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What happened? Obama and his advisers have cast the collapse of the talks as a republican failure. Boehner, unable to deliver, stepped away from the deal, simple as that. But interviews with most of the central players in those talks— some ofwhomwere granted anonymity to speak about the secret negotiations — as well as a review of meeting notes, e-mails and the negotiating proposals that changed hands, offer a more complicated picture of the collapse. Obama, nervous about how to defend the emerging agreement to his own democratic base, upped the ante in a way that made it more difficult...

Ok, someone please explain this one to us because we must be a little slow. Wasn't the whole thing with the debt ceiling hike such that no more Congressional melodramas would have to be inflicted upon the population until after Obama [won|lost] the 2012 elections? Because according to the one again exponentially increasing debt balance of the US Treasury (there is another $51 billion in debt/cash coming in next week), the total US treasury balance (subject to the ceiling) is $14.54 trillion (and $14.58 trillion for total), an increase of $20 billion overnight, the Treasury will hit its latest ceiling...

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), a top choice among Republicans for a deficit-cutting super-committee formed last week, on Sunday sought to tamp down expectations for the panel. “I don’t think a grand bargain is going to come out of this,” Mr. Ryan said on Fox News Sunday. He said that any deal for more than the $1.5 trillion in deficit-reduction over 10 years that the committee is charged with finding would depend on whether Democrats were willing to agree to overhaul entitlement programs. “I don’t see any agreement from the other side getting anywhere close to doing...

Religious Left Stews Over Debt Deal Posted By Mark D. Tooley On August 5, 2011 @ 12:27 am The Religious Left is displeased over the debt deal between President Obama and Congress for unforgivably omitting tax increases. They are also peeved over limits, if not outright cuts, to the growth of their beloved welfare, regulatory and entitlement state, which for the Religious Left is the virtual Kingdom of God on Earth. Some religious leftists were more incendiary than others. Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren, champion of religious postmodernism, typically rejects moral absolutes — except when denouncing conservatives. “A zealot faction...

The White House shot back Thursday at Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) claim that Republicans had called the president’s bluff in debt-ceiling negotiations. The administration issued a point-by-point rebuttal to Ryan’s op-ed yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, in which he characterized Republicans as having successfully stared down President Obama in the protracted fight over spending and the nation’s borrowing authority. Maybe the most bombastic claim Ryan made was that Republican leaders called Obama’s bluff by forcing him to accept legislation that included no revenue-raisers and raised the debt limit

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's a story from The Politico -- and I'm suspicious. I think every story from The Politico comes from the White House. No, I really do. You may interpret that as old Rush trying to be funny -- and I know, I know; I'm a funny guy -- but I'm saying this with all sincerity. I think most everything on the Politico comes from the White House. I think it's a steno pool. "The debt ceiling..." Well, here's the headline: "Debt Deal Could Endanger the Health Care Law," and, by the way, folks, I have a whole...

VAN SUSTEREN: Donald, the debt ceiling -- many Americans have heard back and forth between the two political parties that if it hadn't gotten raised, there'd be something catastrophic. Would it have been catastrophic to the American people? TRUMP: I don't think so. I think the Republicans tried hard, but they didn't make a good deal. They did very little cutting, but the worst thing of all -- and they could have had, and it was the one thing Obama wanted -- he wanted to bring it past the election because if they had this come due again before the...

Military pay raises, funding for veterans health care and the Post-9/11 GI Bill could be sacrificed to new fiscal realities as the result of the deal signed by President Obama on Tuesday to raise the federal debt ceiling, according to the Military Officers Association and veterans groups. The law requires the federal budget be cut $2.1 trillion over 10 years. The White House said it plans to cut $350 billion from the Defense Department budget (excluding war funding) over the next decade. Retired Air Force Col. Michael Hayden, the association's deputy director for government relations, said this means "everything is...

The debt deal that passed Congress yesterday fails to address the fiscal crisis. How does it fall short? No Balance: The plan fails to achieve a balanced budget, or even to lay out balance as a meaningful goal. Without this goal, deficit spending will continue and the American people will fail to coalesce behind the effort. Too Small: As advertised, the spending cuts in this package are less than one-third of the total projected deficit over the next ten years, and the deficits ten years from now will still be measured in the hundreds of billions. Revenues: The plan opens...

