Speaker's debt-ceiling plan comes under fire

[TomCADem]

Source: USA Today

Tuesday began with a warning from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the House Republican Study Committee. "I am confident as of this morning that there are not 218 Republicans in support of the plan," he said.

Jordan said he won't support Boehner's plan because the congressional commission created by the bill could eventually recommend higher taxes as part of future budget-balancing measures. Jordan's group has 170 conservative House Republicans.

* * *

Believing the Aug. 2 date is real is no guarantee of a yes vote, said freshman Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. He wanted a balanced budget amendment attached to the debt ceiling bill. "I'm still leaning no," he said.

Some conservative congressional Republicans continued Tuesday to question whether the government would necessarily default even if the debt limit isn't increased. Obama's claims of default are "scare tactics … meant to intimidate congressional Republicans into voting for the package the administration wants," said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-26-gop-rethinks-debt-limit-plan_n.htm

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Amazing. Despite the Republican talking points that Democrats are refusing to compromise, the Republican only bill is getting more and more extreme in order to attract votes from the right wing fringe. Well, America elected was amounts to economic suicide bombers, and now we are paying the price. Republicans so extreme that they are still trying to out-crazy each other less than a week before the default deadline.

[Proletariatprincess]

1. All political theater...

on the last day...the last hour before the deadline, they will raise the debt ceiling and impose the most draconian cuts imaginable. A bill that no one has read and that will be passed by the slimest of margins. All the players in this little drama will argue about what it means and who is to blame and the media will continue to call the 2012 election horse race.
What a farce.

[Devil_Fish]

2. +1000. You talk like you have played this game before. NT

[No Elephants]

12. We all have. It's TARP redux. Or Obama tax cuts redux.

"We had no choice!"

[customerserviceguy]

3. I don't think so

While I acknowledge that it's certainly possible, I think that the tea partiers will hang tough on their stand at least through August 2nd. They really, really want to force a crisis, or more accurately, want to show that there is no crisis.

Either one will happen, or it won't. Either way, I do see the TP getting more of what it wants than we do.

[daleo]

5. Someone could make a lot of money

Refuse a deal, let treasury bonds tank, snap them up, cut a deal, bonds rise, they sell them at a big profit.

[AndyTiedye]

8. They Make Even More if They Short the Bonds First, Like Cantor's Ultrashort ETF Does

[daleo]

10. That too. n/t

[neoralme]

9. If the cuts are too Draconian, the Republican Party will be devastated

in 2012, literally run out of office. The Tea Party people on the ground said nothing about cutting SS and Medicare. When they see what's going on, they will turn on Cantor and crew, as will Indies and Republicans, all of who get Social benefits too.

[No Elephants]

13. Depends. Obama is President and we theoretically control the Senate.

Will the Republican part of the House get all the blame anyway? Maybe. Maybe not.

[DallasNE]

4. Tonight Boehner Pulled His Bill

It seems that it came back from CBO with a projection of $850B debt reduction versus current projections rather than the $1.2T Boehner advertised so it is back to the drawing boards for an additional $350B in cuts. But it won't be nearly as easy this time. Most of the earlier cuts were from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, something that was going to happen anyway. The remainder came out of entitlements and those cuts were going to cost seniors and additional $6,000 a year in Medicare premiums. Will Boehner dare attempt to take most of the $350B shortfall out of entitlements?

The CBO headline was $850B but that isn't even the most important number. Did CBO score the impact of the Boehner plan on JOBS? And are the loss of jobs the primary reason for the poor showing on the deficit? Since MSM will not ask about impact on JOBS the blogs have to do the asking. Does anyone have access to the actual CBO report and whether it even mentions impact on JOBS.

[Fearless]

6. Tea Party in Revolt: Boehner Delays Vote

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, facing a Republican revolt by tea party conservatives amid revelations that his debt-ceiling plan would not cut as much spending as advertised, was forced to delay a vote on legislation just a week before an Aug. 2 deadline for staving off the potential financial chaos of America's first-ever default.

Even with time running out and the Treasury's ability to pay the nation's bills at stake, the speaker promised to quickly rewrite his legislation to increase the U.S. debt limit after budget officials said its planned spending cuts didn't add up.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/26/politics/main20083934.shtml

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There's hope yet that the Republicans' plan to cut social programs and not raise taxes will fail!

[msongs]

7. lol obama is doing their agenda for them and they still will not cooperate nt

[demwing]

11. That makes him corrupted, and them stupid..../nt

[No Elephants]

14. Not for nuthin' are they saying "Republicans won't take 'yes' for an answer."

[No Elephants]

15. Maybe if they delay enough, a clean, debt ceiling raising bill will be the only possible option.

It may be morning in America, but I enjoy dreaming nonetheless.