Tag: Debt Ceiling

Boehner’s Story on Debt Deal Changes: Tells Caucus ‘Deal Was Never Reached,’ Then Tells Media Obama Walked away from Deal

Jon Ponder

This sequence of events from Friday night puts the lie to Speaker Boehner’s assertion that it was Pres. Obama, not Boehner, who shut down negotiations on the debt ceiling crisis:

Boehner to House GOP at 6 p.m.: “The deal was never reached.” Boehner to media an hour or so later: “It’s the president who walked away.”

“It’s the president who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money at the last minute,” [Boehner said, during the news conference he called around 7:15 Friday night.]

The speaker has said that he needs a bill in hand by Monday to ensure House action by midweek and still leave enough time for the Senate to act before the Treasury runs out of money. Prior to the breakup, discussions were already underway among Senate leaders Friday about how to proceed with a fallback, and there has been speculation of a four to six week extension to get past the immediate crisis.

But this short term approach faced united Democratic opposition after the collapse, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying flatly Friday night that it would be “unacceptable.”

“The deal was never reached, and was never really close,” the speaker wrote in a letter to House members released at 6 p.m. — after the financial markets had closed. “In the end we couldn’t connect. Not because of different personalities but because of different visions for our country.”

Jonathan Chait reacts:

[…]

Obama Said to Be Caving in Fake Debt Ceiling Crisis Negotiations – Hostage Takers’ Latest Demand: Kill ‘Obamacare’ Mandate

Jon Ponder

art--eagle-held-hostageIn the wake of a spate of polling and punditry suggesting Pres. Obama had gained the upper hand over Speaker Boehner and his tea bagger caucus in negotiations over the debt ceiling crisis, now comes word that the president intends to cede to a deal that favors Republicans.

In an editorial for USA Today published yesterday, the president said he agreed with a majority of voters, including a majority of Republicans, who want deficit reduction deal that includes tax increases as well as program cuts:

PRES. OBAMA: A balanced deficit deal that includes some new revenues isn’t just a Democratic position. It’s a position that has been taken by everyone from Warren Buffett to Bill O’Reilly. It’s a position that was taken this week by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, who worked together on a promising plan of their own. And it’s been the position of every Democratic and Republican leader who has worked to reduce the deficit in their time, from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton.

What he did not say was that the only new revenue in the deal will come from allowing the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy to expire in December 2012, as they are set to do anyway. No loopholes for billionaires will be closed or corporate welfare reduced. Instead, the president will give in to Republican demands that the federal budget must be balanced on the backs of the middle class and the poor, including the gutting of Social Security and Medicare and trillions in cuts to federal programs.

All the tea baggers have to do is promise they won’t fight to extend the Bush tax cuts in December 2012. Of course, they won’t have to keep that promise if Mitt Romney or Rick Perry is elected president seven weeks earlier — an unhappy prospect that becomes much more likely if seniors, liberals and independents stay home on Election Day 2012 because Obama presided over the shredding of the nation’s safety net.

[…]

Debt Ceiling Default Is a ‘Chosen Crisis’ Created by the Radical Tea Partyists

Jon Ponder

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Wednesday night:

MADDOW: It’s worth remembering this is a crisis created by Congress. Option A for dealing with raising the debt ceiling has always been, hey, let’s raise the debt ceiling. Congress did it seven times under George W. Bush. I said five times the other night, forgive me, it was seven. Eighteen times under Ronald Reagan, 17 times since the 1960s, and 130 Republicans in Congress right now voted happily throughout the George W. Bush era to raise the debt ceiling without so much as a peep. This time however for some reason, no. This year they have decided for political reasons that they are just not going to do it.

That’s the whole crisis here. That’s the origin of the crisis, that’s where it comes from, and Option A for solving this crisis has always been let’s not choose to have this crisis. This is a chosen crisis. Let’s choose not to have it. That has always been Option A.

[…]

Reagan Claimed Default ‘Threatens Those Who Rely on Social Security, Veterans Benefits’ – Was He Lying, Too?

Jon Ponder

Right: Reagan claiming in 1987 that debt-ceiling default would threaten recipients of Social Security and veterans benefits; left: leading freshman House tea bagger accuses Pres. Obama of lying when he said the same payments were at risk

The House Democratic Caucus found this audio from Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1987:

REAGAN: Congress consistently brings the Government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility – two things that set us apart from much of the world.

Reagan’s claim that defaulting on the debt ceiling “threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits” is noteworthy because after Pres. Obama made a similar assertion, tea party Republicans in Congress accused him of lying.

Rep. Joe Walsh, a hyped-up freshman tea bagger from Illinois, rushed out a amateurishly produced video in which he said, “Pres. Obama, quit lying. You know darn well that if Aug. 2 comes and goes, there is plenty of money to pay off our debt and cover all of our Social Security obligations.”

So, just to connect the dots, Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., has inadvertently also accused Reagan, the patron saint of tea baggery, of lying, too.

[…]

Poll: Voters Blame Bush over Obama for Bad Economy Two to One

Jon Ponder

54% to 27%

Ratio by which voters blame George Bush and Pres. Obama for the bad economy, according to a new Quinnipiac Poll. Voters also said they will blame Republicans (48%) over Obama (34%) if the debt ceiling is not raised, and 67% want the deficit closed with a mix of tax hikes and program cuts, while just 25% believe tax cuts alone can solve the crisis. All of this would be bad news for Republicans if it weren’t for the fact that the “liberal” media had not co-opted their cuts-only, no-tax-hikes-ever dogma.

Poll Finds Obama in Synch with Republican Voters on Debt Reduction

Jon Ponder

A new Gallup poll finds that just 20 percent of Americans agree with the Republican Party position that the deficit should be resolved by program cuts alone. In fact, only 26 percent of Republicans side with the Grover Norquist tax refuseniks. Not coincidentally, about 20 percent of Americans self-identify as tea party supporters.

Nate Silver uncovered a surprising finding in the data: the ratio of cuts versus revenue increases that Pres. Obama’s has proposed is to the right of the ratio preferred by most Republican voters:

Assume that the people who told Gallup that they wanted “mostly” cuts would prefer a 3-to-1 ratio of spending reductions to tax increases, and that those who said they wanted mostly tax increases would prefer a 3-to-1 ratio in the opposite direction. (The other choices that Gallup provided in the poll — an equal mix of tax increases and spending cuts or a deal that consisted entirely of one or the other — are straightforward to interpret.)

The average Republican voter, based on this data, wants a mix of 26 percent tax increases to 74 percent spending cuts. The average independent voter prefers a 34-to-66 mix, while the average Democratic voter wants a 46-to-54 mix:

chart-gallup-debt-pref

Now consider the positions of the respective parties to the negotiation. One framework that President Obama has offered, which would reduce the debt by a reported $2 trillion, contains a mix of about 17 percent tax increases to 83 percent spending cuts. Another framework, which would aim for twice the debt reduction, has been variously reported as offering a 20-to-80 or 25-to-75 mix.

With the important caveat that the accounting on both the spending and tax sides can get tricky, this seems like an awfully good deal for Republicans. Much to the chagrin of many Democrats, the mix of spending cuts and tax increases that Mr. Obama is offering is quite close to, or perhaps even a little to the right of, what the average Republican voter wants, let alone the average American.

Obama to Cantor: ‘Would Ronald Reagan Be Sitting Here? I’ve Reached My Limit?’

Pensito Editors

I have reached the point where I say, “Enough.” Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.

– Pres. Obama to House Minority Leader Eric Cantor Wednesday night as he brought their umpteenth daily meeting on the debt ceiling crisis to a close.