Can We Shut Down the Federal Government Even If We Raise the Debt Ceiling?

Conservatives Admit Debt Ceiling Threat Is A Bluff
It's increasingly clear that Republican leaders are bluffing when they threaten to destroy the full faith and credit of the American government by allowing the Debt ceiling to be shattered unless draconian Budget cuts are made. And a clear bluff is a bad bluff. There is no need to concede to any of their demands to protect American credit and the Global Economy. Last year, the now-Speaker John Boehner said Republicans would have to deal with the Debt ceiling like "adults." And this week, the ...

Glenn Beck to Michele Bachmann: Are you seriously voting against the debt ceiling?
He insists (as he’s done before) that he’s on the fence about whether they should vote no, but if even a guy who’s famous for apocalyptic Rhetoric is uncomfortable with the possibilities from this vote, it’s a cinch that the GOP will rustle up enough support to raise the ceiling. (No less than Paul Ryan admitted as much yesterday.) The suspense isn’t whether the votes are there; the suspense is whether The One will very foolishly try to capitalize on the GOP’...

Should the GOP play chicken game with the debt ceiling? Yes
When control of Congress is split between the two parties, it is much easier to produce gridlock than advancing Legislation. Campaign promises can often dissipate amidst the inability to muster enough support to push important legislation through. That is certainly the case now with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate - not to mention an electorally shaken President Obama. Republicans, however, have a unique opportunity to follow through on their campaign promise of reduction in gove...

Starving the ObamaCare Beast
Here at Uncoverage.net, we’ve talked about the process that might be used to rid the world of ObamaCare and now that process is coming into much clearer focus.  Not a soul on the planet believes that a Democrat controlled Senate, or a Democrat controlled White House would ever let a total Repeal bill become law, therefore the only logical way to get rid of it is to starve it to death……as in ‘defund it’.  If there’s no money appropriated to run it, it...

Palin: Obama 'hell bent' on weakening America
Sarah Palin is charging that President Barack Obama is “hell-bent on weakening America” by pushing to raise the National Debt ceiling. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 “What I believe that Obama is doing right now — he is hell-bent on weakening America,” the possible 2012 Republican contender said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” She accused the president of “purposefully” trying to harm the country and acknowledged tha...

Greenspan Warns of Risks from US Debt
(Wall Street Journal) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday that the US could face a bond-market crisis if politicians don't act soon to start cutting the nation's Debt. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Greenspan said that eventually Congress would pass a Budget that includes many proposals by a White House debt-reduction panel. "I think that the type of Budget agreement that was put together by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles is the type of Budget that will b...

Debt Ceiling
Debt Ceiling Friday, 01/7/2011 - 12:07 pm by Bryce Covert | Post a Comment What is the debt ceiling? The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt that the government is legally allowed to take on. Whereas Congress used to approve each federal debt issuance separately, in 1917 it passed the Second Liberty Bond Act, which limited the amount of debt the Treasury can issue but also provided it with more leeway. The Treasury was granted the authority to issue enough debt to fund government oper...

Palin: Debt ceiling a plot by Obama to weaken America
Confused, hateful, or both? Sarah Palin is charging that President Barack Obama is “hell-bent on weakening America” by pushing to raise the National Debt ceiling. “What I believe that Obama is doing right now — he is hell-bent on weakening America,” the possible 2012 Republican contender said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” She accused the president of “purposefully” trying to harm the country and acknowledged that her stinging comments...

Familiar Game Being Played with Debt Ceiling
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked Congress to raise the Debt-ceiling, currently set at $14.4 Trillion.  It’s not an unusual request.  Congress has voted to raise the debt ceiling 10 times in the past 10 years, and about 70 times in the last 50, making the “debt ceiling” more of a “debt elevator.”  But this year could be different.  Several Republican members of Congress, many of whom were backed by anti-spending Tea Party groups,...

Leftovers - January 7, 2011
House Republicans had a rough first week in the majority. The Economy added more jobs in 2010 than it did during the entire Bush Administration. After his 2008 debacle, Rudy Giuliani is reportedly considering a run for the White House. Rep. Steve King loses out on the chairmanship of the Immigration subcommittee. In related news, King appears not to know what "mendacity" means. GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan knows that Congress has to raise the Debt ceiling. Reps. Pete Sessions and Mike Fit...

Card: GOP must not block debt limit
You know how John Boehner and some hosts on Fox are trying to convince people that Republicans are serious about blocking an increase in the Debt Limit unless President Obama agrees to the GOP plan to immediately slash Federal spending? Well, as former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card explained to Fox viewers earlier today, Conservatives shouldn't bet on winning this hostage crisis. Boehner and the GOP aren't going to follow through on their threat because the stakes are too high -- blocking the d...

Goolsbee: Economic Policy Will Shift Focus to Growth
Yahoo! Buzz Austan Goolsbee , chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Friday the administration’s Economic Policy will shift from “rescue and crisis mode” to “recovery and raise the growth rate mode.” Mr. Goolsbee, the only one of President Obama’s senior economic advisors with a Ph.D. in economics, said the administration will still aim to boost Job Creation, even in an environment where the Republican-led House is calling for deep spending c...

You Are It, Meredith
The interview became even more outrageous as the NBC co-host peppered Congresswoman Bachmann with questions about the Debt ceiling. Conservatives have long complained that the liberal media likes to play games with truth, when reporting news about conservatives and their policies. On January 6th on NBC’s “Today Show,” those games were never more obvious than in the person of that deceptively sweet and innocent Meredith Vieira. The “Today Show” co-host introduced her guest, ...

