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Subscribe to RSSRoll Call says it all comes down to this: “For House Republicans, the debt ceiling debate has come down to a simple question: Do they trust Speaker John Boehner?”
The fallback? “Senate Republicans on Monday dismissed a new budget proposal from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would exchange $2.7 trillion in spending cuts for an extension of the debt ceiling through 2013, but Democrats hope they can prove that their offering is the only viable option by week’s end,” Roll Call writes.
“House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington,” Bloomberg writes. “ ‘In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,’ the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. ‘I’ve got news for Washington -- those days are over.’ Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry.”
“Since January, House Speaker John Boehner has raised $6.6 million for his campaign committee, six times more than the Ohio Republican received during the same period two years ago when he was the chamber’s minority leader,” Bloomberg writes. “Three of the five biggest sources of Boehner’s campaign cash this year are employees of three Wall Street investment houses, a shift from the 2010 election cycle, when such contributors were not ranked among his top 10 donors.”
And then there’s this… a government shutdown looms this fall, Roll Call notes. “All of Washington’s attention might be focused on the debt ceiling debate, but even if Congress averts a catastrophic default by Aug. 2, another partisan brawl over a government shutdown could be just around the corner. In fact, Members of Congress say they are already bracing for it.”
Why Washington is lame. Just don’t go there, dude… Per The Hill, Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) tweeted: “No one could reach #AmyWinehouse before it was too late. Can anyone reach Washington before it's too late? Both addicted - same fate???”
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John Boehner in his rebuttal last night acted like he just arrived in Washington."As a small business owner"...how many years has he been in Congress? Tried to find that fact on line. Three of his web sites said "Server is not responsing"... Maybe today he will be taking calls and emails?
First Read is working overtime to blame the Republicans, but let's look at the overall record for the last 30 years.
Who's responsible for the Budget Deficits and the Debt?
While it's tempting to blame the President for Budget Deficits, it's actually the responsibility of Congress to pass a spending budget, which establishes the amount of the Deficit each year and any required borrowings on the Debt. So what does the record show, based on who controlled Congress over the last 30 years;
DEFICITS ($7.304 Trillion)
Total Deficits when Democrats controlled Congress (12 years) = $5.022 Trillion.
Total Deficits when Republicans controlled Congress (10 years) = $1.219 Trillion.
Total Deficits when Congress was split (8 years) = $1.063 Trillion.
NEW DEBT ($12.878 Trillion = 93.4% of all the Debt in our History) (a)
Total New Debt when Democrats controlled Congress (12 years) = $7.859 Trillion.
Total New Debt when Republicans controlled Congress (10 years) = $3.238 Trillion.
Total New Debt when Congress was split (8 years) = $1.781 Trillion.
Spin it all you want, but these are the FACTS
(a) – Contrary to popular belief, the National Debt increases far more than the Deficits for each year.
Sources - Democrats controlled Congress from 1987 – 1994, and from 2007 – 2010. Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 – 2000, and from 2003 – 2006. There was a split Congress from 1980 – 1986 and for 2001 & 2002. The government site to verify National Debt increases is;
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np You have to select dates.
The White House government site to verify Deficits is;
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals See Table 1.1
I'll let the facts speak for themselves as to which Party is more fiscally responsible.
He's been in Congress for 20 years, and was a state representative in Ohio before that, so he's been a politicians since he was in his late 30s.
His family owned a bar in Ohio. He apparently worked there as a child. Seriously, like since he was 12 or something.
Thank you Kate , Ollie. So his small business experience was in his childhood. Perfect!!
After listening to Boehner for a few minutes..i changed the channel..he has nothing new to say and also showed America how naive he is in the world of politics...a true hack ...the small business thing was a cleaver ruse but had no teeth ...Most Americans see him for the political hack he is ...Please keep him talking America isn't listening ..he has the same effects bush #2 had ...you change the channel !
Boehner is not a guy we want to have a beer with. That said, though, he's in a lose/lose position.
He can't get along with his caucus, much less with the Democrats. He has a whole class of new freshmen reps who are bomb throwing anarchists. Of course, he's partly responsible for that situation, but it's a totally unworkable mess. As long as he acts like an "adult" in the room, they will continue to act like children in a middle school lunchroom.
They don't want adult supervision. They want a revolution.
My question is this: how long will Boehner be able to role play an "adult" in his caucus before he completely capitulates and joins the middle school food fight? Or has that already happened?
There was a comment supposedly made by Boehner as he left his faux presidential podium last night, he reportedly said...."I didn't sign up to go mono on mono with the President."
Frustrated Bonher?
Ollie:
I think he may be showing some signs of pressure. We'll know for sure if he slurs his words when he does his next presser. I hear he is fond of adult beverages.
