Source: The US Treasury Department.
This is a little fact the some so-called news and GOP political pundits choose not to report.
Tag: Debt
After eight years of the Bush Administration living way beyond its means and charging up a debt that has now put the country on the brink of disaster, NOW the GOP wants to introduce “cap, cuts and balancing” in their never-ending quest to pin this insurmountable mess on President Obama.
The offer from Harry Reid and the Democrats to cut $2.7 trillion from our spending budget with no tax increase to the rich and no additional revenue is a travesty. Who’s going to suffer from those cuts? The poor and the soon to be devastated middle-class that’s who!
The pressure is on President Obama in this no-real-win situation. He can either allow the bills to go unpaid and be the first United States (Black) President in history to default on the country’s debt repayment schedule – but still illuminate the despicable, uncooperative stance of the GOP and thus hopefully proving to the skeptical and undecided that any faction of the Republican Party is incapable of running anything, let alone the governing challenges of the US.
Or, he can drop his losing bi-partisan stance, take control, raise the debt ceiling as he knows – and reputable non-partisan economists have advised him – must be done, eliminate tax loopholes for the super wealthy who live like kings on the backs of the labor force and steer Boehner and his bunch clear of the Big 3.
Mr. President, you may have to deal with this bullsh**t again in 2012 when you’re re-elected, but because of the sacrifices you would make for us today, with hope and good sense the People will stand by you, especially in lieu of the odds we’ve witnessed you up against for the last 7 months with Republicans and the Tea Party.
What would I want you to do? I’d want you to save us first, Mr. President! And come what may in 2012! You have more than proven that you are up for the challenge!
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has a message for his Republican friends in Congress. Don’t blame the President or even the Democrats. Don’t blame anyone else for the mess over raising the debt ceiling, blame yourself.
“Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months. How many Republicans have been on TV saying, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit.’ You know, Mitch [McConnell] says, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit unless we talk about Medicare.’ And I’ve said I’m not going to raise the debt limit until we do something about spending and entitlements.’ So we’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.
“We shouldn’t have said that if we didn’t mean it.”
The Republicans are beginning to break.
With the President holding his ground in the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, and with Americans looking at the Republicans as obstructionists whose only goal is protecting the rich while the rest of the country slides into default, Republicans are beginning to wonder out loud why they intentionally mislead the American people over a very routine matter – raising the debt ceiling. On Tuesday, Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell proposed a feeble detour to get the debt ceiling raised, and now this from Lindsey Graham.
The American people are keeping track of what’s going on, and the Republicans are beginning to see the writing on the wall… in the form of a political suicide note that is.
When President Obama earlier stated that “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon”, no one really understood where the President was going in terms of the negotiations concerning raising the debt ceiling. Later when he put forth his plan for a massive $4 trillion dollars in spending cuts – if Republicans agreed to ending the tax loopholes for the wealthy – the connection between his statement and his plan still wasn’t realized.
However, when the Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday told the press, that he is willing to “authorize” the President to submit a request to congress to raise the debt ceiling, a light bulb went off in the Host of MSNBC’s The Last Word – Lawrence O’ Donnell‘s head. The President’s statement on a $4 trillion spending cut proposal finally began making sense.
The way O’Donnell explains the connection is like this: President Obama is winning the debt ceiling argument with Republicans. By making the statement, “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon,” the President put Republicans on notice, that to have a deal, both parties would have to agree to major sacrifices. He then announced a huge spending cut proposal, with the knowledge that Republicans were too much against imposing any taxes or ending the loopholes on the wealthy. With this in mind, the President essentially called the Republican’s bluff. If they were really serious about deficit reduction, they would have jumped on the opportunity to cut spending by ending the tax loopholes.
Then yesterday, Mitch McConnell came out and basically handed the President the win. What Mitch wants is a resolution to allow the President to raise the debt ceiling all by himself. The President would request congress to raise the debt ceiling. Congress would then vote to “disapprove” the request, which the President would then veto. With that veto, the debt ceiling would automatically be raised on the President’s terms.
This move by McConnell, basically giving up the fight and allowing President Obama to make the decision, brought it all home for Lawrence.