Free money creation to bail out America’s elite financial speculators, but not for Social Security or Medicare Only the “Crazies” Get the Bank Giveaway Right*snip* What has made the post-2008 crash most remarkable is not merely the delusion that the way to get rich is by debt leverage (unless you are a banker, that is). Most unique is the crash’s aftermath. This time around the bad debts have not been wiped off the books. There have indeed been the usual bankruptcies – but the bad lenders and speculators are being saved from loss by the government intervening to issue Treasury...

Leadership. Congressional leaders were forced to ask President Wonderful and his aides to leave the White House meeting so that they could get something done. The Hill reported: GOP aides and lawmakers, speaking on background, portrayed Boehner as the calm negotiator who repeatedly exasperated President Obama. Boehner last month asked the networks to televise his response to Obama’s address to the nation, a request which infuriated the White House, Republican sources said. On July 23, they claim, the White House called Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), telling her not to participate on a call with Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry...

Graduate students are going to take a big financial hit because of the debt deal, according to Michael Scherer's debt debate breakdown at Time. They currently aren't charged any interest on student loans until 6 months after graduation, but the debt deal cuts that federal subsidy. The costs for grad students will increase by more than $18 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The change will take effect on loans made after July 1, 2012. Students in degree programs that take lengthy periods to complete (such as medicine, law and any doctoral programs) will be...

I’ve been seeing and hearing too many Tea Party members claiming that the debt deal is a win for the Tea Party. Be careful, the MSM is where this claim began and they are using it because they foresee a need to place blame in the not too distant future. The claim that the Tea Party won the debt debate is a talking point from the progressives. If you are claiming victory now, then you are also taking ownership of the future blame.

After weeks of intense wrangling between President Barack Obama and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Senate passed the debt ceiling bill Tuesday with a vote of 74-26. Here is a look at which lawmakers voted for or against the debt plan. Of the 74 lawmakers who voted in support of the bill in U.S. Senate, 28 of them are Republicans, 45 are Democrats and one Independent was included in the list: Akaka (D-HI), Alexander (R-TN), Barrasso (R-WY), Baucus (D-MT), Begich (D-AK), Bennet (D-CO), Bingaman (D-NM), Blumenthal (D-CT), Blunt (R-MO), Boozman (R-AR), Boxer (D-CA), Brown (D-OH), Brown (R-MA) Burr (R-NC), Cantwell...

President Obama wanted three things from the debt-ceiling fight: trillions in new borrowing authority, status quo on spending and no more drama before his shot at re-election. He got everything. [Snip] GOP leaders claim they cut the best deal possible in a divided government. [Snip] That’s an exaggeration. The bill would cut a minuscule $7 billion in 2012 and $3 billion total in 2013 - the only enforceable years. Meanwhile, the nation will continue to borrow at a rate of $100 billion a month. The second tranche of “cuts” will be left up to a new bipartisan committee tasked with...

Hush puppies and the Tea Party. The Republican run House of Representatives passed a debt limit plan last night 269-161. With Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords returning from death's door to cast a yes vote. Good for her. You always think of these things together, right? No? Well, you should. Hush puppies, for those coming in late, were once the casual shoe of choice in the late 1950s. By the 1990s they were pretty much vanished, disappeared to the fashion twilight zone along with tri-corner hats and powdered white wigs for men. They sold somewhere in the neighborhood of a pathetic...

To see what the market thinks of the economic prospects for the economy look no farther than the 30 Year which just dropped below 4.00% and is trading at 3.99% right now. The market is effectively pricing in a major economic contraction, with long-end deflation now expected. Which means that Bernanke just got yet another carte blanche to proceed with the only thing  he know. And validating it is the equity market which at last check not only did not react favorably to the Senate vote, but has been fading all the news all day, and is now trading...

