Posted on 01/23/2013 12:36:06 PM PST by whitedog57
House Republicans surprised Americans by punting on 1st down and agreeing to let the Administration borrow until May 19th.
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — House Republicans’ bill to temporarily suspend limit on federal borrowing until mid-May may allow Treasury to borrow for months after that, Bloomberg BNA reports, citing analysts.
• Bill’s language “would seem to allow the Treasury to replenish all the trust fund balances that have depleted so far this month, which means that all of its ‘extraordinary’ debt ceiling accounting adjustments would reset once this initial legislation was approved,” Wrightson ICAP Chief Economist Lou Crandall said in e-mail yesterday
• In note to clients, RBC Capital Markets says measure is “short-term punt that would buy Washington more time to negotiate a longer-term solution. The question then becomes where this punt lands”
• NOTE: Measure would suspend debt ceiling, currently a $16.394t, from date of bill’s enactment until May 19, at which point ceiling would be raised by amount of debt issued during suspension period
This is especially concerning such the debt held by the public has grown by 113% since Q2 2008, but the real GDP has only grown by 2.57% over nearly 4 1/2 years.
Apparently, House Republicans weren’t chanting “Hold that line! Hold that line!” Instead, “Punt! Punt!”
What happens next? I was expecting a line to be drawn in the sand on spending. And maybe it will. Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) is working on a 10 year plan to balance the Federal budget. I hope it works better than 2 of China’s 5 year plans.
But agreeing to let the Administration keep borrowing and THEN raising the debt ceiling to a new level .. is like punting on first down in a close football game.
Punting on every down....
and some demand we root for this team!
Wouldn’t suspension of the debt ceiling simply revert to how congress had to borrow money before the existence of the debt ceiling? I believe that before it existed, they had to pass a law authorizing every single sale of treasuries. The debt ceiling made it easier for them to borrow.
At least fake tan crybaby Boehner and the Republicans in congress are consistent. Consistently weak. Consistently cowardly.
Spineless pu$$ies.
Karnac, the magnificent, will predict the future:
House Republicans punt on 2nd down - agrees to let administration borrow until Sep 2013.
House Republicans punt on 3rd down - agrees to let administration borrow until May 19, 2014.
House Republicans punt on 4th down - agrees to let the Bat Eared B*stard stay a third term.
House Republicans protest the fact that they are lined up at the guillotine along with progressives following the country’s economic collapse and completion of Revolution II.
This surprised Americans? I am certainly not surprised. I figured all along that they would do this. It is not surprising at all.
Nope. The bill provides that the debt limit will be raised automatically by the amount of debt issued between the date of the bill’s enactment through May 18. It’s pretty much a blank check. It does include language to prevent the government from advancing future debt into this period to take advantage of the automatic increase.
I suspect that they will still be borrowing on May 20 too!
Really though Boehner, McC et al are just as weak as the Republican primary voters who made their careers possible.
Dumb schmucks could not even set the new deadline at April 15 to score the obvious PR points.
Punting wouldn’t be so bad if they atleast tried to advance the ball on the three previous downs but what is the sense in punting on first down every time.
“I was expecting a line to be drawn in the sand on spending.”
Yeah, that’s what the big-talking Gutless Old Party leadership told us. They told us the fiscal cliff deal wasn’t really the time to face-off on spending, so they said they would do it when it’s time to raise the debt ceiling.
I can’t keep up with how many lines in the sand the CINOs have allowed the Commie/Dhims to cross, there have been so many.
Seriously, we can't pay back our debt as it is, does it really hurt to add more?
If you don't have the money to pay your bar tab, why not buy a round for the house.
The USA has a two Party system...the “Democrats” and the “democrats”.
Motto for the Dems: “Show no quarter!”
Motto for the dems: “He who runs away, lives to run another day.”
Oh Gee! What conviction and principles they have! /sarc.
FWIW, she did vote against this today.
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