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The Senate approved a three-month suspension of the debt limit on Thursday, sending it to the White House for President Barack Obama’s likely signature.
The upper chamber voted 64 to 34 to add its approval to a plan conceived by House Republicans, which would push the deadline at which the government runs out of authority to borrow money to finance its obligations until May 18. The government would have otherwise run out of money within a matter of weeks.
In exchange for the extension of borrowing authority, both the House and Senate must now draft and approve separate budget resolutions by mid-April. The legislation approved Thursday by the Senate and last week by the House would place lawmakers’ pay into escrow if they were to fail to pass a budget.
The Obama administration has indicated that while the president would have preferred a longer-term extension of the debt ceiling, it did not oppose the short-term extension. Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law.
Attention will now turn to the normal budgeting process that typically dominates the first few months of the calendar year in Congress. Republicans’ gambit in offering this proposal was to highlight how Senate Democrats had failed to pass a formal budget resolution in the last four years. (Democrats argue they were working off of a de-facto budget stipulated by various spending cut agreements passed by Congress.)
Leaders of both chambers have suggested they’ll push ahead with ambitious, and markedly different, budgets.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, will lead the GOP’s efforts; he’s vowed to produce a budget that would balance the budget in the next 10 years without raising any new taxes.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have said they plan to seek additional revenues from taxes in the budget they will produce. Washington Sen. Patty Murray, D, the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, will lead that effort.
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A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Too bad OdumbO doesn't have one to use.
Unrestrained and Unregulated Capitalism....what are the results?
Two complete collapses of our economy.....ducky.
You're right. Somehow, being a responsible, and good citizen, has gone out of style.
Do you remember when a famous person once said:
Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country?"
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The new motto: When do I get my free stuff?
You keep blaming the poor. The poor did not make this mess we are in. They are not the politicians, the lawmakers, the corporate executives. But I guess for some of you, it is easier kicking someone who is already down.
I could eliminate the debt crisis in 2 years!
Flat sales tax! fair tax system everyone pays fair share , IRS abolished saving trillions!
Stop government fraud and waste.
Stop the war on drugs!
Legalize all drugs and clasify them!
set up FREE clinics for hard drugs and dispurse them in dosages in zoned areas.
no more cartels, gangs, prisons for sexual and violent people slows down crime dramaticly and far less costly than current system.
Legal Prostitution-zoned areas
No more pimps, human trafficking, rape
This seems extreme because everyone wants to think this world is all about kids and these issues are not real.
These measure will make the world safer for kids and they dont have to see any of it until they are adults.
Well, atleast there is an admission that the new laws won't be effective!
Now, how about an admission that the new laws limit good people's freedom!
Increase defense and cut aid to foreign countries. Im tired of paying countries to not F#ck with us. With a good defense and letting other countries KNOW you mess with USA were going to bring it !
It could take a full term in office repealing the nonsical and invasive laws.
Shame they are only putting their pay into escrow. They should forfeit pay and also all their health, travel and office perks until they get someting done.
I could not agree MORE! Perhaps when their wallets go empty they will get up off their asses and get to work!!!
Right on...
This is a hand grenade and the pin has been pulled! Just keep tossing it around from one postponement to the next, from one delay to another and then watch it explode in our faces. Yes, I voted Democratic but that doesn't mean that I agree with everything they do. We need a functional budget and we need it yesterday!
Ryan seems to believe that a budget can be written in chalk or on a whiteboard and then simply erase what you don't like later on; somewhere down the road; BUT, the Obama approach isn't any better at this point. Something in the near future is going to go POP if we don't hammer down a useable budget very soon. I must admit though, that I like the idea/notion of the legislators paychecks being thrown in the mix. Nice touch, hee hee heee...
Right on...
Enough already: we need to get our spending under control not continue creating more debt.
We are over $16,000,000,000,000 in debt: EVERYONE in Washington that has been there more than 2 years should be voted out of office and replaced with someone with some common sense. Naturally, this won't happen: too much money supporting the incompetent crooks that got us into this mess.
Biden, McCain, Boehner, Pelosia, et. al.: they pat themselves on the back and strut around as if what they have accomplished is positive for the country when it is not.
Our economy is still in shambles - but not for them and their cronies.
Our schools are failing us and our children - but not them and their cronies.
Our retirement pay is under attack- but not them and their cronies.
Our troops are getting put in harms way to fight non-winnable wars - but you won't see many of the politicians and their cronies' kids in the military.
