Free Republic

A new Republican senator suggested Wednesday a compromise to ensure the U.S. would not default on its debt obligations. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said he'd introduce legislation that would make sure the U.S. would meet its obligations even if lawmakers weren't able to agree on the spending cuts Republicans have demanded in exchange for raising the legal limit on the amount the government can borrow. "I intend to introduce legislation that would require the Treasury to make interest payments on our debt its first priority in the event that the debt ceiling is not raised," Toomey wrote Wednesday in the...

House Republicans demand that President Obama significantly cut government spending in exchange for Congress raising the national debt ceiling. Specifically, the GOP wants Obama to agree to cut government spending back to 2008 levels, put a spending cap on discretionary spending, and reform the budget process. The GOP blames Obama and the former Democratic Congress for the out-of-control government spending that led to the rapid increase in debt. The United States now has a record-setting $14 trillion in debt, and will hit the current statutory debt limit of $14.3 trillion as early as March. The House GOP spent the weekend...

Has the mainstream gone Tea Party, or the Tea Party gone mainstream? Despite warnings from the White House of the “deeply irresponsible” nature of “play[ing] chicken” with the national debt-limit ceiling, a Reuters poll of adults shows almost three-quarters of Americans opposed to further increases in the statutory borrowing cap. But consensus gets smaller on what to cut instead (via Quite Normal): Some 71 percent of those surveyed oppose increasing the borrowing authority, the focus of a brewing political battle over federal spending. Only 18 percent support an increase.The poll underscores the tough task ahead for U.S. lawmakers as the...

(Reuters) - The U.S. public overwhelmingly opposes raising the country's debt limit even though failure to do so could hurt America's international standing and push up borrowing costs, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Some 71 percent of those surveyed oppose increasing the borrowing authority, the focus of a brewing political battle over federal spending. Only 18 percent support an increase The poll underscores the tough task ahead for U.S. lawmakers as the debt nears its current ceiling of $14.3 trillion. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week warned that a failure to raise the borrowing limit in the...

he U.S. public overwhelmingly opposes raising the country's debt limit even though failure to do so could hurt America's international standing and push up borrowing costs, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Some 71 percent of those surveyed oppose increasing the borrowing authority, the focus of a brewing political battle over federal spending. Only 18 percent support an increase The poll underscores the tough task ahead for U.S. lawmakers as the debt nears its current ceiling of $14.3 trillion. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week warned that a failure to raise the borrowing limit in the coming months...

It is one thing for Sarah Palin, media pundits, or economic analysts to speak on the potential insolvency of the US government, but when the US Treasury Secretary says this in a formal letter to Congress, Americans had better take note. Secretary Timothy Geithner on January 6th sent a formal letter to Congress specifying that if they do not agree to raise the debt ceiling when it is reached sometime in March, the US will (and the word used is WILL) default on its debt. Lew Rockwell.com posted an article yesterday on this action taken by the Treasury Secretary, and...

Remember last week when refusing to support a raise in the debt-limit ceiling was called “deeply irresponsible” by the Obama administration? Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made that accusation in a letter to Congress, while Barack Obama’s economic adviser Austan Goolsbee warned Republicans not to “play chicken” with the debt ceiling. In an interview with ABC on January 2nd, Goolsbee warned that “[t]he impact on the economy would be catastrophic,” while Geithner warned of “catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades.”That’s now old and busted. The new hotness? Voting against the debt-ceiling hike to make Republicans the responsible party: Relegated...

I’ve spent the last few days harping on FR about how inadequate our planning and budget cutting has been in the new year. I thought I’d post a vanity on what I found this weekend regarding our cash flow situation. . . . . For next year, according to the federal budget law, the president is to submit a budget no later than the first Monday in February (Feb. 7th). Congress is to wrap things up by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30th, with each chamber’s appropriation committee passing a budget resolution typically by early April. However, as...

Flashback 2006: Dingy Reid Says Raising Debt Ceiling Will Weaken Country, Hurt The Economy… “If my Republican friends believe that increasing our debt by almost $800 billion today and more than $3 trillion over the last five years is the right thing to do, they should be upfront about it. They should explain why they think more debt is good for the economy.”

