, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are still working on emergency contingency legislation that would only ensure the Aug. 2 debt limit deadline is not crossed. The Reid-McConnell measure would not cut the deficit.
House Republicans, committed to appeasing Tea Party supporters, put forward a controversial plan that would cut spending by $111 billion in 2012 and cap future spending at 19.9% of the nation's gross domestic output. The proposal requires that Congress pass a balanced-budget constitutional amendment and send it to the states for the lengthy ratification process.
That "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan does not have enough support to pass in the Senate, but even if it did, Obama has said he will veto it.
The House passed the Tea Party-backed "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan 234-190 this evening as expected, but the measure will now die a certain death in the Senate, with President Obama's promised veto a final backstop to kill the measure.
"I think everyone's estimation is, is that that is not an approach that could pass both chambers, it's not an approach that I would sign and it's not balanced, but I understand the need for them to test that proposition," Obama said ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, the latest polls show the GOP hardline approach is turning off a lot of Americans and is bolstering Obama's approach. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows more Americans would blame the GOP if the U.S. does not raise the debt ceiling and defaults on its bills.
The same poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans want the Democrats and Republicans to compromise -- something the House GOP, led by House Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, has refused to do.
end update
---[
The House GOP is set to approve today its dead-on-arrival "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan to raise the debt ceiling, but the more mainstream Republicans in the newly reformed bipartisan Senate Gang of Six are proposing a popular $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade.
President Obama called the Gang of Six plan "a very significant step" because it appears to take a balanced approach to making significant cuts while increasing the revenue stream by eliminating some corporate tax loopholes, as well.
"We now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach," Obama said at an afternoon appearance today in the White House briefing room.
"We are now in the same playing field," Obama added, noting there is still a long way to go before a final agreement is reached.
The Gang of Six, which is calling in its plan for $500 billion in immediate cuts as a down payment, re-convened after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla,) succeeded in getting the group to agree to some cuts in health care programs. Coburn had left the group in May over disputes in how to cut into the $14.3 trillion debt.
Some Senate Republicans and Democrats have signaled they like so far what they see form the Gang of Six. Other senators from both parties say they want to hear more before endorsing the newly emerging plan.
The Gang of Six -- Coburn, Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) -- presented an outline of the plan top 49 senators this morning.
"I cannot suggest they all signed up," Durbin told the Senate. "I would never expect that to happen, but it is significant that at this moment in our history so many felt positive towards what we are doing."
The Senate was prompted to take the lead in the debt-ceiling debate after House Republicans, led by GOP leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), gridlocked the negotiations with a refusal to allow any new revenue streams to be created as part of a deal.
The two leaders of the Senate, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are still working on emergency contingency legislation that would only ensure the Aug. 2 debt limit deadline is not crossed. The Reid-McConnell measure would not cut the deficit.
House Republicans, committed to appeasing Tea Party supporters, put forward a controversial plan that would cut spending by $111 billion in 2012 and cap future spending at 19.9% of the nation's gross domestic output. The proposal requires that Congress pass a balanced-budget constitutional amendment and send it to the states for the lengthy ratification process.
That "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan does not have enough support to pass in the Senate, but even if it did, Obama has said he will veto it.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Obama & Cantor Joust as Moody's Joins S&P in Issuing Debt Warning
Investors fired a broadside today at the shenanigans surrounding Washington's debt negotiations, killing a Wall Street rally over what should have been anticipated news that Moody's rating service would lower the U.S. AAA credit rating if a deal is not reached.
Moody's officially joined the Standard & Poor's credit rating service in warning Congress and the White House that they need to do a deal, or else the U.S. could find itself in another financial crisis like the one that crippled markets and wiped out fortunes and 401ks in the summer of 2008.
Moody's disclosure that it would put the U.S. "under review" had been expected, yet with the financial markets so volatile it was enough to kill a rally on Wall Street and send the dollar and 10-year Treasury note downward. The U.S. stock exchanges mostly ended on a positive note, but they still pulled back in the final hour of trading on the Moody's news.
Apparently the rally-killing news did little to shake up the players around the negotiating table at the White House, where President Obama and House GOP leader Eric Cantor locked horns at what was described as a contentious meeting.
Cantor told reporters Obama became "agitated" when the Virginia Republican suggested a short-term deal, prompting the President to warned him not to "call my bluff."
Obama, who has firmly stated he will not accept a short-term deal, then pushed away from the table and left the meeting.
"I know why he lost his temper," Cantor said. "He's frustrated. We're all frustrated."
