House Speaker John Boehner today appears to be making progress toward passing his debt ceiling increase in the House as GOP conservatives begin to cave into direct demands from their leader that they support it.
Various reports, including this one and this one, suggest Republican freshman and other conservatives are beginning to fall into line behind the plan, which would cut spending by about the amount needed to raise the debt ceiling through the end of the year and establish a commission to try to close the deficit further after that.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissed a question about why President Obama would prefer default over the Boehner plan, calling it a “false choice” because the Boehner plan will never pass.
And yet the White House yesterday issued a Statement of Administration Policy yesterday saying senior advisers would recommend Obama veto the bill, implicitly suggesting it could pass. And the SAP itself, in suggesting a veto, is a clear statement that Obama wants default instead of the Boehner bill.
It’s also nonsense and posturing. He’ll sign the Boehner legislation. And now it looks like Republicans are in concurrence with what I wrote this morning – that voting for the Boehner bill was better than destroying the country, and that it’s the best Republicans can do for now.
If Boehner is the only game in town, the Senate will pass it and Obama will sign it, because nobody is sure what is contained in the abyss.
Carney today also said the White House would put out a list of what goes on the chopping block first if the debt ceiling is close to being breached.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
When experts from every side of this issue tells the public that the Feds collect $100B a month and that’s not enough to keep our massive government running without borrowing another $Trillion, then we need to step back and reduce the size and scope of our federal government.
We simply cannot continue to borrow money to pay our debts; that’s insanity.
Agreed srdem. We cannot keep borrowing. It is insanity. Begs the question…Is this country now living payday to payday? Did we never put away a penny for a rainy day fund? Is there no cash at all in the SS Trust Fund?
Feel like I’m getting the bum’s rush again. I’m reliving the same catastrophic atmosphere they worked up with TARP, the stimulus, Obamacare, and Dodd-Frank…
CBO said Boehner’s plan cuts $1B this year. Sounds great until you realize we spend $1B a day. I’m not giving up on the freshmen. I have no respect for the news sources (New York Times or Politico), so I’ll wait to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
I feel a relapse of obamatosis setting in… this drama is sickening..
Agree srdem and Susan. No one is talking much about how much this administration has grown the Fed. I’ll give you a small (but representative) example. I’m a Program Manager on a Fed contract with a large agency. In the past year, over 10% of my employees have been federalized. It’s like they have a blank check! It’s depressing for me becuase they always court my best. I feel like government contracting companies have become Obama’s recruiting agency. I hear through conversations with other agencies that it’s the same throughout the industry. He’s doing an outstanding job of growing government! This must stop.
I work for a state agency in MD that works closely with the Feds doing things, and the same thing is happening to us! They’re scooping up our better and more experienced people for $30K/yr more than the state pays to do essentially the same job. It’s unbelievable!
Obama has unspent funds that have been appropriated for Obamacare and the stimulus. I think unspent stimulus is at about 250 billion and Obamacare between 150 and 100 billion. No telling what else he has stashed away. He won’t default. He’s just mad because it appears the Republicans called his “bluff”.
“Carney today also said the White House would put out a list of what goes on the chopping block first if the debt ceiling is close to being breached.”
One dollar says grandma’s SS check and Medicare are right at the top.