Of course, we are talking about Mitch McConnell – the same Republican who said his primary goal is to see Obama fail. It is therefore wise to look at this “plan” by McConnell from that perspective and realize the politics behind it. McConnell realizes that the Republicans have taken a dangerous position. Any default by the United States government by not raising the debt ceiling would be political assassination for the GOP. With this move, McConnell removes the Republicans from the decision-making process, that way, the President makes the decision and avoids America going into default. McConnell can tell his Teaparty constituents that he voted against raising the debt ceiling.
The punk’s way out if you ask me.
President Obama called the Republicans’ bluff today, when he stated clearly that he will not sign any short-term deal on the debt ceiling. When asked whether he would veto such a deal, the President replied, “I will not sign a 30-day, or 60-day, or 90-day extension.”
He then accused the Republicans of having a “my way or the highway” stance on the debt ceiling. He also gave this warning – “I don’t see a path to a deal if they don’t budge. Period!”
The President and Democratic leaders have proposed a deal to Republicans totaling $4 trillion in spending cuts over a period of 10 years, in exchange for a few hundred billion in tax revenue. Republicans however, called this a “non-starter,” because taxes would be imposed on millionaires and billionaires. Led by House Speaker John Boehner, Republicans are demanding a smaller, short-term increase in the debt ceiling of about $2 trillion.
The President did not budge, saying “this is the United States of America. And, you know, we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments.” And referring to those Republicans who have already said they would not support raising the debt ceiling, the President said, “It’s irresponsible. They know better.”
Of course, Boehner continued his call for the middle class to bear the weight, while the rich skates through for free!
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution says:
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
Because of this amendment, many suggests that Congressional authorization to raise the debt ceiling is not necessary, as not doing so would mean that America defaults on its obligation to pay its debt, thus, going against the 14th amendment of the constitution.
Republicans – who have stood their ground in insisting that raising the debt ceiling is not going to happen – are now scrambling to find a way to defeat section 4 of the 14th amendment. Some have suggested an amendment to the 14th amendment and others like Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, went even further. He wants to impeach President Obama if the President even thinks about trying to raise the debt ceiling without congress. The South Carolina representative recently told a teaparty audience;
“This president is looking to usurp congressional oversight to find a way to get it done without us. My position is that is an impeachable act from my perspective.”
There are a lot of things people say, ‘Are you going to impeach the president over that?’ — No. But this? This is catastrophic. This jeopardizes the credibility of our nation if one man can usurp the entire system set up by our founding fathers over something this significant.”
It should be noted that President Obama has never mentioned an intent to “usurp the entire system.” As a matter of fact, this president has gone the extra mile trying to bring both Republicans and Democrats to the table, in an effort to get the Congressional authorization necessary for allowing America to pay her bills.
But then again, Republicans like Tim Scott would like to impeach President Obama just for being president.
If the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.
And they will be right.
Those are the words as written by David Brooks – a columnist for the New York Times who is described by David Warren, of Real Clear Politics, as someone who shares the Conservative Republican ideology. The piece, published on July 4th, is called The Mother of All No-Brainers, and in it, Brooks spoke about the Republican party as being “infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.”
“The members of this movement,” Brooks continued, “do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.”
Brooks proved his point by referencing the debate going on in Washington about raising the debt ceiling, where Democrats and the President have already signaled their willingness to cut defense and entitlement spending if Republicans are willing to close some tax loopholes that benefit millionaires. This willingness by the Democrats would cut about $3 trillion in spending, for a few billion in savings by closing these tax loopholes. According to Brooks, the real Republican party should “seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing,” but the infection would not allow that to happen.
Speaking further on this “infection”, Brooks says;
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.
The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.
The same Republicans who were responsible for raising the debt ceiling under the Bush Administration on numerous occasions did it then because they knew the importance of America paying its bills. These same Republicans are now willing to allow the country to default on these bills, in order to point to the present administration as being irresponsible and unable to lead. That argument they’re hoping, would be enough to win them the elections in 2012.
Americans sent both Democrats and Republicans to congress with one request – lead. In order to effectively do that, both party must be able to come together and solve the nation’s problems. But Republicans have shown, time and time again, that they are not willing to come together to solve anything. Republicans are more willing to assist in pushing the economy back into a ditch, even if it means millions of Americans suffer in the process.