Obama aides later reportedly described Cantor's explanation "overblown."
The testy parlay today, however, will not keep the negotiators from meeting again tomorrow back at the White House for the fourth straight day.
Moody's officially joined the Standard & Poor's credit rating service in warning Congress and the White House that they need to do a deal, or else the U.S. could find itself in another financial crisis like the one that crippled markets and wiped out fortunes and 401ks in the summer of 2008.
Moody's disclosure that it would put the U.S. "under review" had been expected, yet with the financial markets so volatile it was enough to kill a rally on Wall Street and send the dollar and 10-year Treasury note downward. The U.S. stock exchanges mostly ended on a positive note, but they still pulled back in the final hour of trading on the Moody's news.
Apparently the rally-killing news did little to shake up the players around the negotiating table at the White House, where President Obama and House GOP leader Eric Cantor locked horns at what was described as a contentious meeting.
Cantor told reporters Obama became "agitated" when the Virginia Republican suggested a short-term deal, prompting the President to warned him not to "call my bluff."
Obama, who has firmly stated he will not accept a short-term deal, then pushed away from the table and left the meeting.
"I know why he lost his temper," Cantor said. "He's frustrated. We're all frustrated."
Obama aides later reportedly described Cantor's explanation "overblown."
The testy parlay today, however, will not keep the negotiators from meeting again tomorrow back at the White House for the fourth straight day.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Obama: 70M Social Security, Vets & Disability Checks at Risk if No Deal
Same story, different day as the debt negotiations go on.
The congressional leaders from both parties are back late this afternoon at the White House, but this time facing a stark warning from President Obama, who says he cannot guarantee that Social Security, veterans benefits or disability checks will go out on Aug. 3 if no deal is reached by Aug. 2.
"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on Aug. 3 if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley set to air tonight.
Obama, who apparently has not played his lkast wild card in the high-stakes game of political poker, was asked specifically about Social Security, but said the problem is much bigger that that.
"This is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out," Obama said.
As it stands, Obama won't do a short-term deal and the Republicans say they won't do a deal that includes tax increases.
There is evidence that the showdown over raising the debt ceiling is beginning to take a toll on the financial markets, as analysts blame a downturn in most of the global markets overnight, including Wall Street the past two days, on two main concerns: The growing debt crisis in Europe and the debt shenanigans in Washington.
Meanwhile, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), is offering up a scheme that may allow Obama to raise the debt ceiling with a vote, a veto and override vote.
It is a complex plan that the Democrats will first have to review, but at face value it appears to require something that neither side has for the other: Trust.
The congressional leaders from both parties are back late this afternoon at the White House, but this time facing a stark warning from President Obama, who says he cannot guarantee that Social Security, veterans benefits or disability checks will go out on Aug. 3 if no deal is reached by Aug. 2.
"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on Aug. 3 if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley set to air tonight.
Obama, who apparently has not played his lkast wild card in the high-stakes game of political poker, was asked specifically about Social Security, but said the problem is much bigger that that.
"This is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out," Obama said.
As it stands, Obama won't do a short-term deal and the Republicans say they won't do a deal that includes tax increases.
There is evidence that the showdown over raising the debt ceiling is beginning to take a toll on the financial markets, as analysts blame a downturn in most of the global markets overnight, including Wall Street the past two days, on two main concerns: The growing debt crisis in Europe and the debt shenanigans in Washington.
Meanwhile, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), is offering up a scheme that may allow Obama to raise the debt ceiling with a vote, a veto and override vote.
It is a complex plan that the Democrats will first have to review, but at face value it appears to require something that neither side has for the other: Trust.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Dems Hopeful GOP Will Go For 'Grand Bargain' With Deep Cuts
Updated 3:15 p.m. edt
Even as U.S. financial markets tank, GOP House Speaker John Boehner is steadfastly reversing course and rejecting President Obama's $4 trillion deal that would take a bigger chunk out of the federal debt than any other offer on the table.
"Our disagreements are not personal," Boehner said before heading into another debt negotiation sessions with all the leaders of Congress and Obama."We cannot allow our nation to default on our debt," he admitted.
But Boehner admitted he cannot find enough votes in his party to accept a deal. "The American people will not accept - and the House cannot pass - a bill that raises taxes on job creators," he said.
Meanwhile, insiders tell the Talk Radio New Service that some Republicans look at corporate tax loopholes as corporate welfare, but the prevailing wisdom in the GOP is that wiping those tax breaks out is tantamount to a tax hike.