We need to hold Washington responsible for this mess - and we aren't - and that's our fault.
NOW is the time to enact TERM LIMITS !
I am all for term limits. Should have been enacted years ago. Career politicians could care less about the sufferings of U.S. citizens and I have grown very tired of being ignored while they continue to syphon off more tax dollars into their pockets.
Right on...
This Congress will go down as the worst congress in USA history. Of course, this is under the leadership of the worst president ever - Obama. Nominates Hagel because he's just like Obama, a blubbering idiot. Hagel is a left wing fringe moron with a vendetta against the United states again just like Obama. Obama has added 6 trillion dollars to the debt and what did we get?? 50 million people on welfare! real unemployment of 15%, the disaster of Obamacare! He ends his jobs council, he pay no attention to his debt commission for what? To focus on gun laws that won't work, womens rights, rights for illegals while the GDP of the country declines! Obama is pathetic closely followed by the congress. Thanks alot for voting these morons in office. I guess a shrinking GDP and Hagel are good, just like cancer, brain tumors, heart attacks, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and Obama.
If you voted for Obama you are an idiot, a stupid jerk that has no idea what a horrible president Obama is and has been.
WELL PUT ! BRAVO ! Unfortunately, we have to wait to see how much damage "The One" can do during this term. God (not allah) Help Us !
George......why are you only focusing you anger towards the President? What about the rest of the clowns in Washington? Why aren't you complaining about Boehner? Ryan? Cantor? McConnell? Reid? Pelosi? The President doesn't control the money - Congress does.
I'm not saying the President is blameless in this mess but people need to hold the real culprits accountable. All you have to do is watch Hagel's confirmation hearing to see what kind of clowns are running the country.
So many have played a role in this catastrophe that is now our gov't. Can't blame the POTUS exclusively esp. when a nut job like McConnell made it clear that the primary agenda should be to ensure that Pres Obama would not be re-elected. I also disagree that the POTUS is the worst president ever. That honor goes to George Bush who initiated two wars on the country's dole and no way to pay for them. These two wars cost far more than the six trillion added by the Obama admn. We must always bear in mind that when Dubya was first elected, he inherited a surplus and THEN racked up nearly ten trillion before he left office. There's no getting around those facts. Bush and Chinface Cheney drove our nation off the cliff with the now infamous LIE that they had proof of WMD in Iraq.
No such truth was ever afforded the American people but thousands of lives were lost, needlessly, and billions upon billions spent on an idiotic campaign that netted America and big, fat goose egg as we ultimately walked away with NOTHING to show for nearly a decade of occupation. Pres Obama has actually accomplished far more than Bush did...on the positive side. Those who claim he is the worst president ever are typically racist who just hate the fact that a black man is president. They want to soil his good name and positive reputation but thanks to fact checkers like me; in the annals of history, he will only be blamed for what he has done wrong; not for the fact that he was born to a black father and a white mother.
Right on...
Under Bush, the national debt just about doubled, from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. I don't know what numbers YOU looked at to arrive at $10 trillion under Bush, but the government apparently disagrees with you. Under Obama, the debt is once again expected to double, from $10 to $20 trillion. Does the next President get to preside over another doubling of our debt because Bush and Obama did it? that seems to be the sole rationale of anyone supporting President Obama and his policies. It is ALWAYS "Bush did it", so Obama should of course get a free pass now. So when, if ever, will it all end? Bush and his GOP Congress were horrible, racking up debts. But then that spending actually INCREASED once the Dems took Congress for Bush's last 2 years, and the spending continues today.
mikehataway
It looks like you don't get it as all.
When we have a republican congress and a republican president, it is the republicans fault.
When we have a democrat congress and a republican president it is the republicans fault.
When we have a democrat congress and a democrat president, it is the republicans fault.
When we have a split congress and a democrat president, it is the republicans fault.
(for those of you who don't get it, the above is sarcasm)
Ok...lets do the math. Bush inherited a surplus; there can be no contention about that fact. When Clinton left office, the US was operating in the black for the first time in over 50 years. That fact is easy to check.
Bush takes office in 2000 which makes him the next president AFTER Clinton. When Bush leaves office he had to have brought the debt to 10-trillion or else the math doesn't work. If Pres Obama is being accused of ADDING six-trillion to the debt crisis there had to already be a 10-trillion dollar debt to begin with or else how do you arrive at 16-trillion which is suppose to be the current amount owed? Six trillion plus 10-tirllion equals 16-trillion which means that Bush added more to the debt line than Obama has, 4-trillion more than Obama. This is what I mean when I say that many Republicans simply LIE when it comes to Pres Obama just because he is a black man. The math doesn't work but they still want to blame Obama.
