So we hit the debt limit...

[Drakken]

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/170987-mcconnell-fall-back-plan-that-leaves-debt-ceiling-hike-to-obama

McConnell fall-back plan would leave debt-ceiling hikes to Obama

By Alexander Bolton - 07/12/11 03:07 PM ET

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday laid out a plan that puts the responsibility for increasing the debt limit squarely on President Obama.

McConnell has called for Congress to pass legislation authorizing Obama to make successive requests to increase the debt limit.

Under the legislation, Congress could only block those requests by passing resolutions of disapproval, which would have to be supported by two-thirds of both the Senate and House to overcome an expected presidential veto.

McConnell described his proposal as a "last choice option" to avoid a national default if Congress fails to otherwise agree to a compromise to raise the debt limit by Aug. 2, when the Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to pay U.S. debts.

It would send a clear signal to the markets and the public that the nation will not default on its debt, which would boost interest rates and make mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans more expensive.

It also would benefit Republicans politically by placing the responsibility for raising the debt limit almost entirely on Obama. The plan would allow Republicans in the Senate and House to vote en masse against raising the debt limit without causing a national economic catastrophe.

When asked if House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had OK'd the Senate GOP's fall-back plan, McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he had had conversations with "others" about the subject.

Administration officials estimated they'd need to raise the debt limit by $2.4 trillion to take them into the late winter or spring of 2013, when Republicans may control both chambers of Congress and perhaps the White House if Obama loses re-election.

The legislation McConnell has proposed would require the president to make three requests to raise the debt limit by approximately $700 billion to $900 billion in three separate tranches between now and Election Day 2012.

The legislation also would require Obama to suggest spending cuts to accompany those increases in the debt limit, but would not require such cuts. The legislation would prohibit the president from recommending tax increases along with the requests to increase the debt limit.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he was willing to examine and consider the new proposal.

"I am not about to trash his proposal," Reid said at a press conference held shortly after McConnell presented his plan. "It's something that I will look at. I will look at it intently, and I think [I am willing to look at any new ideas."

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he had "no idea" whether the proposal could pass the House.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters he had talked to McConnell but had not seen specific details of the plan.

McConnell presented his proposal to colleagues at a lunch meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus left the meeting early and declined to comment on McConnell's plan.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he preferred to focus on what he supports, namely the "cut, cap and balance" plan that would require Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment before approving an increase in the debt limit.

Doesn't that plan defeat the whole purpose to limit big government, which is the bulk of the Tea Party's whole economic "ideology"?  Yeah, give the Executive more power to increase the debt limit arbitrarily, especially when the Prez has has a Majority in Congress, that would mean less government and less federal involvement.

[DGuller]

It's encouraging to see that some Republicans are finally starting to realize that they're playing a game of chicken with two locomotives and one track, and that an exit strategy that saves face is necessary.

[The Brain]

Would you rather save your face or your ass?

[Drakken]

It's encouraging to see that some Republicans are finally starting to realize that they're playing a game of chicken with two locomotives and one track, and that an exit strategy that saves face is necessary.

That's the problem with the chicken game: the first that budges loses face anyway, regardless of exit strategies.

[CountDeMoney]

Even you wouldn't want someone is insane.

No, but I bet he hopes more people like Money decide that they don't give a shit any more.  The more Democrats stay home, the more Republicans get elected.

I said I didn't give a shit anymore.  I didn't say anything about no voting.

The way I see it, my vote cancels out Hansmeister's, and that's a extra-special pleasure all in itself.

[CountDeMoney]

And it goes without saying that I'd rather have her than Obama as Prez.

Strike my last post;  my vote cancels out dergoof's.

[CountDeMoney]

McConnell fall-back plan would leave debt-ceiling hikes to Obama


Doesn't that plan defeat the whole purpose to limit big government, which is the bulk of the Tea Party's whole economic "ideology"?  Yeah, give the Executive more power to increase the debt limit arbitrarily, especially when the Prez has has a Majority in Congress, that would mean less government and less federal involvement.

Their pinning their hopes that the American people believe that raising the debt ceiling is as big a deal as the GOP's making it out to be, like it's some sort of catastrophic paradigm-changer, and they can then blame the President for doing...something.

Either way, they think the key to 2012 is blaming the President.  For jobs.  For the deficit reduction.  For raising the debt ceiling.  Anything.  Anything at all.

[Admiral Yi]

OK DGuller, I'm in.  My 80 your 20.

[DGuller]

OK DGuller, I'm in.  My 80 your 20.

D'oh, you dirty market timer.  I was about to withdraw my offer, in light of the new developments. 

Oh, well, I'll be the man of my word, the bet is on.  I can't go too wrong betting on the insanity of Republicans.

[Admiral Yi]

D'oh, you dirty market timer.  I was about to withdraw my offer, in light of the new developments. 

Oh, well, I'll be the man of my word, the bet is on.  I can't go too wrong betting on the insanity of Republicans.

What new developments are you talking about?

[DGuller]

D'oh, you dirty market timer.  I was about to withdraw my offer, in light of the new developments. 

Oh, well, I'll be the man of my word, the bet is on.  I can't go too wrong betting on the insanity of Republicans.

What new developments are you talking about?

McConnell probing for a way out of the Mexican standoff.

[Admiral Yi]

McConnell probing for a way out of the Mexican standoff.

  You're such a stereotypical shtetl haggler.  Like that's going to change anything.

[Razgovory]

Oh, come on.  You guys know how far to the right I am.

Seems to me like your position is the equivalent of a lefty preferring Kucinich to McCain or Romney in the last election.  It's not just of question of Left or Right.  There are certain people who as a categorical matter should not be placed in a position of such power because they have demonstrated their incapability of acting responsibly.  In that sense Kucinich and Bachman are more alike than Pawlenty and Bachman, and Obama and Pawlenty are more alike than either Kucinich and Bachman.

Right and Left are all fine and dandy; I'll admit to as much partisanship as the next guy.  But America still comes first.

The Republican hatred of Obama is blinding all good sense.  Fuck, they'd welcome a Chinese dictator before Obama.  That's why they going on about light bulbs and other bullshit (even though Obama has nothing to do with it).

[Jacob]

James K. Galbraith argues that there is in fact no actual crisis beyond that manufactured by political posturing, and that the Debt Ceiling is in fact unconstitional here: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/11/the_catastrophic_debt_ceilng_debate/index.html

[Razgovory]

Oh and here's my bet with Yi.  The next Republican to win the Presidency will increase the deficit under his/her administration.  If I am correct I get to have my way with his current girlfriend.  If I'm wrong, I have to be Yi's personal assassin and kill one person of his choice.