“Nobody’s fond of loopholes,” a Boehner aide told Talk Radio News Service's Geoff Holtzman.
Apparently House GOP leader Eric Cantor disagrees.
"We don’t believe that we ought to be raising taxes right now on people in this recession and in this economy and they do," said Cantor, who quickly becoming the darling of the Tea Party.
The divide between Boehner and his chief deputy Cantor is surfacing, despite claims from both that it is all kumbaya in their party. Some suspect Cantor has designs on the Speaker's job sooner than later.
The Dow is down about 175 points right now. Some say it is only a taste of what is to come if their is not a compromise.
end update
---[
Updated 12 p.m. edt
President Obama urged Republicans to buck up and make the tough choices needed to cut the $14.3 trillion debt, or admit that they are just playing politics to placate the Tea Party and are not really interested in deficit reduction.
"I do not see a path to the deal if they do not budge," Obama told a news a conference, where he suggested it is time for the GOP to lose the "it's my way or the highway" approach over closing corprater tax loopholes and putting the tax squuze on the middle class.
Obama subtly challenged GOP House Speaker John Boehner to lead his party and take on the cut-frenzied Tea Party -- the way he has taken on the liberals in his party over social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"We have these high-minded pronouncements about how we've got to get control of the deficit and how we owe it to our children and our grandchildren.Well, let's step up.Let's do it.I'm prepared to do it," Obama said.
"I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing, if they mean what they say, that this is important," Obama added.
Obama firmly took off the table the GOP proposal for a short-term deal, saying he "will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension" as as an alternative.
"If we think it's hard now, imagine how these guys are going to be thinking six months from now in the middle of election season, when they're all up,"Obama said.
"It's not going to get easier, it's going to get harder.So we might as well do it now; pull off the Band-aid, eat our peas.Now's the time to do it.If not now, when? We keep on talking about this stuff, and, you know," he added.
The President also sought to clear up misinformation on the issue of tax increases.
"I want to be crystal clear.Nobody has talked about increasing taxes now; nobody has talked about increasing taxes next year. What we have talked about is that starting in 2013, that we have gotten rid of some of these egregious loopholes that are benefiting corporate jet owners or oil companies at a time where they're making billions of dollars of profits," Obama explained.
"What we have said is, as part of a broader package we should have revenues, and the best place to get those revenues are from folks like me, who have been extraordinarily fortunate, and that millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay a little bit more, going back to the Bush tax rates," Obama added.
end update
---[
Democrats remain hopeful that the GOP leadership will take a massive $4 trillion White House deal that will cut more deeply into the federal deficit than any other offer on the table.
Asked at last night's 75-minute White House meeting with the bipartsan leaders of the House and Senate whether a deal can be worked out in the next 10 days, President Obama responded,"We need to."
The congressional leaders will be back at the White House today for more talks a few hours after Obama assembles the White House press corps for a late-morning news conference.
"We came into this weekend with the prospect that we could achieve a grand bargain," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after last night's meeting. "We are still hopeful for a large bipartisan agreement, which means more stability for our economy, more growth and jobs, and more deficit reduction over a longer period of time."
But rank and file Republicans, led by the Tea Party Caucus, are holding the line against allowing corporate tax loopholes or any tax increases for the rich to be part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, before financial markets start going haywire when the U.S. starts defaulting on its debts payments.
"If you draw out the entire scenario of default, yes, of course, you have all of that -- interest hikes, stock markets taking a huge hit and real nasty consequences, not just for the United States, but for the entire global economy, because the U.S. is such a big player and matters so much for other countries," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde told ABC's This Week" program.
But even the threat of hurting the Wall Street fat cats that line mostly GOP pockets (though the Democrats get their share too), or disrupting the volatile global financial markets has not been enough to get the GOP to back off its refusal to tap revenue streams to take a bite out of the deficit.
"We have got to be able to deliver on this promise, that we are going to get more cuts that what we raise in terms of the debt ceiling, and make sure that gets done with no tax increases," House GOP leader Eric Cantor said right before the meeting."
Brad Dayspring, Cantor's spokesman, admitted late last night on Twitter that "tax increases that Dems are insisting upon cannot pass the House." It appeared to confirm Democrats complaints that the GOP leadership was being rolled by its rank and file.
So in an about-face, Republicans are insisting that they want to take a smaller debt reduction framework that cuts around $2.5 trillion that they claim Vice President Biden had offered in his negotiations.