This is simple: If the current debt is 16-trillion and Pres Obama is being accused of adding six-trillion, then Bush had to have added the first 10-trillion. There is no way around that fact or the math. AND...much of what Pres Obama has added is a direct result of the two wars that Bush started. War is very expensive; tanks, jeeps, (hummers), artillery, planes, a full naval operation, uniforms, food and paychecks plus housing thousands of troops...THAT AIN'T CHEAP!!! Pres Obama didn't have the luxury of simply pulling out, he had to deescalate which means that things had to continue as they were for quite a while BEFORE he could even start to pull out the American forces. Ending TWO WARS and getting the troops home safely puts Pres Obama in a very special category because no other president has had to reduce troop movement in two wars simultaneously; what he is doing is nothing short of remarkable and then add to it the fact that he got bin-Laden and this president is hardly the worst president ever. We tend to also overlook the fact that Pres Obama is also the recipient of the Noble-Peace Prize which is no small feat! His resumé is nothing short of spectacular when one includes the fact that he got health care passed which helps millions who would otherwise be without it.
Right on...
JC Breeze
Considering that Bush inherited a national debt of almost 6 trillion dollars and you said that Bush left a debt approaching 11 trillion dollars I have having more than a little trouble getting your math to work. And if you go to the treasury website you can confirm that.
I didn't say anything about Bush adding 11-trillion...what did you read?
Right on...
Okay; this comes from the Huf Post dated Feb. 3rd, 2013 and reads as follows:
"Furthermore, I can name two Democratic presidents who've cut the deficit through the duration of their presidencies: Clinton and Obama. And what about Republican presidents? Bush 43? He turned a $200 billion surplus into a $400 billion deficit by the end of his first term, and a $1.2 trillion deficit by the end of his second term. Bush 41? No. Reagan? No. Ford? No. Nixon? No. The last Republican president who cut the deficit was Eisenhower. By the way, I'm sick of hearing the farcical line about Congress "controlling the purse strings." Any six-year-old child who's watched a Schoolhouse Rock cartoon knows the president signs all legislation before it becomes law, including appropriations bills. The House can't magically spend money without a presidential signature. Besides, if the president is to be blamed for the size of the deficit -- and the Republicans have been merciless on the president in this area in spite of reality, and their own party's record -- it's only fair that he should get credit when the deficit is reduced."
That's where my info comes from. Bush decimated the economy not Pres Obama and the facts don't lie!
Right on...
JC, please come back to debate when you learn the difference between DEBT and DEFICIT!
Until you do, you will NEVER be taken seriously, even by fellow liberals.
Right On.........
The Republican Party caved on the fiscal cliff deal. They got very little of what they wanted. They wanted big spending cuts, they got zilch. They wanted the tax cuts for the rich to be permanent, they did not get that either. What they did get was the same thing that the Democrats wanted, tax cuts for low and middle income folks are now permanent.
What a Hootie and the blow-fish! LOL.
Funny how Dems were opposed to all Bush Tax cuts just a few years ago. Now it's like it's what they wanted all along.
Dems were only opposed to the cuts for the wealthy, not the rest of us.
Wait. Did John Boehner just get 99% of the bush era tax cuts made permanent ? Somebody got played !! And it wasn't the Republicans.
Obama wanted taxes on the top 2% to go up. That is exactly what happened. Rates for those making over $450k per year went up and deductions for those making $250k and up were reduced.
It’s become abundantly clear the President and congressional leaders (and the media) are afraid of the "Big Bad Debt." They continually want to keep the publics attention on those emotional issues of the day like gun control, gay rights, immigration reform while the debt continues to grow at an accelerated rate.
For well over ten years the debt has been an issue of big concern for this nation, yet it would seem only a “last minute” approach has been taken by elected officials to deal with this issue. Basically, using symbolic terms, the debt is sitting on the back burner.
Meanwhile those coveted emotional issues have the vice-president chairing commissions, the president making them the corner stone of his big speeches, second term and are standing front and center.
Ah yes, emotion,........what a concept!
Again, let it be known and shouted from the highest mountaintop, “The President and Congressional Leaders are Afraid of the Big Bad Debt."
Yes the President is afraid of the debt celing?
Just shut up
Oh good, an agreement ! Another increase in the debt. Hooray ? I wonder how "the one" will spend it this time.