Republicans should prepare for a "showdown" with President Obama and congressional Democrats over raising the debt ceiling, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Monday. DeMint, a de-facto leader of Senate conservatives and many Tea Party senators, called for an all-out battle early this year, when Congress will face a tough vote to legally authorize the government to take on more debt. "I think we should resist that. We need to have a showdown, at this point, that we're not going to increase our debt ceiling anymore. We are going to cut things necessary to stay within the current levels, which is...

A fight over the budget loomed on Sunday as a top aide to President Barack Obama warned of catastrophic consequences if Republicans follow through on threats to reject an increase in the nation's borrowing limit. Republicans, who will take control of the House of Representatives this week, are demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion budget deficit and several have said they would oppose a higher debt ceiling if Obama does not agree to a range of painful cuts. White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee accused Republicans of "playing chicken" with the nation's financial credibility. "This is not a...

Obama aide: Don't 'play chicken' with debt ceilingThe Associated Press Sunday, January 2, 2011; 10:48 AM WASHINGTON -- The top White House economic adviser is warning against what he calls "playing chicken" with the need to raise the nation's debt ceiling. For some conservatives, refusing to raise the limit on the federal debt would be a tactic to force the government into cutting spending. Last February, Congress raised the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion. The debt is now at nearly $13.9 trillion and growing each day. A move to raise the ceiling again is expected this spring.

US Ends June With $13.2 Trillion In Debt, Adds $210 Billion In Total Debt, On Track To Breach Debt Ceiling In Under Six Months Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/06/2010 16:25 -0500 In case one is wondering why the House Democrats attached a document to the emergency war supplemental bill that "deemed as passed" a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget, which basically allows the ruling party to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the constraint of an actual budget, here is the answer: on June 30, the US closed the books with just over $13.2 trillion in total debt,...

Worried About Bernanke? Now Freak Out About The Vote On The Debt Ceiling Vince Veneziani | Jan. 22, 2010, 2:01 PM | 1,660 | comment 11 Tags: Economy, Debt, Senate, Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke's job hangs in the fate of select U.S. senators and that alone is enough to throw this market into uncertainty. So what's the next thing to freak about? The United States' growing debt ceiling. We're about to breach out $12.4 trillion link in March and we need a vote to raise it. Senators who vote against Bernanke based on the events of Massachusetts will...

This video takes you to the United Estates--a gated community in sunny Florida--to help you understand the impact of Congress decision to annually raise our nations debt limit, (WHICH THEY'RE ATTEMPTING TO DO FOR THE FOURTH TIME OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION) without addressing the out-of-control spending that keeps us buried in debt.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed increasing the limit on the nation's credit card by a whopping $1.9 trillion, to $14.3 trillion. The latest increase comes on top of a $290 billion measure that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve, less than thirty days ago. The Christmas Eve vote was 60-39, with all but one Democrat voting in favor, and all but one Republican voting "No". This is the second time in less than a month, and the FOURTH time during the young Obama administration, that the nation's debt ceiling has been increased...

Rather than listening to the voters and getting government out of way so the free market can actually work, Democrats continue to insist that the problem with our economy is NOT ENOUGH government and that we can tax and spend our way out of this crisis. Never mind the fact that this approach only deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. Or that it absolutely destroyed the economy of Japan in the 1990s...

In the panic following the insolvencies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the American taxpayer was stampeded into bailing out Wall Street by acquiescing to Washington's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in order to prevent the collapse of our financial system. American International Group Inc. was at the center of the storm with its $1.5 trillion book of credit default swaps (CDS). Inexplicably, after passage, TARP was directed at banks rather than troubled assets - almost like a bait-and-switch plan. Now, a little more than a year later, TARP inspector Neil M. Barofsky...

In an end-of-session nail-biter vote, the House passed a short-term increase of the debt limit Wednesday, setting the stage for a February showdown on deficit spending. It was not a popular measure with centrist and vulnerable lawmakers, who don’t want to be portrayed as allowing the nation to go deeper into debt. The $290 billion increase would set the debt ceiling at $12.394 trillion. The vote was 218-214, but Democratic leaders had to sweat it out. As the voting clock ticked down to zero, the bill was losing, 203-208. Thirty-nine Democrats rejected the measure and not one Republican voted for...

In an end-of-session nail-biter vote, the House passed a short-term increase of the debt limit Wednesday, setting the stage for a February showdown on deficit spending. It was not a popular measure with centrist and vulnerable lawmakers, who don’t want to be portrayed as allowing the nation to go deeper into debt. The $290 billion increase would set the debt ceiling at $12.394 trillion.