However, Republicans, led by Cantor, walked away from those talks and now seem to be retreating to them in an effort to protect corporate tax loopholes and keep the wealthiest Americans from paying more in taxes.
Democrats scoffed at the pull back, with Senate Democratic Policy spokesman Brian Fallon questioning on Twitter if the Biden deal was so good, "Then why did Cantor quit?"
The proposed cuts in funding come as thousands of government jobs are already being lost, forcing some communities and states to consider raising taxes to pay for basic services.
The taxpayers have watched the federal debt skyrocket under the last two Presidents. The national debt was $5.73 trillion when ex-President George W. Bush took office, but when he left, it was $10.7 trillion, ballooning by $4.97 trillion, according to fact-checking service PolitiFact.
The federal debt now stands at $14.3 trillion under Obama, a result of the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts, a massive stimulus plan, the loss of middle class revenue, and the two wars that cost so much during the Bush administration.
Even as U.S. financial markets tank, GOP House Speaker John Boehner is steadfastly reversing course and rejecting President Obama's $4 trillion deal that would take a bigger chunk out of the federal debt than any other offer on the table.
"Our disagreements are not personal," Boehner said before heading into another debt negotiation sessions with all the leaders of Congress and Obama."We cannot allow our nation to default on our debt," he admitted.
But Boehner admitted he cannot find enough votes in his party to accept a deal. "The American people will not accept - and the House cannot pass - a bill that raises taxes on job creators," he said.
Meanwhile, insiders tell the Talk Radio New Service that some Republicans look at corporate tax loopholes as corporate welfare, but the prevailing wisdom in the GOP is that wiping those tax breaks out is tantamount to a tax hike.
“Nobody’s fond of loopholes,” a Boehner aide told Talk Radio News Service's Geoff Holtzman.
Apparently House GOP leader Eric Cantor disagrees.
"We don’t believe that we ought to be raising taxes right now on people in this recession and in this economy and they do," said Cantor, who quickly becoming the darling of the Tea Party.
The divide between Boehner and his chief deputy Cantor is surfacing, despite claims from both that it is all kumbaya in their party. Some suspect Cantor has designs on the Speaker's job sooner than later.
The Dow is down about 175 points right now. Some say it is only a taste of what is to come if their is not a compromise.
end update
---[
Updated 12 p.m. edt
President Obama urged Republicans to buck up and make the tough choices needed to cut the $14.3 trillion debt, or admit that they are just playing politics to placate the Tea Party and are not really interested in deficit reduction.
"I do not see a path to the deal if they do not budge," Obama told a news a conference, where he suggested it is time for the GOP to lose the "it's my way or the highway" approach over closing corprater tax loopholes and putting the tax squuze on the middle class.
Obama subtly challenged GOP House Speaker John Boehner to lead his party and take on the cut-frenzied Tea Party -- the way he has taken on the liberals in his party over social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"We have these high-minded pronouncements about how we've got to get control of the deficit and how we owe it to our children and our grandchildren.Well, let's step up.Let's do it.I'm prepared to do it," Obama said.
"I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing, if they mean what they say, that this is important," Obama added.
Obama firmly took off the table the GOP proposal for a short-term deal, saying he "will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension" as as an alternative.
"If we think it's hard now, imagine how these guys are going to be thinking six months from now in the middle of election season, when they're all up,"Obama said.
"It's not going to get easier, it's going to get harder.So we might as well do it now; pull off the Band-aid, eat our peas.Now's the time to do it.If not now, when? We keep on talking about this stuff, and, you know," he added.
The President also sought to clear up misinformation on the issue of tax increases.
"I want to be crystal clear.Nobody has talked about increasing taxes now; nobody has talked about increasing taxes next year. What we have talked about is that starting in 2013, that we have gotten rid of some of these egregious loopholes that are benefiting corporate jet owners or oil companies at a time where they're making billions of dollars of profits," Obama explained.
"What we have said is, as part of a broader package we should have revenues, and the best place to get those revenues are from folks like me, who have been extraordinarily fortunate, and that millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay a little bit more, going back to the Bush tax rates," Obama added.
end update
---[
Democrats remain hopeful that the GOP leadership will take a massive $4 trillion White House deal that will cut more deeply into the federal deficit than any other offer on the table.
Asked at last night's 75-minute White House meeting with the bipartsan leaders of the House and Senate whether a deal can be worked out in the next 10 days, President Obama responded,"We need to."