Remember yesterday’s GOP talking point about how “baseline budgeting� would make it virtually impossible for the Committee to impose tax hikes? Supposedly, because CBO is required to assume that the Bush tax cuts will lapse next year, the $3.5 trillion in new revenue that will come from that lapse is already part of the Committee’s “baseline.� In order for them to hit their target of $1.5 trillion in additional savings, they’d have to recommend tax hikes above and beyond that $3.5 trillion. Which, with an election coming up, they surely aren’t going to do.Just one problem: None of it is...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Despite the last-minute deal to lift the debt ceiling, the prospect of the United States losing its triple-A credit rating is still keeping Beijing and Hong Kong up at night. A possible downgrade is a difficult situation for China, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Chicago-based financial services firm Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. Swonk believes a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating is “still up for grabs” and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said as much Tuesday morning in an ABC interview. [Snip] Meantime, Chinese market participants are feeling uneasy about the possible downgrade and the weak dollar....

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the emergency bill Congress passed to prevent a government default is just the first step to ensuring the country lives within its means. Speaking in the Rose Garden, Obama says lawmakers still need to find a balanced approach to reducing the deficit that includes some adjustments to Medicare and reforming the tax code so the wealthy pay more.

Link only: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-01/private-equity-oil-breaks-to-be-tax-targets-for-new-committee.html

If you look back how Boehner playing this Debt crisis (deal) Budget control Act bill out on the House side it reminds me Pelosi/Obama passing/ramming through Obama-care(without the budget reconciliation) : Steps: 1) Let your House caucus base (liberal/conservative) have their play votes passing their dream plans (Dems: Obama-care Public plan or Repubs: CC+B) in the House even though you will never fight for it. 2) Create the real bill behind closed door negotiations 3) Wait till the Senate passes a modified version of that closed door negotiated bill to the House, whatever they can get through , some watered...

The "Great Debt Compromise of 2011"! This "compromise" is in fact "unconditional surrender" to Obama and the big spenders in both parties! We now get more spending, more debt, more recession... and phony "promised cuts"... thanx (establishment) GOP! Tea Party? It was like your high school team playing the Green Bay Packers, you had no chance (this time)! Learn from this Tea Party folks, you must gain experience in the "skill positions" improve your poor blocking and tackling that allowed you to be out maneuvered this time by Speaker Boehner and his fellow DC insiders (Republicans and Democrats...yea I know,...

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement today regarding his vote in opposition to the new version of the Budget Control Act of 2011: “Last week I made the difficult decision to compromise and voted for Speaker Boehner’s plan. While the Boehner plan was not perfect, it was a realistic approach and a step in the right direction. Among other things, it required passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution before a second increase in the debt ceiling. “However, the legislation before us today was not quite as good. By contrast, today’s deal only requires a Balanced...

I just love Washington-speak which offers heartfelt phrases such as “baseline spending,” “debt ceiling,” “drop dead dates,” and my ultimate favorites, “the cut,” “to cut,” “a cut,” or just simply “cuts.” Like the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” a “cut” means different things to different people. Let me explain by first discussing common-speak, which is very easy to understand. When someone takes a cut in pay, it could mean going from $20 per hour to $15 per hour. Or, they’re paid $30,000 per year for a job that used to pay $35,000 per year. To most...

When the House of Representatives voted this evening on legislation to increase the limit on the federal debt by as much as $2.4 trillion, House Republicans broke a promise included in their 2010 Pledge to America to post the text of bills online “for at least three days” before bringing them up for a vote. “We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives,” said the Pledge to America. “No more hiding legislative language from...

An unhinged Chris Matthews on Monday decried the debt ceiling deal negotiated in Congress, attacking Tea Party Republicans as a group of baby-kidnapping terrorists. He also bizarrely described the compromise as "political polygamy."

Texas governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is refusing to endorse a House plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling, saying he continues to support a Republican-backed plan that includes a balanced budget amendment. Asked whether congressional lawmakers should approve the deal, Perry spokesman Mark Miner said: "The governor thinks the right track to go down is "cut, cap and balance." That was the approach he believed was best for the country."

"I Won in a Historic Landslide and All I Got Was this Lousy Rounding Error." That's the t-shirt that Speaker Boehner should wear based on his debt ceiling plan. The scoring of the second iteration of the Boehner bill gave an estimate of $22 billion in cuts from the CBO baseline for 2012--1/70th of the annual budget shortfall, about five days worth of deficit spending. Despite the bill's nigh irrelevant scope, we are assured by many in the conservative press that those rejecting this deal are "obtuse," "vain," politically dunce "hobbits." "Of course the Boehner bill doesn't solve the debt...

