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House Republicans are discussing the prospect of a short-term extension in the nation's debt limit to avoid fault and give negotiations between lawmakers and the White House more time to succeed.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and erstwhile GOP vice presidential candidate, told reporters at House Republicans' retreat that members were "discussing the virtue of a short term debt limit extension."
Ryan elaborated that the idea would be to raise the nation’s borrowing authority for a few months and tie the matter into discussions with the White House and Senate on the other fiscal issues facing the country, such as the automatic spending cuts associated with the sequester and how to fund the government in the next fiscal year.
The comment is a significant development because it suggests there is movement in the House GOP Conference to avoid the debt limit when it's scheduled to hit in February, and instead shift the political battle in their favor by transforming the debate into a fight over shutting down the government or offsetting $110 billion dollars in cuts to defense and domestic programs.
When asked by NBC News whether he believed the House GOP Conference was unified enough to not have a repeat of the fiscal cliff fiasco, when many Republican lawmakers were reluctant to support plans by the GOP leadership, Ryan said, “We want people to have clear view of what's coming so there are no surprises, that means setting expectations accordingly so we can move forward in a unified basis.”
Ryan spent the morning with House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., briefing members about the upcoming “triple threat” of fiscal issues to be played out in Washington over the late winter and spring. GOP aides tell NBC News the talks are part of an effort by the Republican leadership to gauge the mood of the conference as well as map out the best possible path for the party in the next few months, so far they consider the response from members to be "positive."
The retreat is the House GOP’s annual occasion for members to talk to leadership, relax with their spouses and kids and also learn from communication professionals about to contour their message to fit the electorate. In light of the drubbing the GOP received amongst women and minorities in the 2012 election, the retreat will feature a seminar titled: “Coalitions-Discussion on Successful Communication with Minorities and Women.”
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Short term debt ceiling "fix", my butt. Is this all the GOP can do? Kick the effing can down the road a bit while they look for some loophole or hope for some catastrophe? The debt ceiling is debt we OWE as a nation. I has already been incurred. I can't run my life this way and the country can't either. Pay it, you half wits! Cut the politics for just once. This game playing by the GOP has to stop NOW.
Yes there is a spending problem, but the republicans never seem to mention the pentagon....etc..I was in the military and a fed employee...and I have seen my share of waste. The republicans seem to want to give the pentagon more money, even though the brass does not want it. Yes the military does create jobs, but why do we have to spend it overseas, why do we need all those 700 bases, why are we still in Europe, the cold war is over. Why are we sending aid to countries that do not like us, or the aid goes into somebody's pocket.
When the military gets a pay raise, the higher ups get most of the money, since it is a percentage, the lower ranks should get a higher percentage of the raise, and cut down on all the big brass perks, like their own airplanes...etc..
When will the GOP pull their pointy little heads out of their butts and understand that not only they lost their butts last Nov, but that the public is sick of their stupidity?
Herron, you're a real class clown. Grade school let out and now your on your mothers subsidized computor
OBAMA SHOULD REJECT THIS SHORT-TERM APPROACH TO THE BUDGET OF SUPER-POWER USA.
Obama should not continue to allow this periodic blackmail--and must take a stand on it once and for all!
Dr. Sam, ironically it sounds like you need to see a doctor
Dr.............the dems and Obama are good at blackmail also.....as in 2006 when every democrat including Senator Obama voted AGAINST raising the debt limit. In fact Senator Obama said this and I quote:
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a Sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. ...Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
SENATOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, MARCH 2006
GCCal, the context of that floor debate was how to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan which at the time were being funded by constant continuing resolutions and not by the budget process. Just thought you'd appreciate a little history.
Does not mean a thing.........words are words and cannot be changed. Just thought you'd appreciate a little insight.
call by the Administration to eliminate the 2nd Amendment
Trustverify you seem like a smart person....how is doing away with assault weapons and large cap clips doing away with the second amendment? How is it that people are walking away with this notion when it's been spelled out. Newtown lost children. When are all these idiots going to realize, 2nd amendment aside, these must go. It's a sad day when our politicians care more about their NRA rating than this VERY important Public Safety issue.
Terri, Trustverify must belong to a well regulated militia and is afraid that those state governed militias will be made extinct and replaced by state regulated National Guard units. Maybe someone should tell him that's already been done, and unless he is a member of his local National Guard, the 2nd Amendment doesn't do a thing for him.
