I bet the WH is reeling now - gobsmacked. They were said

[gateley]

to be surprised when Boehner put the House in recess. And I think the general consensus was that they'd hammer something out tonight.

They're not even still trying - just throwing up their hands and calling it a night! (After eating pizza we undoubtedly paid for!)

[msongs]

1. Obama should hold a presser and call for a vote on a clean bill to raise the debt limit nt

[global1]

9. I Think That The President Should Take Advantage Of This Situation Immediately......

and get in front of the cameras and any negatives that the Repugs & Teabaggers will throw at him in the a.m.

He should hold an impromtu appearance and make some sort of statement saying how dysfunctional the Repugs are and that if we go into default that they will be held responsible.

I'm sure he won't do that - but can't a guy wish?

[Safetykitten]

16. But that would be seen as...not nice.

[gateley]

20. I think if he were to just say "we're leaving everything OFF except

raising the limit to meet our obligations, which everyone agreed has to be done", it would be obvious it's because the Republicans are to blame we were backed up against the wall.

[gateley]

18. I like it! I am instructing my Party to issue a one line bill

to vote on solely to raise the limit so we can continue to meet our obligations.

We do not have time to wait on more complicated bills which may or may not even make it to the floor for a vote.

We will work on our differences after we've averted this emergency.

Call your Representatives and Senators!

Good night and God Bless America.

[maryellen99]

32. I also think he needs to explain to the American People

What exactly will happen if we default.

[gateley]

34. That wonderful woman who is subbing for Rachel had a list

of what gets paid, what doesn't.

He needs to hold up something like that - see it in black and white, it's sobering.

[JayhawkSD]

44. Pay attention

He's done that, repeatedly.

[Scurrilous]

2. LOL

Nice spin! :thumbsup:

[Schema Thing]

3. How would the Boehner bill advance anything if the senate would reject it?

I'm ignorant of how this works; could the senate vote for a separate bill (Reid's) and then the two bills have to be merged?

[kenny blankenship]

22. Passing it or anything would just move us to the next round, which is important

with so little time remaining.

This round would have been like shitting a brick, even if it had come off, which it hasn't tonight. But the round after next, that is after the Senate passes something, in which something that can pass the Senate is also agreed to by the House would be loads worse. Because anything that represents a merger of House and Senate bills, neither of which have passed yet, would be sure to lose several Tbagginses because it would not be quite as punishingly crazy as the bill they initially voted on.

It's possible that the House intends to wait until say, 11:30 or 11:45 PM Monday night to pass its bill leaving the Senate with the choice of approving it and sending it on to the President the same night, or throwing the country into default by tabling the House's Bill and sending their own bill to the House with no time to vote on it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. What about the House's 72 Hour Rule?

Don't they have to put the bill up on their website or something for 72 hours before they actually vote on it? The bill's been changed, so wouldn't they technically have to wait until Monday to actually vote on it? They wouldn't technically be able to consider Reid's bill (or a merged one) in time unless it gets hammered out and posted tomorrow (according to their rules), right? :shrug: Could be that we are already screwed? :shrug:

[kenny blankenship]

45. You got me- I don't know.

I also don't know who would enforce that rule under the circumstances.

[gateley]

24. No - I was confused about this too, but it's just like any other

bill -- the House AND the Senate have to agree on the same bill.

I don't know why the Senate is waiting on the House before Reid puts forward his bill, if it's protocol or not.

[starroute]

42. It may be because spending measures have to originate in the House

Article I, Section 7: "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."

This would mean that if Boehner manages to pass his bill, the Senate could amend the hell out of it before sending it back. But the Senate can't initiate the process, and the Democrats aren't about to give Boehner any cover of "bipartisanship" by helping his bill pass in the House in its current form.

[gateley]

48. Thanks!! nt

[SwampG8r]

49. a one line bill would not raise revenue so could

be started in the senate
raises debt not revenue
debt is not revenue

[Drale]

4. Does the President have the power

to call a special session of congress which they can't leave until they do something? I know the Governor in Illinois has that power, but I don't know if the President does.

[former9thward]

8. Congress is not in recess.

No need for any special session.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Yes... it is in the Constitution.

I doubt he will do that though... but he should

[flamingdem]

5. The idea is that Obama has shown that the republicans are insanely intransigent

and this is what he's been dealing with - according to Rev. Sharpton anyway..

he gave them EVERYTHING on the table and still they were too insane to deal..

So expect the 14th amendment Mitch making it right with some kind of deal.

[leveymg]

6. What this whole thing has shown is that Washington doesn't work anymore. Maybe, that's a good

thing, all around. Kinda like the fall of the Berlin Wall or Yeltsin's shelling of the White House (Parliament) in Moscow. No more pretenses of easy reforms through the ballot box and soft landings and market reforms. No more status quo.

Time to get very serious for those who expect to come out alive and intact.

[flamingdem]

7. The thing that doesn't work is ignorance, and bizarre ideology promoted by FOX and evangelicals nt

[leveymg]

10. That, too.

But, there's more to this than party politics. The whole system no longer works. Time to change or time to expire.