Not that I'd blame him. His biggest problem is his freshman class, and they'd drive me to drink too if I had to try to talk sense to them on a daily basis.
An open letter to Speaker Boehner, Sen Reid and President Obama.
Grover Norquist
Is it always right to be right?
By your inactions and constant whining to the press you are killing the American Dream or what's left of it.
It does not matter if you have a gang of 6, 8 or 10. You have shirked your duties as Americans elected to do your job. This has turned from... “for the greater good” to all about your election cycle. Shame on you and a pox on all your houses!
The efforts to “trial by the press” have made little impact save for encouraging foreign investors to look elsewhere. Americans know more about the Casey trial than anything you have said in the last six weeks. How sad is that?
Get to work! Show me some real effort. Cut your own pay and pension by 30% and show America you are serious about your job. If you were in the private sector you would have been fired last quarter. No severance, take your 401k and leave... FIRED! You missed your deadline and there are others that can do your job for less pay and will work harder. Security will see you to the front door.
But instead the entire congress is hiding out, right in plain sight ,awaiting the best retirement on the planet. For just showing up. They don't have to do anything – so they don't. Just show up, collect your pay and wait for a sweet deal at the end of your term. Can you say entitlement?
Well boys and girls you are in for a big surprise this election if you don't get busy.
A huge number of vets will be returning to the US in hopes of picking up where they left off.
A large number of young Americans that were headed to college, can no longer afford it and will be looking for answers and jobs.
A few million Baby Boomers are looking at their future, their 401K's and wringing their hands with worry. They will focus on Washington DC.
Many seniors are troubled by the future of their kids and grand kids and will look to the “Belt Way” as well.
You could have been helping create jobs for the 9% unemployed, they vote too.
Wall Street will use this as yet another excuse to manipulate greed in favor of some robber-barons.
In short you have made the US voter and tax payer very, very angry. I would say you are toast come election time. Note to all Tea Party members, just go home you brought nothing of substance to the table. You did not help this process at all.
My hope is that incumbents in both houses, of both parties will be looking for work come January 2012. All because you could not work out some simple bookkeeping on behalf of the US Tax Payer. You blew your time line, seven months of waisted economic recovery, to millions of affected Americans.
I would encourage you to watch the 1970 Oscar winning short: Is it always right to be right? Oh sorry, then you would have to do something.
Excellent post! I have to still believe in something though, so I choose Obama and the dems, at least they give it lip service you can believe in.
The other team has done exactly nothing...there is the executive branch and the legislative branch. Why are they waiting for Obama to present his "plan" before they do anything? THAT is THEIR job.
Games.
The republicans lost a good portion of their base on '08, due in large part to Palin being added to the ticket. The tea party was a small but vocal group, fairly harmless, but garnering attention. The Koch brothers decided they could capitalize on this group, and threw money at them for the 2010 election, thus enhancing what was left of the republican base.
They created a monster with no political experience and no idea what statesmanship is. What they did know was to be loud, unreasonable and obnoxious. Today that monster is out of control and wreaking havoc in congress, as if they had control of the government. Will someone please help them and their "brother" republicans understand this: the President is a democrat, the Senate is under dem control, they only have the house, that is a two to one ratio. They don't exactly own the place. Not only that, they campaigned on creating jobs, and not only have they done exactly NOTHING toward that end, they rarely even mention the word lest people are reminded.
What they have done is what they do best, lie and present legislation that benefits only the monied donors that bought the last election. Their days are numbered, they have awakened the populice to the games they are playing.
When they say "the American people....", beware, what is to follow is a lie. They have proven over and over, that they don't give a rat's royal hiney about the American people.
The republican's have two goals, one is to make Obama a one term President, the other is to protect the wealthy and corporations from the EPA, unions, changes to tax law, any form of regulation, and those horrible little people. Everything they do and say screams this agenda.
Listen.
Excuse me for asking, but where the hell were John Boehner and Mitch McConnell while George W. Bush was running up all of this debt?
The last time I checked, these two Republican leaders and their followers, who now decry all of the debt, were actually the ones who provided the support for bush's spending sprees.
No wonder there are people in the Republican party who don't trust Boehner. Clearly, the man is a two-faced liar.
As far as the tea-baggers saying they are "the American people"?
Nonsense! They are the paid-for dupes of the Koch brothers.
The American people don't want any part of the Tea Party and their ultra-right-wing crap, or their adoration of the rich people who want the United States to become a feudal society - right out of the dark ages!
No one should trust Boehner!
I would like to repeat this: Every elected Republican(TEA party or GOP) in office anywhere in America should be scheduled for a Rectal Encehpaloectomy so that they can see the real world!