Posted on 05/16/2012 6:23:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner on Tuesday set the stage for a bruising election-year showdown on fiscal policy, vowing to hold up another increase in the federal debt ceiling unless it was offset by larger spending cuts.
His combative comments came on the same day the Republicans’ presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, hit President Obama hard on his fiscal stewardship in a speech in Des Moines, suggesting that Mr. Romney and Congressional Republicans see an opening to attack the president on the mounting federal debt and the size of the government.
Mr. Boehner’s stance threatened to throw Congress back into the debt-limit stalemate that consumed Washington in 2011, but this time at the height of a campaign that Republicans are trying to make a referendum on Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy.
“A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation,” Mr. Romney said, “and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve.”
The Boehner comments, made at a fiscal summit meeting in Washington, were the first public shot in what promises to be the most consequential budget fight in a generation. On Jan. 1, nearly $8 trillion in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.
Mr. Boehner said he would not allow Congress to duck tough decisions with another round of short-term measures. He also said the House would pass an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts before the November elections, and he urged lawmakers in both parties to reach a long-term deal on spending and tax changes — but no additional taxes — to head off a fiscal calamity.
“To get on the path to prosperity, we have to avoid the fiscal cliff, but we need to start today,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
AS USUAL:
Democrats immediately accused Mr. Boehner of once again holding the nation’s full faith and credit hostage to his conservative political agenda, even as Republicans cut corners on the deal struck last summer to end the last debt-ceiling crisis.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, speaking at the same meeting sponsored by the financier Peter G. Peterson, said the government could bump into its borrowing limit before the end of the year, but, he said, the Treasury has enough “tools” to keep the government afloat into early next year. That should push a debt-ceiling showdown well past the November election.
I’m sick of all of them for letting this happen and continuing to let it happen so they can play politics.
As a kid, I used to like kicking the can down the road too.
The SPENDING has got to be REINED IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaker John A. Boner will cave bigger than Mammoth Cave when all is said and done. He’s worthless. He’s a RINO afraid of our pencil necked, skinny, illegal alien resident of our White House.
Garon-damn-teed, he’ll cave in.
The US Senate is required(by law)to furnish a BUDGET!This practice of”Continuing Resolutions”is spending us into an intolerable debt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'll believe that when I see it.
Meanwhile, it is not just “tough” decisions that need to be made, but a sea-change in the role of government at ALL levels.
An excellent opening salvo, would be the elimination of all Federal Departments beginning with the letter “E”.
” Republicans Pledge New Standoff on Debt Limit “
‘Standoff’, in political-speak, (specifically, the Republican dialect) translates to “Posture, then Fold”...
The real debt limit isn't how much we'll allow ourselves to borrow, but how much everyone else is willing to lend.
And we hit that a long time back.
More than 30% of our "debt" isn't debt, it's inflation of the money supply. We've long ago hit the limit on how much people are willing to lend to us. So we're inventing money, out of thin air.
And that's the real crisis. This country has a lot of problems. But the existential crisis is in the invented money. The Fed is printing new money like it's worthless paper, to make up for the gap between what we spend and what people are willing to lend.
I had a co-worker just get back from a trip to China. In dollar terms, prices are outrageous. And Chinese merchants are no longer willing to accept dollars. This isn't a good sign.
There's a narrow gap between the Fed printing money like it's worthless paper and the world markets waking up to the fact that it's worthless paper. We're in that gap, now.
This happened to Germany. It happened in Argentina. It happened in Zimbabwe. It's not that it can happen here, it's that it will happen here. if we keep on the path we are on.
We need to reduce federal borrowing by at least 30%, within the next two years, or we're going to face absolute disaster.
” would be the elimination of all Federal Departments beginning with the letter “E”. “
Followed immediately by “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “F”, “G” [...] “X”, “Y”, and “Z”......
You know what you have when you don’t raise the debt ceiling?? A balanced budget!
Time to make the hard choices. If Wyoming needs a building or a bridge repaired, let Wyoming do it. If a Michigan hospital needs funding, let Michigan fund it. The Department of the Interior, Energy, Commerce, Education, Veterans Affairs, HUD, HHS, Transportation, Defense, etc. all need severe cutbacks or need to be eliminated altogether. Thousands of government employees need to move to the private sector to contribute to the GDP instead of being a drain on it.
If Boehner and Cantor aren’t up to the job, then they need to step aside for those who are.
And no more deals! The House needs to pass a bill and the Senate needs to pass a bill, then they go to conference and send it to the president. Not this business of three oligarchs meeting in some office, deciding what will be passed, then passing it and signing it and screwing us all. Force Harry Reid to pass something to get a sense of the senate and then work from there. Otherwise, no more money.
Message to our gutless Congressional RINO “Leaders:”
CUT YOUR DAMN POSTURING, AND GET ON WITH THE IMPEACHMENTS AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE!
STOP WAITING FOR US VOTERS TO THROW THOSE BUMS OUT!
EARN YOUR KEEP
BY SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP!
here we go again...in the end the only thing accomplished will be another media smear campaign against republicans.
“There’s a narrow gap between the Fed printing money like it’s worthless paper and the world markets waking up to the fact that it’s worthless paper. We’re in that gap, now.”
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Indeed, and that gap is aided tremendously by the current Greek/European meltdown.
Excellent, informative post.
Does anybody think — for even a second — that Boehner has the stones to carry out a government shutdown?
For that matter, does anybody expect even ONE Congresscritter to endorse a shutdown of the government, just before the elections? (Well, maybe Ron Paul ...)
Not happening.
The only item in play is how quickly the GOP will cave, and how much they’ll give away to get a “compromise” with the other side. This is sad.
“Mr. Boehner’s stance threatened to throw Congress back into the debt-limit stalemate that consumed Washington in 2011”
That’s our NYTimes, they never forget the Big Lie.
Harry Reid will again threaten to shut down the government if he doesn’t get more debt and the media will again refuse to report it.
LLS
Until Baraq tells him to stop.
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