Comments on: Five Key Facts about the House Debt Limit Bill

By: jimmy Kay

jimmy Kay — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:00:31 +0000

Why not just go bankrupt and issue new currency? The govt still has all the uranium and plutonium needed to back another fiat currency, just as succesfully as they’ve backed the Federal Reserve Notes . Do they just love theatrics or do they need to stall for time until they finish looting the treasury?

By: House Debt Ceiling Vote: Lower Chamber Agrees To Suspend Borrowing Limit Through May (UPDATE) | Insurance For Less

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:04:50 +0000

[...] not quite a blank check, but analysts believe it would allow the Treasury Department the leeway to build a new cushion before the new [...]

By: Giant Comfort » House Votes To Raise Debt Ceiling

Giant Comfort » House Votes To Raise Debt Ceiling — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:23:22 +0000

[...] not quite a blank check, but analysts believe it would allow the Treasury Department the leeway to build a new cushion before the new [...]

By: Frankenstein Government

Frankenstein Government — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:55:14 +0000

What a circle jerk! Super-committees, suspending the automatics cuts, kicking the debt ceiling can down the road and “new borrowing” not to be confused with “old borrowing.” No budget since ’09.

You cannot make this up. The best part? Prior to the election, Congress had a 91% dis approval rate. Voters returned 94% of the incumbents.

I’d call Dem and GOP voters idiots but it seems redundant.

By: Durell Anthony Gaston

Durell Anthony Gaston — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:55:34 +0000

The entire compromise is a political stunt to keep the debates going. It delivers political fodder for their constituents to debate over while the Congress as a whole gets little to nothing done. The connection between their pay and their execution is laughable seeing that the Constitution stipulates that Congress must get paid.

A added note is that a majority of the members of Congress are millionaires; a whomping 250 plus of them have this economic status, so what is the delay in pay really going to mean to them (even if they really did hold their pay, which they will not do)?

A lot of the issues you listed are par for the course when you raise the debt limit in even the slightest, but the question that America should be asking is “Why do we continue to have this arbitrary debt ceiling number?” America is the only country, of the organized countries, that ties its ability to pay its debt to a self-inflicted limit. Republicons talk about fiscal sanity and yet they think that it makes fiscal sense to not pay America’s Congress approved financial obligations. AMAZINGLY STUPID!

By: Doug Badger

Doug Badger — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:49:17 +0000

I’m not so sure about your second point, Don. The provision telling Treasury that it can only borrow the money it needs is unenforceable. What if Treasury decided to issue additional debt between now and the May deadline? Who would have standing to challenge that action in court? And if such a plaintiff were found, the remedy would be repudiation of Treasury debt, which is the very outcome that this stopgap measure is designed to avoid. The only real restraint on government borrowing between now and May 19 is the appetite of markets — and of the Fed — for treasuries. That and the integrity of the present Administration.

To be clear, I do believe that this tactic is a prudent one, given the weakness and disarray of Congressional Republicans. Changing the sequence of confrontations with the President seems reasonable in the circumstances. The first key test will come a month from now when Congressional Rs will be forced to accept steep cuts in military spending should the President continue to resist negotiation. If our guys are willing to shoot that hostage — and accept the consequences of a 10 percent cut to the national security budget — then we will at least have some leverage with the President, who will be concerned about cuts in outlays for social programs. At least the dispute will be exclusively about spending instead of about the federal government’s creditworthiness.

My fear is that we will be as divided in late February as we are in late January, with a substantial bloc of Republicans unwilling to stomach sequestration. If that is the case, then this tactic will have largely failed.

Still, it’s worth a try.

By: A good first step that is already working | Keith Hennessey

A good first step that is already working | Keith Hennessey — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:15:01 +0000

[...] a requirement that the House and Senate each pass a budget resolution. Donald Marron has written an excellent and succinct substantive analysis of the [...]

By: Tracy Goodwin

Tracy Goodwin — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:07:50 +0000

At first I liked the idea of no budget no pay but now I am wary of it. Since Congress writes its own rules there is nothing to stop them from reinstating their salary if they take too long. But also the fact that they just have to pass a budget in each chamber not the same budget in both chambers is a problem. That is not a real budget, it is a starting point for negotiations.

Really this is nothing but Congress pussyfooting around.