The Hard Reality of a Debt Ceiling Showdown: Jim Jordan eviscerates Biden for not negotiating with House Republicans

[Harpy Eagle]

If your credit card balances are so high that your debts would increase due to high interest and making minimum payments even if you spend nothing more, the first step is to cut up those damn cards.

The only way to do that is to quit reelecting our representatives at a greater than 90% rate

 

[Harpy Eagle]

No problem, let's just make future generations pay for our extravagance.

Did you complain when the debt ceiling was raised under Trump and the Repub Congress?

 

[Dragonlady]

The Biden administration and House Republicans are heading toward an initial Thursday debt ceiling deadline without even a hint of an endgame, ensuring a months-long standoff that’s poised to rattle financial markets amid worries about a recession this year.

The two sides are effectively shrugging as the Treasury Department warns the country will hit the $31.4 trillion borrowing cap Thursday — though it’s not a hard deadline, as the department can still use extraordinary measures to pay the bills for another few months. But it means the potential economic doomsday clock is officially ticking, with House Republicans still insisting on massive spending cuts before they help raise the debt ceiling and Democrats refusing to engage the idea.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that the U.S. likely won’t run out of cash or exhaust those measures until at least early June. Until then, the department is suspending investments in certain government retirement funds and hoping the House GOP and Democrats can come to an agreement to keep the government from careening into an economic crisis with far-reaching consequences.

But Yellen’s warning to congressional leaders hasn’t spurred any movement toward even the beginning of a deal between Congress and the White House. The biggest legislative battle of the year is just beginning — and threatening to grow even messier than the 15-ballot speakership fight — and there’s no exit strategy in sight.
Even some Republicans viewed as more likely to negotiate with the White House are already taking aim at the administration’s position after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week: “We will not be doing any negotiation.”

The White House is already working behind the scenes to work around Speaker Kevin McCarthy, including dispatching its top advisers to meet with moderate Republicans — particularly those who won in districts President Joe Biden won in 2020 — in hopes Democrats can count on those GOP lawmakers to cross the aisle and lift the debt ceiling.

Concessions over the debt ceiling were a vital part of the deal that McCarthy negotiated with his 20 conservative holdouts to finally attain the speakership. He agreed that the GOP House wouldn’t move to lift the debt ceiling unless Congress slashes at least $130 billion in federal spending next fiscal year or addresses broader fiscal reforms that tackle the ballooning debt, as many Republicans argue it threatens the nation’s economic security and future.

Some GOP members are beginning to float more specific plans as the debt-ceiling fight gets officially underway, like the return of a controversial payment prioritization plan that former Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R-Pa.) proposed during a similar showdown about a decade ago. Such a plan would allow the government to keep paying its bondholders if both parties can’t reach an agreement, while dictating what other financial obligations would lapse.

Meanwhile, the primary concern for financial markets is whether the debt ceiling brawl forces the U.S. to miss a payment owed to Treasury bondholders. Treasuries — usually seen as extremely safe assets — underpin the global financial system and are closely tied to lending products like mortgages. Missing a payment could send the stock market off a cliff, though Wall Street analysts are split about how much of a threat the standoff actually poses to the economy, with some banking on Congress and the White House reaching some sort of deal before the federal government misses any debt payments.

Some of the Republicans pushing the payment prioritization plan, first reported by the Washington Post, include Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the 20 holdouts. He told the Post: “We agreed to advance a debt prioritization bill through regular order by the end of the first quarter of 2023 … Now, the contours of that were not specified (there are different versions).”

The hotly debated idea divides Republicans and budget experts alike, and the administration has already swatted it down. White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that it would sow “CHAOS” in the U.S. and “cut off funding” for food safety, FAA operations, border security and drug enforcement.

It’s unclear what capability the Treasury Department has to prioritize payments, with officials declining to comment last week on whether it’s even an option. A top Treasury official stressed in a December speech that debt limit stalemates hurt the department’s cash balance and trigger market volatility. Treasury officials told House Republicans in 2014 that while the government could technically prioritize payments, such a plan would be “entirely experimental and create unacceptable risk to both domestic and global financial markets.”

Payment plan aside, the debt ceiling is a critical political battle for the House GOP. With McCarthy commanding only a narrow majority that can move to topple him at any time, even lawmakers who count him as a friend predict the showdown won’t end well for him. It will "cost Kevin his job" predicted independent senator Kyrsten Sinema.

Jim Jordan should be in jail, not the House.

 

[hadit]

Did you complain when the debt ceiling was raised under Trump and the Repub Congress?

It's the same game every time. I didn't see any democrat claiming we should cut spending anywhere.