Re: The Debt Ceiling ... to raise or not to raise?
Over at Contentions ... Peter Wehner addresses Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's letter to Congress yesterday, and makes an 'adult' argument for the GOP to agree to an increase in the Debt ceiling as a way to win concessions on spending ... saying that the argument for limiting the size of the federal government and reducing spending is extremely strong - but refusing to raise the Debt ceiling, however, isn't the way or the place to do it. While my gut tells me Wehner's right, in my heart of...

Dick Morris Thinks Shutting Down the Government to Repeal Health Care Bill is a Great Idea
Dick Morris thinks that we should shut down the government if President Obama doesn't agree to defund the Health Care law. Even Bill O'Reilly is skeptical of his nonsense. I'd like to know how may Homeless people Dick Morris would like to take in after we have economic chaos if either the Congress or the president follow his suggestions here since he apparently has no concern whatsoever for what would happen if the government defaults on its Debt. Led by the advice of Newt Gingrich, the former H...

Sarah Palin: Obama 'hell bent' on weakening America
While appearing as a guest on the Laura Ingraham radio program Friday, Sarah Palin openly said what many believe: President Obama is purposefully weaking the United States. “What I believe that Obama is doing right now — he is hell-bent on weakening America," she said. Palin explained by using then Senator Obama's own words in 2006.  While debating whether or not to raise the Debt ceiling, he said: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s Debt Limit is a...

What B-52 Ben Really Said
2010-12-01 130,712,000 When he took the gavel to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve, there was 135 million employed Americans out of a population of 297 million Americans. The latest data available as of Dec 1st 2010, was 130 million Americans employed out of a population of 311 million. There are 4.6 million fewer employed Americans since Ben started. So today we have 14 million more people looking for 4.6 million fewer jobs. That’s not good. In fact, it should be his number o...

Washington Extra Its my party
“Now, we know these numbers can bounce around from month to month. But the trend is clear,” President Barack Obama said. “We saw 12 straight months of Private Sector job growth.  That’s the first time that’s been true since 2006.” Gene Sperling has something to party about, he’s just got his old job back. Obama announced additions to his White House economic team and named Sperling as director of the National Economic Council (a post he held in Pres...

The Health Care Repeal Rorschach
Any post about the GOP's efforts to Repeal Health Care reform this week should begin with the following caveat: Health care reform will not be repealed, not ever, so long as Democrats control the White House and half of Congress; so this is a symbolic vote and an academic debate. That said, a letter today from the Congressional Budget Office summarizing the effects of repealing the Health Care law offers an important glimpse into how Republicans and Democrats think differently about entitlements...

White House Urges Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling -- Despite 2006 Obama Vote Against Doing So
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs defended then-Senator Barack Obama's 2006 vote against raising the Debt ceiling on Wednesday - even as he urged current members of Congress not to "play politics" with the issue. The Debt ceiling is the legal limit on borrowing by the Federal Government. It currently stands at $14.3 Trillion, a level that the government is expected to hit in the next few months. Some Republicans have signaled that they will refuse to vote to raise the Debt ceiling eve...

Lindsey Graham: Failure To Raise Debt Ceiling Would Cause 'Collapse and Calamity Throughout The World'
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) set himself apart from a number of his Republican colleagues Thursday by taking a stand in favor of raising the Federal Government's Debt ceiling and acknowledging the possible consequences of not doing so. "Let me tell you what's involved if we don't lift the Debt ceiling: financial collapse and calamity throughout the world. That's not lost upon me," Graham said on CNN, according to ThinkProgress. The South Carolina Republican made similar comments Sunday on NBC...

DEBT CEILING RUSSIAN ROULETTE
Here’s my latest from PJ Media - typical Moran bombast against The Crazies in the GOP whose latest brainstorm is to blow up The Economy by refusing to support raising the Debt ceiling. Do ya think I was too hard on them? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new Republican Party: Just like the old one but now with 25% more nuts and 50% more empty heads. At least Pontius Pilate had the decency to wash his hands before committing a despicable act of blatant irresponsibility. DeMint wants to...

Huckabee: Hold Obama accountable on debt ceiling
On Neil Cavuto's show this afternoon, Mike Huckabee called on Republicans to hold Barack Obama to his erstwhile position on the Debt ceiling. "One of the things that gives this a little bit of juice for the Republicans is that Senator Barack Obama in 2006 stood on the Senate floor with an impassioned Speech, saying that we should not raise the Debt Limit, that it was the lack of leadership, and that George Bush was just completely derelict in duty by asking Congress to raise that Debt limit. W...

Palin: Obamas deliberately trying to weaken America by raising the debt ceiling
I can’t tell if she’s being serious or just making a rhetorical point to rub his face in his Senate vote against raising the ceiling back in 2006. Quoth The One at the time: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s Debt Limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies

Consumer borrowing increased for second straight month in November
Consumers increased their borrowing in November behind a jump in Student Loans, while Credit Card Debt continued to shrink.  Overall, consumer borrowing rose $1.3 billion or by 0.7 percent, to $2.4 Trillion, following a revised increase of $7 billion in October, up 3.5 percent and well above the initial 1.7 percent estimated increase, the Federal Reserve said Friday.  As borrowing rose for the second straight month following 20 months of declines, consumers also continued to pay off their de...