Posted on 07/27/2011 8:34:17 AM PDT by woofie
The debt-limit debate is heading toward a culmination, with President Obama reduced to pleading for the public to support a tax increase and Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid releasing competing plans that are the next-to-last realistic options. The question now is whether House Republicans are going to help Mr. Boehner achieve significant progress, or, in the name of the unachievable, hand Mr. Obama a victory.
Mr. Obama recognizes these stakes, threatening yesterday to veto the Boehner plan in a tactical move to block any Democratic support. The White House is afraid that it will pass the House and then become the only debt-ceiling vehicle if Mr. Reid can't get 60 votes for his own proposal in the Senate. This would short-circuit Mr. Obama's plan to blame the GOP for a U.S. credit downgrade, any market turmoil, a possible default, and the lousy economy too.
*** Under the two-phase Boehner plan, Congress would authorize $1 trillion in new debt in return for $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade. Most of that will come from caps on domestic discretionary spending over 10 years—the Pentagon and homeland security are exempt—with automatic spending cuts if the caps are breached. While one Congress cannot bind another, the proposal would at least guarantee real reductions in fiscal years 2012 and 2013.
(redact)
If conservatives defeat the Boehner plan, they'll not only undermine their House majority. They'll go far to re-electing Mr. Obama and making the entitlement state that much harder to reform.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Right now House Republicans can either compromise and get the best deal possible with the most spending cuts, or do nothing and see what happens.
Its controlled chaos or roll the dice.
He is still saying exactly what he & Cantor have said all along. Tax cuts equal to or in excess of the debt hike and no tax increase.
All along people have said Boehner would cave. Well, he hasn't.
Now, they're saying they don't want the cuts over ten years and of course the MSM is stoking that argument. Now the argument is no longer that he will cave about taxes and such but they've changed the goal posts to "we don't want ten year timeframes."
But if Boehner can win this one, we move on to the next one and get a little more (and we will because Obama has been weakened by this debate)...and the next one with a little more...etc. until we capture Senate and WH and then we of course have much more ability to do a lot more.
So amend it and pass it.
Not too complicated.
Pretty much, Obama will say ANYTHING, claim ANYTHING, deny ANYTHING. He has no shame, only a desire to win.
I get the impression that a number of House members are in the wrong session of congress, The one they were born for was the last session in the minority of both houses and the WH, where blocking everything and voting no on everything and not having to pass anything was an automatic easy win. But as I said last year many times , taking over the House (speakership) is going to make 2012 much more difficult. It requires looking like you(they) are producing something and deficit cutting is unpopular business.
I don’t know what the answers are. I just hope and pray whatever they do enhances our chances for getting that Marxist Muslim Liar Imposter out of Washington.
Right now, everything else is secondary.
The problem is that the up front cuts are so miniscule that we will be at the debt limit again in the early spring. Then the public is going to be p.o’d and think ‘already, I thought we were taking care of the deficit?’
Harry Reid will then come out and say he offered to cut nearly triple what the GOP did. The Tea Party will be pissed and abandon the GOP. Obama will offer another bogus promise to cut and Reid will put together another sham budget with a 3T debt ceiling increase. They’ll look like kings and the Pubbies will watch their base leave. Pubbies lose.
Bull - House Republicans already did their job in passing Cut, cap and balance. Now, it’s up to Senate Republicans to pressure Reid to allow a vote for it. Cut, cap, and balance is the best deal we can get at this point. The pile of crap that Boehner proposed is worthless.
Republicans should be standing united for Cut, Cap, and Balance.
Probably so,but the way I look at it is it keeps the issue alive for the 2012 election so THE PEOPLE CAN DECIDE.
No one is going to do our work for us.If Obama gets his way now ,he will blame the downgrade,unemployment,stock market collapse all on the tea party and the media will double down on that.
The Tea party has made progress and can frame the whole election on OBAMA FAILURES AND HE KNOWS IT that’s why he wants the issue put past the 2012 election.Frame this election on his 4.6 billion dollars a day in spending compared to Bushs 1.6.
This guy has been and continues to plan for the collapse of our economy don’t give him ammunition to blame Real AMERICANS for his mess and only path left to him for reelection
Wrong. The Boehner bill says the second part has to be taken care of by Spring. $1T now, another $1.7T by then.
Not when Obama and the main stream press gets through with them.The Republicans will be buried 24/7 on every left wing outlet,with sob stories galore all caused by RICH republicans all at Disneyworld while poor people starve
Rush is talking about an entirely different approach. He received the idea in an email.
FREEZE THE BUDGET right were it is. Do not allow spending even one dime more than was spent last year. If I heard him correctly, he suggests that this would amount to a $9 trillion dollar cut/savings.
I don’t as yet understand how one gets to that figure, but if it’s doable, it sure sounds worth considering.
Every number I’ve seen has been over 10 years. If this amount is all up front then I’ll happily support it. The article itself says over 10 years for Boner’s plan. $1.1T over 10 years is worthless if we’re running $1.6T deficits.
Great observation.
What kind of win will Obama have - no budget, no increase, no new taxes, force the Administration to pay it's bills and promises and forced to cut "non-essential programs and workers" like they did during last years record snowfall??????
With the empty streets in DC, we soon found out who are "essential" to DC - and thus to US!
Addition to post #33. It seems I should have listened to more of his program before posting.
I look forward to the transcript of today’s program.
I don’t understand how Freepers can expect to completely fix our deficit problems without the Senate and the Presidency? Ryan’s plan is an excellent step in the right direction, but we don’t have the votes to pass it, period.
The WSJ piece did really nail one observation:
“The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue, and the public will turn en masse against....Barack Obama. The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor....This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.”
I wish I could get Cut, Cap, and Balance enacted in its entirety. Unfortunately, WE DO NOT HAVE CONTROL OF THE SENATE OR THE PRESIDENCY.
I think it is more important for a plan to pass the house. Right now Boehner knows what he has won’t pass. From what we’ve learned it shouldn’t pass as it’s another watered down bunch of BS.
Better to re group and pass a bill that has broad support among republicans. The democrats were not going to vote for his plan anyway...
You DO realize that the legislation died in the Democrat-controlled Senate, right? Maybe if we hold our breaths and stamp on the floor really loud, we can just get it passed by the Senate anyway.
Seriously, we need to start thinking like adults and figure out how to get control of the Senate and Presidency instead of pretending we already have control.
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