I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called "right" or "Tea Party" in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they're "winning." Really? You call this winning? - Obama gets over $2 Trillion to spend before the 2012 election - There are no real spending cuts - There is a massive tax increase effective January 1, 2013...

Much is going on in Washington, DC …the debt ceiling vote and debate…and the harsh words for the Tea Party movement and caucus. Governor Sarah Palin joins us to discuss these issues…10pm eastern, ON THE RECORD !

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler warned he was "not finding a lot of people who are happy" with the bipartisan debt-ceiling deal, and that the local groups he helps coordinate might go after incumbents who vote for it. "When it comes time to decide whether to primary folks this will be a factor," Meckler told The Hill Monday afternoon. The Tea Party Patriots is an umbrella organization for more than 3,500 local Tea Party groups around the country. While the larger organization does not raise or spend money on campaigns, where it stands is a good indicator of how...

I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called "right" or "Tea Party" in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they're "winning." Really? You call this winning? •- Obama gets over $2 Trillion to spend before the 2012 election •- There are no real spending cuts •- There is a massive tax increase effective January 1, 2013 Obama is going to be handed something in excess of $2 Trillion -- and...

The fiscally conservative Club for Growth "strongly opposes" the compromise President Obama worked out with Republican and Democratic leaders and will include the vote in its "key vote" Congressional scorecard, the group announced Monday. "The problems with this proposal are many, but fiscal conservatives should have obvious concerns for the lack of guaranteed future spending cuts, no requirement that a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution be sent to the states, a commission that could still recommend job-killing tax increases, and worse of all, two debt limit increases totaling over $2 trillion within only a matter of months," said Club...

Rep. Michele Bachmann is cutting short her presidential campaign trip to Iowa to return to Washington for a vote on a debt ceiling deal. Bachmann was to make two appearances Monday -- a midday event in Newton and a late afternoon backyard chat in Dexter -- but her campaign said she was instead flying back to be ready to vote against the bill later in the day. The Minnesota Republican has opposed any increase in the debt ceiling during negotiations. "The 'deal' ... spends too much and doesn't cut enough," Bachmann said in a statement released Sunday after President Barack...

Don’t be fooled. We’ve just been betrayed by Washington. A deal on the debt ceiling is near and Washington still hasn’t gotten serious about the fundamentals. It hasn’t gotten serious about default. It certainly hasn’t gotten serious about the future. When Harry Reid hails a “bipartisan compromise” you know we’re doomed. Republicans and Democrats have just negotiated away the future of our children behind closed doors. The big compromise on Capitol Hill features elaborate triggers, tranches, Hornswogglers, Snozzwangers, Super Duper Commissions that will make the Snozzberries taste like Snozeberries, and a whole bunch of other convoluted gibberish that will, no...

It was only a week ago that S&P said anything under $4 trillion in deficit cuts would be an automatic downgrade for the US. So according to the CBO's just released score of the bipartisan budget, the S&P will have to cut its rating of the US in half, since the total budget cuts will be just over 50% of what S&P demanded previously. And here's the funny part: of the $917 billion in known cuts (the other $1.2 billion is factored but not even the CBO has any clue what it will look like), a whopping 2% in cuts...

Ron Paul slams it right out of the ballpark. When a Cut is Not a Cut One might think that the recent drama over the debt ceiling involves one side wanting to increase or maintain spending with the other side wanting to drastically cut spending, but that is far from the truth. In spite of the rhetoric being thrown around, the real debate is over how much government spending will increase. No plan under serious consideration cuts spending in the way you and I think about it. Instead, the "cuts" being discussed are illusory, and are not cuts from current...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders rushed to line up Republican and Democratic votes on Monday for a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented debt default. With scars still fresh from the months-long brawl over increasing the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, a new fight was shaping over the incendiary topic of taxes. Global markets showed signs of relief that the United States appeared to be dodging default, but fears that the country might still lose its triple-A credit rating even with a debt deal contributed to a fizzle in a brief stocks rally. "We...