I just saw a recent poll that said that 73% of voter consider the problems in congress to be the fault of the REPUBLICAN PARTY ! and that includes 35% of republican voters ! enough said ! AMERICA HAS SPOKEN !
Did you see the polls in November? You know, the ones that saw the GOP elected to it's second-largest majority in the House since 1948???
Just goes to show that you can fool all of the people some of the time but can you fool all of the people all of the time?
It's hard to understand the idiocy going on in Washington. Instead of dealing with the debt and spending problem (both parties created) - they want to fight and posture over stupid things so they can play to their political bases. That doesn't solve the problem.
I see a lot posts exclusively blaming the "other" side while ignoring how "their" side contributed to the problem. Place blame where it belongs - on all of them. Nobody is going to be happy with the solution. Nobody is going to get everything they want. The only fact people need to be concerned about is something real has to be done.
It's so entertaining to watch the right wing in their lame attempt to make BAD news out of GOOD news.
Yep, raising our debt limit ceiling and spending MORE is GREAT news. I wonder what our grandchildren and children will think when they are faced with an insurmountable debt load?
By 2035-2040, the entire federal budget will be consumed by just a few items--Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the interest on our national debt. I guess you have absolutely NO clue what that means for all the other functions of our government.
No worries, mikehataway, the right wing will have completely destroyed our climate by then. The debt "crises" they keep yapping about over and over and over will be the least of our children's and grandchildren's concern.
Yes, Activist, I guess we could just go back to the caveman days and use only wood for cooking and heating. Would that satisfy you?
Our grandchildren won't ever even see the money they put into SS unless some drastic changes are made.
I guess having no money for things like Defense, Education, the EPA, OSHA, etc. (you know---those things you support) won't have any effect on the economy or on people's lives!
Mike, there's no use in responding to "Activist". He/She's the stick and move type. Spew a little nonsense withou any fact, then dip out. That way, they can't be shown they were wrong.
Congress passes all bills to do with spending
The President can either veto or sign the legislation
He can not spend money not authorized by Congress
In the last FIVE years there has only been ONE New Bill passed by Congress that Obama
Signed and promoted
It was the Affordable Health Care Bill
Which does not go into affect until 2014
The Congressional Budget Office
Has estimated it will bring about a savings of
One Trillion Dollars over ten years
During the first ten years
After it goes into affect in 2014
We as a Nation and its citizens are obligated to pay for what Congress has authorized
So simple to explain
But it is hard for an idiot to understand
Say what,
It's so entertaining to watch the right wing in their lame attempt to make BAD news out of GOOD news.
So the good news would be the economy shrank by 0.1%. Or perhaps it's that unemployment went up from 7.8 to 7.9. Maybe it's that Obama said during the "fiscal cliff crisis" if we raise the debt ceiling we can talk about cuts later. But in his "internet address" he said we need to close loopholes for the rich and washington needs to get out of the way. Now I can't argue about the loopholes but where is the conversation about the cuts. Hmmm, wait. We'll do that later. Define later Mr. President. Is that later this year? Maybe next year? Or is it after you're out of office and you can just laugh your azz off at the morons the re-elected you.
Perhaps Mr. President it is you that needs to get out of the way. Way out of the way.
If you think your party is better than the other and try to hold one over the other accountable your being played as a fool.
Which one of them won they Cliff deal last month? If you noticed both walked out using the same tag line as the other "It is not as bad as it could have been". The only thing for sure is the taxpayer got the shaft and it does not matter which party they favored. Both promised not to raise taxes on the middle class and as long as you remain divided they will use in their favor because it is not about doing the right thing but whatever it takes to get re-elected.
Congress passes all bills to do with spending
The President can either veto or sign the legislation
He can not spend money not authorized by Congress
In the last FIVE years there has only been ONE New Bill passed by Congress that Obama
Signed and promoted
It was the Affordable Health Care Bill
Which does not go into affect until 2014
The Congressional Budget Office
Has estimated it will bring about a savings of
One Trillion Dollars over ten years
During the first ten years
After it goes into affect in 2014
We as a Nation and its citizens are obligated to pay for what Congress has authorized
So simple to explain
But it is hard for an idiot to understand
what Paula replied I am alarmed that you can profit $4045 in 1 month on the internet. did you see this site
Solution for paying the National Debt:
Consider all guns as property and tax to the max
Put a tax on all guns equal to the price of the gun
Put a tax on each bullet equal to the cost of the box of ammo