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Gingrich: GOP unwise to pick fight on debt limit
Associated Press ^ | Jan 15, 2013 7:28 AM EST

Posted on 01/15/2013 9:02:47 AM PST by Olog-hai

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To: AmusedBystander

But why feed the beast? It knows no limits or responsibility, so SOMETHING has to be done to enforce accountability.

Sure, Congress HAS passed legislation that threatens the vast ballooning of the already overwhelming debt, but how is that the responsibility of the current Republican-dominated House? The Senate is where there seems to be no inclination to get things under control, they won’t even pass a budget, and for sure they will not even consider the budgets passed repeatedly by the Republican House.

Put the blame wither it belongs, with Harry Reid. What we have is a failure to communicate, on MANY levels.


21 posted on 01/15/2013 9:40:49 AM PST by alloysteel (Bronco Bama - the cowboy who whooped up and widened the stampede.)
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To: Olog-hai
The Republicans are playing chess against Obama. Unfortunately this is the record of their game.

1. P-KB3    P-K4
2. GOP resigns

22 posted on 01/15/2013 9:42:11 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Choose one: the yellow and black flag of the Tea Party or the white flag of the Republican Party.)
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To: Olog-hai
“In the end, it’s a threat they can’t sustain,” he says, because no one wants to see the country default on its debts. …

This is where his premise is false. Obama DOES want to see the USA collapse financially. Its part of the Cloward-Piven plan to insure revolutionary success for the Marxists.Total collapse=total chaos= demand for total governement. He is mostly there now.

23 posted on 01/15/2013 9:43:28 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Olog-hai

The GOPe have a habit of starting fights then giving up. If you are going to start something have a plan going in and stick to it.


24 posted on 01/15/2013 9:45:45 AM PST by DManA
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To: Olog-hai

The real Newt showing his true colors (again).


25 posted on 01/15/2013 9:47:52 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Tenacious 1
Had stopped thinking what you typed, and then took a good look at myself, and asked why did I change my mind. I came to understand it was because I was being greedy. Everything you typed is true and should happen to save this nation, if anyone in this nation gives a happy. My compliments, FRiend, Hammer to Nail.
26 posted on 01/15/2013 10:02:22 AM PST by no-to-illegals (Please God, Protect and Bless Our Men and Women in Uniform with Victory. Amen.)
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To: US Navy Vet

Amen: Just go away Newt, you had your shot and you blew it.

Trying to come back as a RINO is no way to go thru the rest of your life.


27 posted on 01/15/2013 10:18:16 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Olog-hai

The arguing going on now seems to be over (a) not raising the debt limit at all or (b) raising it extravagently.

What’s needed is significant spending cutting and then raising the debt limit only enough to cover any shortfall.

In other words, the arguing should be over where spending can be cut. Additional borrowing needs fall out of the conclusions of that arguing.


28 posted on 01/15/2013 10:23:04 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: Olog-hai

Interest on the debt is only 7% of the budget. With no increase in the debt limit just pay the debt first then prioritize the rest of the budget to match the funds available. This is what everyone else must do and this is the responsibility of the Congress in passing a budget.

Stop the lie that not raising the debt limit threatens default of the debt!


29 posted on 01/15/2013 10:30:20 AM PST by Petrosius
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To: Olog-hai
I have slowly and reluctantly come around to the view that Obama is correct about the so-called "debt ceiling".

Only Congress has the power to borrow money on the faith and credit of the United States. Only Congress can authorize the Treasury to disburse money.

Congress cannot impair the powers of Congress by legislation, only by amending the Constitution.

Therefore, there is no such thing as a "debt ceiling" beyond which more insane borrowing cannot occur.

30 posted on 01/15/2013 10:30:28 AM PST by Jim Noble (When strong, avoid them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.)
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To: Olog-hai

this wisdom comes from the genius that took on clinton so effectively /sarc.


31 posted on 01/15/2013 11:03:44 AM PST by KingofZion
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To: Olog-hai
"...he says, because no one wants to see the country default on its debts."

That's a wild and erroneous assumption.


32 posted on 01/15/2013 11:15:56 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: Olog-hai

I hate to hear Newt talk like that. On the other hand, it’s no secret that he really is well-endowed in the brains department so I find it worrisome too.


33 posted on 01/15/2013 11:21:25 AM PST by trebb (Allies no longer trust us. Enemies no longer fear us.)
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To: Olog-hai
TEXT OF Senator Barack Obama Senate Floor Speech on Public Debt March 16, 2006

Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 34 (Thursday, March 16, 2006)] [Senate] [Pages S2236-S2241]

From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office

Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America's debt problem.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ``trillion'' with a ``T.'' That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.

Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.

And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans--a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.

But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to the commonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending.

As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again.

Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt.

This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ``the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem [[Page S2238]] and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit.

Senator Barack Obama Senate Floor Speech on Public Debt March 16, 2006 http://the-heff-report.blogspot.com/p/text-of-senator-barack-obama-senate.html

34 posted on 01/17/2013 6:07:15 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: AmusedBystander
"Newt’s right on this one."

Bull feces, not only you refuse to raise the ceiling, but you lower the ceiling with concurrent cuts/BUDGET that adheres to the new ceiling. Next, you start concentrating on various oversight committees targeting fraud, waste, and abuse in the Executive Branch's Cabinet/"Czars".
35 posted on 01/17/2013 6:14:41 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: Olog-hai

Newt is correct on this for one reason:

Right now, hiring is politically defined. Hiring Americans is Democrat. Hiring foreigners is Republican.

Unfortunately, that is the way things seem right now.

The GOP must turn this around NOW.

Hire Americans. Defend Americans. Stop outsourcing. America first.

Then, and only then, pick a fight on the debt limit. Not one minute before then however.


36 posted on 01/17/2013 6:18:34 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network
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To: familyop
The “defaulting of debt” is a disingenuous argument due to the fact that the Federal Government as trillions in assets that can be sold off. "We the People" are being played for fools on both sides of the aisle.
37 posted on 01/17/2013 6:19:45 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: rollo tomasi

“as trillions” = has trillions


38 posted on 01/17/2013 6:21:25 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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