Congress punts on debt ceiling: The House of Representatives passed a bill today that extends the nation’s debt limit until May 18th, effectively tabling the issue for another couple of months. This time, the GOP majority didn’t ask for spending cuts in exchange for the increase; rather, it simply demanded that both houses of congress pass a budget before April 15th. Otherwise, per the bill, all members of both bodies will have their salaries withheld (there’s some debate over whether or not this provision is constitutional). Also, while the majority of Republicans did vote for the bill, enough defected that John Boehner had to rally up a couple of Democrats to get it passed. Harry Reid says it’ll fly through the Senate without issue. (Photo credit: AP) source
![“[W]e believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary.” So reads a letter sent to the president today by top Senate Democrats. It’s not every day that members of congress explicitly voice their willingness to be circumvented by the president, but Harry Reid and company clearly believe that the threat of default is a real possibility. Later on in the letter, the Democrats call for “a broad, bipartisan agreement” to reduce the long-term deficit - but only one that puts “the entire budget on the table,” as opposed to policy that only cuts “earned benefits for seniors and middle-class families.” (Photo credit: AP) source](http://24.media.tumblr.com/57435ab51f07e2b184fbf35fee819b29/tumblr_mghnz8UOyU1qas8z9o1_500.jpg)
“[W]e believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary.” So reads a letter sent to the president today by top Senate Democrats. It’s not every day that members of congress explicitly voice their willingness to be circumvented by the president, but Harry Reid and company clearly believe that the threat of default is a real possibility. Later on in the letter, the Democrats call for “a broad, bipartisan agreement” to reduce the long-term deficit - but only one that puts “the entire budget on the table,” as opposed to policy that only cuts “earned benefits for seniors and middle-class families.” (Photo credit: AP) source
If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic. Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again.President Obama • Warning of possible conflict on the horizon, so soon after the “fiscal cliff” fracas was resolved — you’re not surprised, are you? The debt ceiling fight between the White House and congressional Republicans in 2011 was so acrimonious, and brought the country so close to the brink of default, that Obama is clearly eying this as the next major battle ahead of him. The showdown will likely come in February or March, as the Federal Reserve can employ a bevy of accounting tricks and maneuvers intended hold off hitting the limit until then, but after the political capital expended during last week’s negotiations, we can do little but wait and see how this all ends out. source
This may be a moment in Senate history, when a senator made a proposal that, when given an opportunity for a vote on that proposal, filibustered his own proposal…I don’t think this has ever happened before.Sen. Dick Durbin, after Mitch McConnell’s latest scheme blew up in his face. McConnell introduced legislation today that would allow the president to unilaterally raise the debt limit, suspecting that Democrats wouldn’t have the guts to vote for it. When it became clear that Democrats did indeed have the votes to pass the bill with a simple majority, McConnell filibustered it, preventing its passage. The United States Senate, ladies and gentlemen. source
» Question: If Boehner goes ahead with this, will anybody, Democrat or Republican, have any reason to believe he’s negotiating in good faith next time a deal needs to be reached? Obstructionism is one thing, but to make an agreement, pass that agreement in the form of legislation, and then attempt to get out of that agreement when things don’t go your way is another. Make no mistake; the debt ceiling will have to be raised again; we’re not sure how negotiations can even commence, let alone conclude, if this is how Boehner plans to go about things.
boehner’s bill falls short: After a chaotic day of vote-whipping, vote-delaying, and vote-switching, John Boehner has decided to postpone the vote on his debt ceiling bill. Despite multiple assurances that it would be brought to a vote before tomorrow, at the end of the day, Boehner didn’t have enough votes to ensure the bill’s passage (and he wasn’t going to embarrass himself by introducing a bill that was sure to fail). In an unusual alignment, conservative Tea Partiers and House Democrats all pledged to vote against the bill, albiet for different reasons. While the legislation has virtually no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, Boehner’s ability to shepherd it through the House is seen by many as the first real test of his leadership abilities. If he doesn’t eventually pass it, there’s a good chance he’ll (eventually) be deposed as Speaker. But it’s not over yet—sources say Republicans plan to tweak the bill a bit, and re-introduce it tomorrow. source
This is the nerdiest use of an animated GIF we’ve ever seen. It almost goes against the idea of the animated GIF.
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.John McCain • Ripping the Republican Party on the Senate floor. He later derided House Republicans’ approach to the debt-ceiling discussions as “the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.” source (via • follow)
We were planning on live-blogging the President’s primetime speech on the debt ceiling, but there wasn’t much to live-blog about. He didn’t support or reject any new policies, or endorse a specific strategy for raising the debt limit. Rather, the President doubled-down on the importance of avoiding default, reinforced hard distinctions between him and House Republicans, and make slight adjustments to his political positioning. He warned, in his most explicit language yet, of the consequences default would have for average Americans. He came out hard for progressive taxation, hammering the Republicans for refusing to consider raising taxes on the rich, and explicitly asked constituents to call their representatives in Congress and voice support for the White House’s “balanced.” In general, as was the case in his press conference last Friday, the President ended up sounding a whole lot more partisan than normal, but didn’t deliver any game-changers. source
Medicare Means-testing on the way? President Obama is eying this common Republican policy idea as a means to a big debt limit deal. As the White House was careful to point out, for the benefit of a liberal base dim on imposing costs on low-income recipients, the Affordable Care Act has already resulted in slightly higher premiums for couples earning over $170,000, or singles earning $85,000 — his ideal would be to raise these further, to “modestly higher premiums.” The question is, would it work? The GOP has been abandoning their own policy proposals when Obama gives them a thumbs up since the health care debate; modest as this is, and we don’t see why that would change. source
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Look, he owns the economy. He’s been in office for three years. We refuse to let us entice us into co-ownership of a bad economy.Senator Mitch McConnell • Basically validating our suspicions about his proposed debt limit fail-safe, where the job of raising the limit would be transferred from congress to President Obama. He also subtly acknowledges the core weakness the Republicans have had in the debt limit debate all along; they’ve pushed so hard to convince portions of their base that they’d be willing not to raise it, the public at large can see plainly which party even made such an economically horrifying idea possible. As such, the GOP is in a tough spot, knowing they have to raise the limit (because they’re not truly ignorant to what it would do to the economy, as shown by McConnell’s own words), but also knowing they’ve stoked elements of their base against the idea for months. We seriously doubt they can placate that base with the new plan. source (via • follow)
They call it “the big blink.” That seems apt.
Key line:
If the veto is overridden (which would require a 2/3 vote) in both chambers, then the request would be denied and the provisional $100 billion increase revoked.
In other words (just summarizing the whole piece), it’s automatic as long as Congress doesn’t block it, which they will still have the right to do.
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