Are these idiots so f1cking blind that they can't see what these "short term" fixes are doing to our economy? No business can set any firm plans because they don't know what the tax structure will be day after tomorrow. They can't plan what their healthcare costs will be because nobody knows if Obamacare is the law of the land or Republicans are going to block it. All good businesses have a short and long term plan to get where they need to go. Our Congress on the other hand takes the approach of "never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." WE HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY AND HE IS US - WASHINGTON, DC.
Should the school children of America - begin writing letters to President Obama - to beg him to help get the economy going again - and help their parents get much needed jobs for their families?
Would he read them at a press conference?
More important - would he do anything about it - going into his 5th year - The president of NO Jobs and Bad Economy?
No, they need to write letters to the GOP saying "The US will not negotiate with domestic terrorists that are ready to crash the economy. Do you DARN JOBS!"
Herron, the problem with our country is that it is filled with pathetic losers like yourself. Liberals are a cancer to this country and finding a cure for the brain defect that you liberal have would be a start.
Buy a paper. Watch the news. The economy is improving, jobless claims are at a five year low, stocks are holding steady in the mid $13-K range, consumer confidence is up, and the GDP is experiencing positive growth, interest rates are low, inflation is in check. I thought you would have taken a clue from the recent election ~ ~ that there is no market for the unadulterated bull@!$%# you and your rightwing radicals are peddling. Perhaps you overbought ~ and are just giving it away now?
Marcus D
You don't read/watch the economic news much do you ?
That would be a good idea. And the school children of Chicago.....where the gun laws are extremely draconian....should write the Obamao complaining about the very high murder rate in his hometown.
Did you read about the Notre Dame players girlfriend? Did you buy that one? How about Lance Armstrong - he used no drugs - did you go with that one too?
Reality always outweighs what's in print. The impact of the ACA on the economy is heading our way in less than a year, under an already historical debt situation.
We are continually being distracted for and by a president - afraid to say what he truly feels - a coward - Barack Obama
time to slap the little kiddies on the hand and jerk it out of the cookie jar. there are no cookies in the jar so you can't have any more. we are not making any more and in fact you need to put cookies in the jar as the bosses, us citizens, want some of them back.
wake up you can't spend what you don't have and we are not in the mood to give you more when it is obvious you all waste so much. get the f--king deadbeats off of the dole.
The "People's House" has control as it should. The Left can't stand not having control of everything.
You mean the domestic terrorists known as the Tea Party?
Read the 14th amendment (yes, there are more than 2), and look at the "Full Faith and Credit" clause.
CONGRESS authorized money to be spent, and now wont pay the bill!.
Herron- Still a dumb ass. The Tea Party is only 15% of the house, that leaves 85% to do your bidding, all you have to do is convince them, not me.
Greg, herron is still in grade school, so don't even try to explain
This sounds just great. "give negotiations between lawmakers and the White House more time to succeed". Really, MORE time......to succeed. How about we give them more time to train to do 1000 One Arm Pushups. Would "more time" help them to succeed at that? My point, if they haven't been able to make substantial progress at the task and we see what they currently have been able to accomplish should we feel optimistic in this "more time" approach? GET BUSY YOU NO GOOD DIMWITS. Is that clear? Or maybe bumbling, bought and paid for, corrupted by power, no good dimwits. Yeah, that's better.
i remember when colorado passed the weed bill legalizing weed. obama was asked about that and he said "WE HAVE BIGGER FISH TO FRY".... i call it deflecting.
well this petition will force his hand and he will have to make a decision.
i have started a petition at the whitehouse. gov
the petition is to have the federal government to enforce its own bans on marijuana and illegal immigration.
please go there and sign it.
http://wh.gov/Esqw
lets take away their weed !!!!! and the illegals that bring it into our country !!!!!!
help me get this to obama's desk....copy and paste, repost, add to your facebook, twitter
Did you have a nice day with your fellow TN buddy, James Yeager?
I disagree......let them smoke more weed. Maybe the Obamao would make more sense if he got stoned on a joint every afternoon.
From the party that should be in the peanut gallery if not for their gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts. GOP just like those guys giving speeches on all their big meeting tapes displayed by MSNBC and Current TV is just trying to disenfranchise the majority party of America from representation.
