No negotiations on debt ceiling!!!!

[Hoffstra]

Congress approved the spending and the tax policies.

That means THEY are responsible for all deficits and therefore all borrowing.

They MUST allow all required borrowing to pay for the spending that THEY approved!!!!


They must raise the debt ceiling, no questions asked!!!

If they want to reduce borrowing and the deficit, reduce spending and change tax policies!!!!!!

Our borrowing, is a result of Congressional deficit spending, not a cause of it!!!!!

The problem is the deficit, NOT the debt ceiling.


...but yes, Obama should adjust and negotiate on the govt. shutdown. That I accept.

 

[waltky]

Dat's how dey used to do deals inna old days - in smoke-filled rooms, behind closed doors...

Debt vote in Senate kept from public view
14 Feb.`14 WASHINGTON (AP) — Financial markets were watching, the retirement accounts of millions of Americans on the line.

Nervous senators were watching too, well aware that political fortunes could be on the line. So on perhaps the most important vote of the year, the Senate did something extraordinary this week: It tried to keep the vote tally secret until the outcome was assured. As lawmakers voted Wednesday on must-pass legislation to increase the government's debt limit, they dropped the parliamentary equivalent of a curtain on the voting as it was in progress. Typically, roll-call votes in the Senate play out in a very public manner. People watching from the galleries or tracking action from afar via C-SPAN can watch democracy unfold in all its messy wonder.

Each senator's vote is announced by the clerk; each time a senator switches sides, that's announced too. Onlookers can keep a running tally of how it's going. But not this time. Fifteen minutes into the vote, as captured by C-Span cameras, the tally clerk rose to recite the vote. A Senate aide alerted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the six Republicans who later switched his vote from "nay" to "aye." McCain intervened, and the clerk sat right back down. "Would you ..." McCain said before the live microphone cut off.

A McCain spokesman denied the Arizonan intervened. "McCain didn't know that they weren't going to read the names and he didn't care if they did. He didn't have input on that," emailed spokesman Brian Rogers. Senate leaders hoped they would get the necessary votes ultimately, but they were worried at the time and faced financial and political repercussions if the vote cratered in public view. Both sides were concerned that investors might panic, causing the stock market to tank in real time. That's what happened in 2008 when the House voted to reject a Wall Street bailout plan, triggering a 7 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Skittish Republicans had an additional concern: They knew the Democratic-backed legislation couldn't move forward without at least a few GOP votes, but none of them wanted to be left hanging out there alone on what could be a politically treacherous vote. Whatever the reason, they kept the public in the dark while they worked things out. A Democratic spokesman later explained that Republicans requested the clerk stay silent so it would be easier for GOP senators to switch their votes. No more announcing each individual "yea" and "nay." The running tally was known only by a handful of insiders.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Debt limit bill flown out to Calif. for Obama's signature...

Obama signs debt limit measure into law, restores military benefits
February 15, 2014 — President Barack Obama on Saturday signed separate measures into law to lift the federal debt limit and restore benefits that had been cut for younger military retirees.

Obama signed the bills during a weekend golf vacation in Southern California. The debt limit measure allows the government to borrow money to pay its bills, such as Social Security benefits and federal salaries. Failure to pass the measure, which the Senate passed 67-31 earlier this week and sent to Obama for his signature, most likely would have sent the stock market into a nosedive. The Treasury Department is now free to borrow regularly through March 15, 2015, meaning lawmakers won't have to revisit the issue until a new Congress is sworn in after the November elections.

Separate legislation passed in December would have held annual cost-of-living increases for veterans age 62 and younger to 1 percentage point below the rate of inflation, beginning in 2015. The measure was designed to hold the line on the soaring cost of government benefit programs, which have largely escaped trillions of dollars in deficit cuts over the past three years. The cuts were enacted less than two months ago, with a projected savings to the government of $7 billion over a decade. Veterans groups and some lawmakers said the cut was a mistake, and they began campaigning to have the benefits restored. The pensions go to veterans who retire after 20 years of service, regardless of their age. Nearly 2 million retirees currently are eligible, including about 840,000 under age 62, according to the Pentagon.

For a sergeant first class who leaves the service at age 42 after two decades, the bill passed in December would have meant an estimated $72,000 in reduced pension payments. Quick action by lawmakers on this year's debt limit bill stands in contrast to lengthy showdowns in 2012 and last fall, when Republicans sought to use the must-pass bill as leverage to win concessions from Obama. They succeeded in 2011, winning about $2 trillion in spending cuts. But Obama has been unwilling to negotiate over the debt limit since his re-election in 2012.

The bill he signed Saturday is the third consecutive debt measure to pass Congress without concessions from the White House. Republicans also have been less confrontational since a 16-day partial government shutdown last October sent the party's poll numbers skidding. Both bills were flown out to Obama in California late Friday night, a White House aide said.

Obama signs debt limit measure into law, restores military benefits - U.S. - Stripes

 

[Politico]

Dat's how dey used to do deals inna old days - in smoke-filled rooms, behind closed doors...

Difference is they can't smoke in those rooms anymore.