[Gabi Hayes]

12. Perry v. the United States, ca. 1935, anyone?

[leveymg]

14. "Congress cannot use its power to regulate the value of money so as to invalidate the obligations

which the Government has theretofore

Page 294 U. S. 331

issued in the exercise of the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States. Pp. 294 U. S. 350 et seq."

Sounds like an endorsement the 14th Amendment and Emergency Powers to me. And that Court was almost as conservative as this one. But, really, I think SCOTUS had its day with Bush v Gore as the arbitrator in fact of this sort of national power struggle.

I think Obama is about to become a wartime President. That's the last card up the sleeve.

I pity the good people of Damascus and/or Tehran, tonight. I would be very worried, if I were them. I worry, too.

[Gabi Hayes]

21. do you really think they'll stop at Gore? time out of mind, they've shown

to be capable of anything

is Il Porto still there?

Mr. Ray was the MAN! (not)

[Gabi Hayes]

26. oofah....some things never change:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/102919/restaurant/DC/Old-Town-Alexandria/Il-Porto-Ristorante-Alexandria

[leveymg]

27. The base of Water St and Old Town has changed, drastically.

But, the food is still bad at IL, I hear.

We last talked about this five years ago. Maybe, more. Yes?

[dennis4868]

13. HELLO?

He put EVERYTHING on the table knowing DAMN WELL they would reject it because tax hikes were included...he would not have offered cuts to benefits if he thought their was the slightest chance that the repubs would accept his plan....

[leveymg]

17. Is that the 8th or 9th Dimension, you imagine?

[dennis4868]

19. I know...

it goes against the anto Obama narrative here but most people who are covering this see it my way. Lawrence O'Donnell, who has a tiny bit more experience on Capital Hill than you and I, says the same thing.....But I know, we have to put Obama in the most negative light....I got the memo....

[Creideiki]

31. You must have big muscles.

Carrying all that water must get tough.

[dennis4868]

37. no...

not tough at all....but you carrying all that hate must be depressing, right?

[Creideiki]

53. Why would you think I hate someone?

[sabrina 1]

36. You're kidding, right?

[dennis4868]

38. you have no idea how Obama works...

Obama is a chess player....I've never seen a politician like him...he's got the repubs scrambling and running for cover....hahaha!

[sabrina 1]

40. The Republicans have won! They got something from a Democratic

Presidente that they never would have dreamed of getting until now. And now that they see how easy it was, they are pushing for more.

If he's playing chess, he's a very bad chess player. You're supposed to take their vauluable pieces, NOT give them yours. :eyes:

[dennis4868]

50. The chess aint over yet...

hahaha...do you always call a game in the 4th quarter when the game is close? People here on DU crack me up...they hyperspeculate about things that have no basis in fact, but then turn it into fact, get very emotional over it, and then bash away at Obama...very interesting.

[sabrina 1]

52. We played this game before, remember?

Same moves, same claims of a final victory which never came. No OP and the Repubs got most of what THEY wanted. I think it's the Republicans who are the chess masters from what we've seen so far.

[pscot]

51. Nobody has any idea how Obama works

He seems to be respondoing to some conversation he's having with himself.

[Marr]

43. Tell me how that makes sense.

The President offers to cut SS/Medicare, infuriating his own base, terrifying a lot of very senior, very registered voters, and lending credence to the right-wing's most deceitful lies about deficits and social programs. And in exchange he gets... what? To make the GOP look irresponsible? As if they didn't already?

That whole argument has never been anything but warmed-over multidimensional chess and wishful thinking.

[Safetykitten]

15. Praying fer pizza and they get it! Thanks Baby Jesus!

[Whisp]

23. groundhog day all over again.

Obama has got it. chill the fuck out

[aquart]

25. The WHITE HOUSE is reeling from Republican embarrassment?

Really?

[gateley]

28. No - that's not what I meant. I think that they were counting on

this getting done so they could keep things moving, that's all.

Are you really the only one who didn't understand my OP?

[WillyT]

29. You Think The Republicans Are Embarrassed ???

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[newspeak]

33. how can you embarrass a repug who is too totally

not in reality? I don't think they have a shame, humiliation, or conscience mechanism.

[johnd83]

30. Just mint the @$#% trillion dollar coin

and tell them to f- off. I am usually against even implied profanity in any written communication, but there it is.

[Gregorian]

35. And now they will be declairing that Obama can't lead.

I just heard it from a bonehead on the Colbert Report. "What we need is a leader". Utter bull flop. There's another side to this coin. Obama has abilities far beyond anyone on the other side of the isle. He just doesn't cram them down the nation's throat. Sometimes I wish he would.

I still think by being cool Obama is going to get the best of our rivals. But it sure is difficult to watch.

[Ilsa]

39. I think the President should instruct the Treasury Dept not to pay Congress.

If I don't do my job, I don't get paid. Therefore, Congress should not be paid based on their nonperformance. He can't fire them. But I LOVE not paying them. Let them see what it is like not to get their government checks.

[aquart]

54. I would hope they were the first not to be paid.

[Lugnut]

46. If they're really gobsmacked...

They're not paying attention! What did they think was going to happen?

[EFerrari]

47. It was obvious early this morning, the House bill was going nowhere. n/t