A 1/4 oz. of sanity. Is that possible. Bet the tea party nuts will screw up the deal.
Here we go again with the tea party games, their going too spend a year talking something that the republican created in the first place the debt,it seems they were happy to pass it for bush,in four years this president spent 1.4 trillion dollars, bush spent over 10 trillion,they don"t need to go on "NO" RETREAT they need too start doing what they were sent to the house and senate to do work to things better for american an d the country. I think your wasting more time because ass-hole and dumb-ass can't change!!
david, too bad you don't even know what you are talking about. Typical low information democrat. Total douche
I guess we'll have to revue the whole 911, who approved the war thing and how we got in debt for David.
David........
At least get your numbers in the right ball park.....geez.....
Soooooo...didn't Ryan campaign on NOT kicking the can down the road?
And now he wants to, well, kick the can down the road.
That, and widow's peaks and black capes for all kids!
The spineless republicans are at it again
Way past time for republicans to stand up and shove it up comrade obama's a..!!!
No cuts???
Shut'er down!!!
So, you like that that would be a violation of the Constitution, don't you? The 14th - "Full Faith and Credit"
CONGRESS spent the money. And now they don't want to pay the bill?
Has to happen some time, might as well be now.
Greg, if it happens it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Or don't you give a rip about THE CONSTITUTION?
You don't have any investments, and IRA, or a 401K, do you. If the GOP hold the country hostage, your own investments WILL TANK.
Obama doesn't need congressional authority to pay the nation's debts. He has a constitutional responsibility to ensure the full faith and credit of the United States is not abridged by political squabbling. I have a hunch that rather soon the GOP ~ in and out of congress ~ will see the exercise of emergency Executive powers to preserve the credibility and reputation of the United States of America. That will be a drastic step but it is one congress seems unwilling to take. Obama, as is any president, is sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. If it requires emergency enactment to do that, then so be it. Somebody in Washington needs to stand up to the terms of their oath of office. Its patently obvious that in congress, the first allegiance is to the ideology, then the party, then the country. Most of us are becoming weary of being the third choice by our government.
Our outstanding debt/ interest is 60% of revenue. Pay the debt and radically cut spending for things like Herron's cellphone.
All Bills that have a funding given
Must begin in the House of Representatives
(U.S. Constitution)
They o.k. the spending (Congress)
Playing Politics with OUR Debt= Cost More Debt and risks the fiduciary responsibility of our country. Soon have a Double A Rating ?? Increase Interest on our loans from Fed. They get more money for loaning us more of our money.
I want that job.
Way ot keep kicking the debt can down the road. Both parties could care a less about solving the debt issue. I feel sorry for my children.
18 times under Reagan, and 15 times under GW, the debt limit was raised with a one page, one issue bill.
That's why most people had never heard of the debt limit until Obama took office and the GOP went loony.
When will the debt get to HIGH? Do we just keep going & ignore it? Maybe it will go away if we don't talk about it. Yeah that a good idea, just raise it & nobody talk about it. Just ask the Chinese for some more money, put it on the tab, don't cut anything & it will go away.
Herron
Damn, you keep confusing the issue with facts, that's not playing nice nor fair.
Kevin, we can start working on the debt as soon as we realize that invading other countries is expensive. I still can't believe that World War II lasted less than five years but we have been in Afghanistan for nearly twelve years!
18 times......
We were NEVER talking about a president SPENDING MONEY AT THESE LEVELS......as you know......it was not even in the same league. We were talking 10s of billions.......now trillions
Bruce -848280
I though we were told we would be out of there 4 years ago????
Herron-The truth is the debt ceiling has been raised in every administration since 1940 with the exception of Clinton. How about a discussion of why the ceiling has been raised since 1940.
If the Reagan and Bush administrations are your baseline and they were so evil, why follow?
Evil?? LOL!!!
They weren't evil,.. just kinda stupid.. Which of course has nothing to do with the "debt ceiling"
The deficit has grown by a little over a trillion dollars every year. This deficit started with George W. Bush and by the time he left office the deficit was a little over 9 Trillion dollars. President Obama inherited that, and inherited a budget approved by President Bush. President Obama offered really good budget reductions in the deal he offered in 2011, but the House refused to budge. Rather than take the deal and work on doing more, the House refused and so we have no budget reductions in place AT ALL. People continue to forget that the budget is done on Congress's side and handed to the President to sign. It is NOT the other way around. So our debts, our promisory notes now due are all on the heads of our REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED HOUSE. The Senate was going to approve what President Obama presented in 2011.