The congressional leaders will be back at the White House today for more talks a few hours after Obama assembles the White House press corps for a late-morning news conference.
"We came into this weekend with the prospect that we could achieve a grand bargain," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after last night's meeting. "We are still hopeful for a large bipartisan agreement, which means more stability for our economy, more growth and jobs, and more deficit reduction over a longer period of time."
But rank and file Republicans, led by the Tea Party Caucus, are holding the line against allowing corporate tax loopholes or any tax increases for the rich to be part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, before financial markets start going haywire when the U.S. starts defaulting on its debts payments.
"If you draw out the entire scenario of default, yes, of course, you have all of that -- interest hikes, stock markets taking a huge hit and real nasty consequences, not just for the United States, but for the entire global economy, because the U.S. is such a big player and matters so much for other countries," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde told ABC's This Week" program.
But even the threat of hurting the Wall Street fat cats that line mostly GOP pockets (though the Democrats get their share too), or disrupting the volatile global financial markets has not been enough to get the GOP to back off its refusal to tap revenue streams to take a bite out of the deficit.
"We have got to be able to deliver on this promise, that we are going to get more cuts that what we raise in terms of the debt ceiling, and make sure that gets done with no tax increases," House GOP leader Eric Cantor said right before the meeting."
Brad Dayspring, Cantor's spokesman, admitted late last night on Twitter that "tax increases that Dems are insisting upon cannot pass the House." It appeared to confirm Democrats complaints that the GOP leadership was being rolled by its rank and file.
So in an about-face, Republicans are insisting that they want to take a smaller debt reduction framework that cuts around $2.5 trillion that they claim Vice President Biden had offered in his negotiations.
However, Republicans, led by Cantor, walked away from those talks and now seem to be retreating to them in an effort to protect corporate tax loopholes and keep the wealthiest Americans from paying more in taxes.
Democrats scoffed at the pull back, with Senate Democratic Policy spokesman Brian Fallon questioning on Twitter if the Biden deal was so good, "Then why did Cantor quit?"
The proposed cuts in funding come as thousands of government jobs are already being lost, forcing some communities and states to consider raising taxes to pay for basic services.
The taxpayers have watched the federal debt skyrocket under the last two Presidents. The national debt was $5.73 trillion when ex-President George W. Bush took office, but when he left, it was $10.7 trillion, ballooning by $4.97 trillion, according to fact-checking service PolitiFact.
The federal debt now stands at $14.3 trillion under Obama, a result of the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts, a massive stimulus plan, the loss of middle class revenue, and the two wars that cost so much during the Bush administration.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Boehner Admits He'll Bag Big Budget Deal to Protect Corporations & Rich
House Speaker John Boehner vowed tonight to protect corporate tax loopholes and the rich even if it means foregoing a massive $4 trillion deficit reduction deal that would take a significant chunk out of the $14.3 trillion national debt.
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes," (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure."
Foremost, the White House has said it wants to eliminate tax breaks for hugely profitable industries, rejecting the GOP philosophy of putting the burden of revenue-raising on the middle class.
Some in the administration readily admit that President Obama's decision to extend tax breaks for the rich last year has failed to create jobs, but instead inspired the GOP to seek more boodle for the corporations and the rich, the chief financiers of their party -- even amid a fiscal crisis that is killing Main Street Americans.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer argues that the majority of Americans want the wealthiest Americans and special interests to stop squeezing every extra penny out of the Middle Class to subsidize their opulent lifestyles.
"The President believes that solving our fiscal problems is an economic imperative. But in order to do that, we cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts," Pfeiffer said in a statement issued this evening.
"Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington," he added.
Boehner issued the statement on eve of crucial debt celling talks tomorrow at the White House. Obama hopes the Speaker will rethink his play and take a deal that will cut deeply into the federal deficit.
"Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes," (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure."
Foremost, the White House has said it wants to eliminate tax breaks for hugely profitable industries, rejecting the GOP philosophy of putting the burden of revenue-raising on the middle class.
Some in the administration readily admit that President Obama's decision to extend tax breaks for the rich last year has failed to create jobs, but instead inspired the GOP to seek more boodle for the corporations and the rich, the chief financiers of their party -- even amid a fiscal crisis that is killing Main Street Americans.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer argues that the majority of Americans want the wealthiest Americans and special interests to stop squeezing every extra penny out of the Middle Class to subsidize their opulent lifestyles.
"The President believes that solving our fiscal problems is an economic imperative. But in order to do that, we cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts," Pfeiffer said in a statement issued this evening.
"Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington," he added.
Boehner issued the statement on eve of crucial debt celling talks tomorrow at the White House. Obama hopes the Speaker will rethink his play and take a deal that will cut deeply into the federal deficit.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Social Security, Medicare on the Table in Debt Negotiations
Updated at 3:45 p.m. edt
For the first time, GOP House Speaker John Boehner is telling members of his party there is a 50-50 chance there could be a deal in the next few weeks on raising the debt limit.
"We had a conversation. It was productive," Boehner said after returning to the Capitol from the White House meeting.
Sources disclosed the shift in Boehner's position after President Obama sweetened the pot in the debt-ceiling negotiations, floating a new plan to slash about $4 trillion in spending over the next decade, instead of the roughly $2 trillion in cuts that have been on the table until now.
According to The Washington Post, the President is prepared to offer a chunk of the savings in reductions or alterations to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, if Republicans abandon their refusal to eliminate corporate tax loopholes.
The President told all eight leaders from both parties of the House and Senate when they met today that he does not want to tackle the debt problem by only making the middle class and poor Americans feel the pain. They are expected to meet again Sunday.
"Everybody acknowledges that there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides," Obama said after what he described as a productive meeting.
But now the plan may be something he has to sell his liberal backers on, since Democrats and the progressives have said they haves said hands off the entitlement programs.
"Let us be clear, Social Security has not contributed one nickel to our deficit or our national debt. Social Security is funded by the payroll tax, not the U.S. Treasury," Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said. "I am especially disturbed that the President is considering cuts in Social Security after he campaigned against cuts in 2008."
Obama wants a deal by July 22nd -- 10 days before the Aug. 2 drop-dead date when the U.S. starts defaulting on its bills and likely sends the financial markets into chaos.
For the first time, GOP House Speaker John Boehner is telling members of his party there is a 50-50 chance there could be a deal in the next few weeks on raising the debt limit.
"We had a conversation. It was productive," Boehner said after returning to the Capitol from the White House meeting.
Sources disclosed the shift in Boehner's position after President Obama sweetened the pot in the debt-ceiling negotiations, floating a new plan to slash about $4 trillion in spending over the next decade, instead of the roughly $2 trillion in cuts that have been on the table until now.
According to The Washington Post, the President is prepared to offer a chunk of the savings in reductions or alterations to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, if Republicans abandon their refusal to eliminate corporate tax loopholes.
The President told all eight leaders from both parties of the House and Senate when they met today that he does not want to tackle the debt problem by only making the middle class and poor Americans feel the pain. They are expected to meet again Sunday.
"Everybody acknowledges that there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides," Obama said after what he described as a productive meeting.
But now the plan may be something he has to sell his liberal backers on, since Democrats and the progressives have said they haves said hands off the entitlement programs.
"Let us be clear, Social Security has not contributed one nickel to our deficit or our national debt. Social Security is funded by the payroll tax, not the U.S. Treasury," Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said. "I am especially disturbed that the President is considering cuts in Social Security after he campaigned against cuts in 2008."
Obama wants a deal by July 22nd -- 10 days before the Aug. 2 drop-dead date when the U.S. starts defaulting on its bills and likely sends the financial markets into chaos.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So Far, No Movement on Looming Debt Crisis
Updated at 5:45 p.m. EDT
President Obama said today he wants "to do something big" to tackle the deficit and debt problem, not just agree to a quick fix like the stunt-like approach GOP. Sen John Cornyn pitched with his proposal to only do a "mini deal" for now.
"Now, I've heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term but then wants to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem of our deficit," Obama said during an appearance in the White House briefing room.
"I don't share that view. I don't think the American people here sent us here to avoid tough problems. That's, in fact, what drives them nuts about Washington, when both parties simply take the path of least resistance, and I don't want to do that here. I believe that right now we've got a unique opportunity to do something big, to tackle our deficit in a way that forces our government to live within its means, that puts our economy on a stronger footing for the future and still allows us to invest in that future," Obama added.
Obama invited the leaders of Congress back to White House Thursday for another debt limit negotiation, saying lawmakers need to check their agendas at the door.
"Even as we continue discussions today and tomorrow, I have asked leaders of both parties and both houses of Congress to come here to the White House on Thursday, so we can build on the work that's already been done and drive towards a final agreement," Obama said. "It's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we're going to do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people."
Obama repeated his vision of "a balanced approach" that includes cutting "spending in domestic programs, in defense programs, in entitlement programs," as well as "spending in the tax code, spending on certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans."