The debt-limit deal announced on Sunday night is expected to attract more than 60 votes in the Senate, but its outlook in the House is much more cloudy.   Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will need Democratic votes to clear the bill through the lower chamber. How many remains unclear.   The following is a rundown of The Hill’s constantly updated whip count. Please send tips and feedback to bcusack@thehill.com     LAST UPDATED ON AUG. 1 at 11:56 a.m. RECENT UPDATES -- Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Tim Walz (D-Minn.),...

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) told GOP members on a conference call Sunday evening that he had reached a deal with congressional leaders and the White House, but that it wouldn’t happen “unless we have membership on board.” It remains to be seen how many House Republicans will end up supporting the final package, but members on the call told National Review Online they thought it would ultimately pass with bipartisan support. “I’m not sure I’m going to support it but I think it will probably pass,” said freshman Rep. Dennis Ross (R., Fla.). Members described the tone of...

The budget deal requires an additional $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to be designed by a “super-committee of legislators” who will propose painful recommendations—and if those recommendations aren’t accepted by both Houses, there will be automatic cuts to Defense and Medicare. The idea here is that Republicans will be restrained from avoiding tough choices by the supercommittee by the prospect of big defense cuts, while Democrats will feel the same way about Medicare. Oh? So, going into an extremely nerve-wracking election season, only Republicans will care about defense spending? Defense spending has been all but sacrosanct for the past decade,...

While it remains a bit premature to begin crowing over correct predictions, as of last night we have what appears to be the framework of a debt deal. (For those who missed it, Allahpundit had a summary of the details along with John Boehner’s Powerpoint presentation sketching it out fairly well.) Of course, as was pointed out during the more heated portions of the end game, nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon. The rank and file on each side will still have to swallow this pill, and some folks – particularly on the left – aren’t exactly...

Japanese news is all awash this morning in every news agency with the bulletins that "President Obama announced that the debt ceiling agreement has been reached." They appear to be following CNN's international news lead and are leaving out critical facts. For example, this erroneous "flash alert" is typical and is seen also in Asahi, Sankei, Yomiuri, Nikkei, NHK and others: "米債務�題：上�引�上��与野党�� 　�北米�局】オ�マ米大統領�７月３１日�ホワイト�ウス�会見��米債務上�引�上��与野党��������発表��。"

(Reuters) - Democrats in the House of Representatives might decide not to support a last-minute deal to raise the debt ceiling when they meet on Monday, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

9:50pm | Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he will filibuster the vote tomorrow, which will require 60 votes to break.

Here is the first set of bullets from a seven page pdf, Emerging framework has three main features: (1) cuts government spending more than it increases the debt limit; (2) implements spending caps to restrain future spending; (3) advances the cause of a Balanced Budget Amendment Framework accomplishes this without tax hikes, which would destroy jobs, while preventing a job-killing national default. Read the whole thing (small file): http://www.speaker.gov/UploadedFiles/3-7-31-11-Debt-Framework-Boehner.pdf

This sounds like good news...The leader of the Black Socialist Caucus says the debt deal is a “sugar-coated Satan sandwich.” That must mean it is a much better deal than we had hoped for. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver is the current leader of the Black Caucus (without black Republican members) Roll Call reported: President Barack Obama’s rightward lurch to reach a $3 trillion deficit reduction deal with no guarantee of additional revenues had liberals fuming and Republicans all but declaring victory Sunday afternoon. With time running out to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling before Tuesday’s default deadline, Obama...

On my show tonight at 10pm, I lay out a way to completely get rid of the deficit. I don't claim to be a budget expert. But others, such as Chris Edwards at Cato and Stuart Butler at Heritage, are. They found lots of serious cuts. My staff found a few more, and put together a list that would completely balance the budget: Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion (Federal Budget, pg. 58) Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute) Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation) Eliminate Dept. of Education (includes Pell Grants): $106.9 billion (Cato Institute) Social Security*: $85.7...

Back in 1994, Rush Limbaugh wrote See I Told You So. From page 88 of the book: [T]he cure for: a) the budget deficit = more taxes; b) unemployment = more taxes; c) recession = more taxes; d) environmental problems = more taxes; e) illiteracy = more taxes; f) L.A. riots = more taxes. It doesn’t matter what the nature of the problem is. This week, whether you listened to Rush, Sean, Mark, or even me filling in for Boortz, we’ve been telling you so. This whole farce in Washington is a way to get more tax revenue from you...