You need to learn the difference between the national debt and a budget deficit. Two VERY different things. I know what you were trying to say though.
What about Barry's first two years of no budget when he controlled both house? I guess we should just ignore that?
Don't forget that GW Bush not only increased the deficit, he kept the costs of Afghanistan and Iraq 'off budget' by using continuing resolutions. Obama put those costs on budget and, shock of all shock, the deficit went up.
Please study some finance before you comment on this topic. You don't know what you are talking about.
No debt ceiling extension should be needed. Just implement the spending cuts Obama promised when he got his tax increase.
Common. The debt limit is for money ALREADY SPENT by CONGRESS, but the bill for that stuff hasn't been paid.
Let's say you bought a TV at Xmas, and you used your CC. You got the credit card bill today. Will you pay it? That is what the debt limit is all about. Paying for stuff that was already bought.
If you DONT pay it, your credit score drops.
The sequesters on government spending begin March 1st. Obama should simply get out of the way and let them take place. There are your spending cuts ~ and they will be the only ones we will see that are a clean deal on their face. The sequesters serve the Treasury of the United States. All of the others proposed by members of congress serve politics, pure and simple. 269 House Republicans and 23 GOP senators voted for the sequesters in 2011. If they were a good deal then, they are today so let them take effect.
No problem Herron, just the take the money from other government programs to pay the debt. They could start off by eliminating the dept of labor. It does nothing but put out information that is helpful to the democrats. Why should the taxpayer have to pay for that?
check it out
obama gave away $20 billion to all his failed energy projects...the same damn projects that have been in the works for the past 40+ years and still cant get going and before you comment, it dont take our money to get a business going.
obama just this massive pork project when he signed the fiscal cliff package:
and you idiots want to point fingers at the GOP...lmfao
Against, thanks for proving you know so little about so many things!
that was a low blow i know, but you will live herron
OUCH!!!!
I don't agree with giving money to NASCAR or Hollywood. But remember, it wasn't President Obama that wrote that bill, it was Republican members of the House putting in their pork for their pet projects in order to pass a bill they really didn't want. But, we needed to have that bill signed.
@iam
are we going to play dumb?
did obama cover his eyes while he was signing this pork package?
as i recall, obama vowed to veto any bill that was full of earmarks.
Line Item Veto power would take care of the pork. If the prez doesn't have that power, you will continue to see pork.
ekonkar........Obamao would never use it. He has said repeatedly.....there is NO SPENDING PROBLEM!!
caljam71, can you give me a link and/or source for that quote? I'm not trying to be snarky, but I would like know.
why on earth are they raising the ceiling? i cannot believe people who run this country! nobama is the reason were in this mess with his bullsh!t spending! impeach his dumbazz and get someone in the off who knows what he is doing! and not hillary shes just as bad!
You clearly have NO understanding of what the debt limit is.
herron, doesnt know how to stay out of debt.
against, I can GUARANTEE I owe less money than you do for ANYTHING!
When it's time to pay bills, the debt limit has to be increased. Oh, and all those bills? They all have at least one thing in common: Congress approved every one of them! Presidents can propose spending money and tax measures, but only Congress has the authority to raise taxes and to spend money. (Const. Article I, Sections 7 & 8)
And Charles, raising the debt limit permits paying existing bills owed. I suppose Congress could say "no, we're not going to pay our bills" and let the financial markets go ballistic not to mention those who are living on Social Security payments, but it would be one of the last decisions the Republican House would ever make.
So one might might say "show me the cuts" not decreases to further increases that you're going to make in the debt. Yes I know we're talking about already authorized money but conservatives need to use whatever leverage they have left. Obama now takes credit for the Bush tax cuts made permanent for the non rich. Since conservatives are the only ones worried about living within our means they need to do everything in their power to follow through on their principles. And for those of you that think we can print money forever without consequences you better hope you never see a $20. loaf of bread. Also chew on this- if the Government was not keeping interest rates artificially low your house would be worth a lot more money, that is if you still have a house. If you don't call Barney Frank and he'll explain why.
Just a suggestion, the reading of the book "Who Stole the American Dream" by HEDRICK SMITH should be most enlightening to many.