"This will require both parties to get out of our comfort zones, and both parties to agree on real compromise," Obama said. "I'm ready to do that. I believe there are enough people in each party that are willing to do that. And what I know is that we need to come together over the next two weeks to reach a deal that reduces the deficit and upholds the full faith and credit of the United States government and the credit of the American people."
---[
There was some talk over the weekend of a potential mini-deal on the looming debt crisis, but the White House says that is all it was: Talk. President Obama, as of now, wants a full deal and does not want a Band-Aid approach, rejecting the idea floated by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.).
So the U.S. Senate is in session today with the hope of resolving the debt crisis ahead of a hard Aug. 2 deadline. Obama has set his own deadline of July 22 to allow the review of the final dead, once it is reached.
The federal debt stands at $14.3 trillion.
The GOP leadership also will have to sell any deal that includes new revenue to its rank and file members, especially the Tea Party faction which has taken up the cause of protecting the rich from tax increases and corporations from having to give up their tax loopholes.
At Obama's urging, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the Senate into session, foregoing its usual Fourth of July holiday break.
If Republicans and Democrats do not raise the federal debt limit it would put the federal government in the position of defaulting on some of its bills and that would likely send the financial markets into a tailspin. There are fears that it could trigger another economic crisis on par with what we saw in 2008 at the end of the Bush administration.
Republicans want about $2 trillion in budget cuts, while Obama is looking for somewhere in the vicinity of $400 billion in tax loopholes wiped off the slate. For the first time, the White House reportedly has signaled that it would consider cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, if Republicans will bend on their refusal to allow the elimination of the corporate tax loopholes.
Obama has proposed eliminating tax breaks for the hugely profitable oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers and owners of corporate jets.
The debt fund debate comes as The New York Times reports that median pay for top executives at 200 large companies last year was $10.8 million. Those salaries work out to a 23% gain for the CEOs over 2009 levels, as compared to only a .5% hike in pay for rank and file workers. Given inflation, workers on the bottom rung actually lost money.
Philippe P. Dauman, the chief executive of Viacom, stands atop the list with an $84.5 million salary last year, after inking new long-term deal that includes one-time stock awards, the Times reported.
President Obama said today he wants "to do something big" to tackle the deficit and debt problem, not just agree to a quick fix like the stunt-like approach GOP. Sen John Cornyn pitched with his proposal to only do a "mini deal" for now.
"Now, I've heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term but then wants to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem of our deficit," Obama said during an appearance in the White House briefing room.
"I don't share that view. I don't think the American people here sent us here to avoid tough problems. That's, in fact, what drives them nuts about Washington, when both parties simply take the path of least resistance, and I don't want to do that here. I believe that right now we've got a unique opportunity to do something big, to tackle our deficit in a way that forces our government to live within its means, that puts our economy on a stronger footing for the future and still allows us to invest in that future," Obama added.
Obama invited the leaders of Congress back to White House Thursday for another debt limit negotiation, saying lawmakers need to check their agendas at the door.
"Even as we continue discussions today and tomorrow, I have asked leaders of both parties and both houses of Congress to come here to the White House on Thursday, so we can build on the work that's already been done and drive towards a final agreement," Obama said. "It's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we're going to do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people."
Obama repeated his vision of "a balanced approach" that includes cutting "spending in domestic programs, in defense programs, in entitlement programs," as well as "spending in the tax code, spending on certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans."
"This will require both parties to get out of our comfort zones, and both parties to agree on real compromise," Obama said. "I'm ready to do that. I believe there are enough people in each party that are willing to do that. And what I know is that we need to come together over the next two weeks to reach a deal that reduces the deficit and upholds the full faith and credit of the United States government and the credit of the American people."
---[
There was some talk over the weekend of a potential mini-deal on the looming debt crisis, but the White House says that is all it was: Talk. President Obama, as of now, wants a full deal and does not want a Band-Aid approach, rejecting the idea floated by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.).
So the U.S. Senate is in session today with the hope of resolving the debt crisis ahead of a hard Aug. 2 deadline. Obama has set his own deadline of July 22 to allow the review of the final dead, once it is reached.
The federal debt stands at $14.3 trillion.
The GOP leadership also will have to sell any deal that includes new revenue to its rank and file members, especially the Tea Party faction which has taken up the cause of protecting the rich from tax increases and corporations from having to give up their tax loopholes.