 

[hadit]

Reducing deficits and balancing budgets should occur when making the budget yes?

And when the debt ceiling is near. In fact, it should be occurring all the time.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

It's the same game every time. I didn't see any democrat claiming we should cut spending anywhere.

I will take that as a no.

But you are correct, we do not see any democrat claiming we should cut spending and we do not see any Dem nor Repub actually cut spending.

 

[Zincwarrior]

And when the debt ceiling is near. In fact, it should be occurring all the time.

Thats not under the Constitution actually. Thats just a law from 1917.

 

[hadit]

I will take that as a no.

But you are correct, we do not see any democrat claiming we should cut spending and we do not see any Dem nor Repub actually cut spending.

I don't like it when it's just a routine formality to put the country another several trillion in debt, but it's hardly even mentioned unless we have a unique set of circumstances like this one where Republicans are actually willing to at least look like they're fighting. I don't know, this is not your grandpa's Republican party and they may actually fight for a change.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Isn't the point of fighting when they pass budget bills?

 

[jc456]

We do need tax increases on the rich.

why? If Warren Buffett says he doesn't pay as much as his secretary, how can you increase his tax? He's already in a 37% tax bracket the secretary isn't in.

 

[Dragonlady]

If your credit card balances are so high that your debts would increase due to high interest and making minimum payments even if you spend nothing more, the first step is to cut up those damn cards.

Well then stop electing Republicans who keep crashing the economy with unfunded tax cuts.

It's the same game every time. I didn't see any democrat claiming we should cut spending anywhere.

The whole debt ceiling debate is a giant waste of time. Political theatre at its finest. The spending is already approved. No spending has EVER reduced because of debt limit debates.

When Republicans are in office, there is no mention of the deficit and it goes higher and higher. When Democrats are in office, Tepublicans talk about nothing BUT the deficit., even though Democrats have the deficit, every time they're in office.

 

[Ralph Norton]

Jim Jordan should be in jail, not the House.

For?

 

[hadit]

Well then stop electing Republicans who keep crashing the economy with unfunded tax cuts.


The whole debt ceiling debate is a giant waste of time. Political theatre at its finest. The spending is already approved. No spending has EVER reduced because of debt limit debates.

When Republicans are in office, there is no mention of the deficit and it goes higher and higher. When Democrats are in office, Tepublicans talk about nothing BUT the deficit., even though Democrats have the deficit, every time they're in office.

That's not the goal. The goal is to force cuts in the NEXT round of negotiations. I agree though, that it's useless because the democrats are not going to honor any agreements they made to cut spending anyway.

The most effective fiscal combination we've had in recent memory was a compromised democrat president who couldn't push back too hard against Republicans and a Republican party willing to take the lead on trying to get the budget into balance.

 

[hadit]

For?

Because he's icky, most likely. That and feelz, and reasons, and besides, Jan 6.

 

[hadit]

why? If Warren Buffett says he doesn't pay as much as his secretary, how can you increase his tax? He's already in a 37% tax bracket the secretary isn't in.

The fastest way to shut Buffet up is to tax capital gains as ordinary income. He keeps talking about it because he knows that any increase in the regular income tax won't impact him much.

 

[BULLDOG]

No problem, let's just make future generations pay for our extravagance. Ultimately, we'll lose our credit rating and then we won't be able to pay for much of anything, but hey, let somebody else worry about it.

You seem to be confused. The debt ceiling is about taking responsibility for the things we already purchased, and whos payment is now due. If you don't want to spend more in the future, then don't spend more in the future. This is due now. If we don't pay it now, we will lose our credit rating now.

 

[jc456]

The fastest way to shut Buffet up is to tax capital gains as ordinary income. He keeps talking about it because he knows that any increase in the regular income tax won't impact him much.

then it is for me as well. Nope

 

[Smokin' OP]

The debt ceiling shouldn't be a partisan issue. We need to pay our bills.

Republicans don't.
Trump is proof of that.
Republicans have been doing the same stunt since Noot was in office, cry.

 

[hadit]

You seem to be confused. The debt ceiling is about taking responsibility for the things we already purchased, and whos payment is now due. If you don't want to spend more in the future, then don't spend more in the future. This is due now. If we don't pay it now, we will lose our credit rating now.

It's a dumb way to do things, run up the bills then insist somebody wants to kill grandma because they don't want to keep enslaving future generations to pay for it all.

 

[Smokin' OP]

No problem, let's just make future generations pay for our extravagance. Ultimately, we'll lose our credit rating and then we won't be able to pay for much of anything, but hey, let somebody else worry about it.

Republicans had no problem with Trump's extravagance.