At Obama's urging, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the Senate into session, foregoing its usual Fourth of July holiday break.
If Republicans and Democrats do not raise the federal debt limit it would put the federal government in the position of defaulting on some of its bills and that would likely send the financial markets into a tailspin. There are fears that it could trigger another economic crisis on par with what we saw in 2008 at the end of the Bush administration.
Republicans want about $2 trillion in budget cuts, while Obama is looking for somewhere in the vicinity of $400 billion in tax loopholes wiped off the slate. For the first time, the White House reportedly has signaled that it would consider cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, if Republicans will bend on their refusal to allow the elimination of the corporate tax loopholes.
Obama has proposed eliminating tax breaks for the hugely profitable oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers and owners of corporate jets.
The debt fund debate comes as The New York Times reports that median pay for top executives at 200 large companies last year was $10.8 million. Those salaries work out to a 23% gain for the CEOs over 2009 levels, as compared to only a .5% hike in pay for rank and file workers. Given inflation, workers on the bottom rung actually lost money.
Philippe P. Dauman, the chief executive of Viacom, stands atop the list with an $84.5 million salary last year, after inking new long-term deal that includes one-time stock awards, the Times reported.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
S&P, Moody's Will Lower U.S. Credit Rating Over Debt Limit
Standard & Poors would downgrade the AAA U.S. credit rating to a failing grade if Congress and the White House do not break an impasse and reach a deal on raising the federal debt ceiling in the next month.
"If the U.S. government misses a payment, it goes to D," John Chambers, chairman of S & P’s sovereign rating committee, told Reuters. "That would happen right after August 4, when the bills mature, because they don't have a grace period."
Rival credit-rating service Moody's said it will also lower its credit rating if the U.S. fails to raise its debt limit.
“We believe the debt ceiling will be raised and the government won’t default,” Chambers told Bloomberg. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have a AAA rating on the U.S. government. It’s evolving as we expected."
The warning from the Wall Street credit watchdogs came as President Obama said he wants a balanced set of budget cuts and corporate tax loopholes eliminated as part of the package aimed at beginning to reduce the $14.3 billion federal debt.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner quickly indicated he intends to protect the corporate tax breaks, even though the White House only intends to target hugely profitable industries that it says can afford to end the tax boondoggle.
Globally, the austerity movement moves to Britain, which faces a strike today over cuts to public pension plans. Workers of the world unite! "Remember when teachers, nurses, doctors & lollipop ladies crashed the stock market, wiped out banks, took billions in bonuses and paid no tax? Me neither. Support the strikes against the government," Tweeted British shop owner Bristol Green.
Greece, meanwhile, is quiet today after two days of violent clashes between protesters and police in Athens. Tear-gas clouds appear to have given way to clear skies after the Greek parliament approved a five-year package that will prevent Greece from defaulting on a loan payment next week to the International Monetary Fund and EU.
Greek authorities are cautious, however, since a plan on how to implement the $40 billion austerity program is expected to be approved in parliament today.
"If the U.S. government misses a payment, it goes to D," John Chambers, chairman of S & P’s sovereign rating committee, told Reuters. "That would happen right after August 4, when the bills mature, because they don't have a grace period."
Rival credit-rating service Moody's said it will also lower its credit rating if the U.S. fails to raise its debt limit.
“We believe the debt ceiling will be raised and the government won’t default,” Chambers told Bloomberg. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have a AAA rating on the U.S. government. It’s evolving as we expected."
The warning from the Wall Street credit watchdogs came as President Obama said he wants a balanced set of budget cuts and corporate tax loopholes eliminated as part of the package aimed at beginning to reduce the $14.3 billion federal debt.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner quickly indicated he intends to protect the corporate tax breaks, even though the White House only intends to target hugely profitable industries that it says can afford to end the tax boondoggle.
Globally, the austerity movement moves to Britain, which faces a strike today over cuts to public pension plans. Workers of the world unite! "Remember when teachers, nurses, doctors & lollipop ladies crashed the stock market, wiped out banks, took billions in bonuses and paid no tax? Me neither. Support the strikes against the government," Tweeted British shop owner Bristol Green.
Greece, meanwhile, is quiet today after two days of violent clashes between protesters and police in Athens. Tear-gas clouds appear to have given way to clear skies after the Greek parliament approved a five-year package that will prevent Greece from defaulting on a loan payment next week to the International Monetary Fund and EU.
Greek authorities are cautious, however, since a plan on how to implement the $40 billion austerity program is expected to be approved in parliament today.
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