Debt limit already a hot-button issue for GOP

Raise the debt ceiling but with conditions
The National Debt is the amount of money that the United States owes. It is exactly like our own household Debts, reflecting the amount of money coming in versus the amount of money going out including paying off debts previously incurred (like car loans and/or Credit Card charges, etc.) It also includes interest on those debts and, oh, those interest charges! The nation has always been in debt except for a brief stint under President Andrew Jackson who made it his mission to eliminate the natio...

Why debt limit must be raised
Excerpts from a Jan. 6 letter from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner to Congressional Majority Leader Harry Reid on the Debt Limit. Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the Debt limit when necessary. Failure would precipitate a default by the United States. Default would impose a significant, long-lasting tax on all Americans and all U.S. businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of jobs. Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic con...

Debt Be Not Proud
Jan 17, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 17 • By YUVAL LEVIN AND WILLIAM KRISTOL Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. As the 112th Congress begins its work this month, it must take up some unavoidable unfinished business left behind by its predecessor. In their frantic, sloppy struggle to advance big-ticket items on the liberal agenda, the Democratic leaders of the 111th Congress not only failed to produce a Budget for the current Fiscal Year, they also failed to address the fa...

Geithner Pushes Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling
Reuters reports: Republicans acknowledged on Thursday they will have to sign off on more Deficit spending to avoid a Debt default that would roil Financial Markets and bring the government to a grinding halt. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed lawmakers to raise the nation’s $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit to allow the United States to borrow more and avert a crisis in the coming months. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican, said he recognized the need to allow the ...

Republicans acknowledge debt limit should rise
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans acknowledged on Thursday they will have to sign off on more Deficit spending to avoid a Debt default that would roil Financial Markets and bring the government to a grinding halt. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed lawmakers to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit to allow the United States to borrow more and avert a crisis in the coming months. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican, said he recognized the need to allow the go...

Primary dealers raise Treasury yield forecasts: Reuters poll
By Chris Reese NEW YORK | Fri Jan 7, 2011 9:12pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leading Economists have boosted their outlook for Interest Rates on benchmark Treasury Debt in tandem with rising expectations for growth in the world's largest economy, a Reuters poll found on Friday. The forecasts for stronger growth came despite a disappointing U.S. Payrolls report, which showed employers hired less workers than expected in December, although the Unemployment rate ticked lower. "Today's (payrolls) re...

Ryan: Debt Ceiling Will be Raised
MSNBC.com reports: Even as it exposes fault lines in the new Republican Caucus, a looming clash over the Federal Government’s borrowing power could serve as a major bargaining chip for Republicans hoping to force President Barack Obama to green light major Spending Cuts. Some conservative Republicans have urged their GOP colleagues to resist raising the ceiling — which currently clocks in at $14.3 Trillion — under any circumstances. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is collectin...

Tea party groups warn GOP
With the GOP now taking control of the House, but showing signs that they may be backing down from promises made on the Campaign Trail, Tea Party groups are warning Republicans that they are watching them: As Republicans celebrated their new power in Washington yesterday, two prominent Tea Party Activists walked the halls of Capitol Hill carrying a message: we’re keeping an eye on you. Although many freshman lawmakers ran on a Tea Party platform — and enjoyed Tea Party support — Je...

The risky rush to cut Defense spending
Democrats and Republicans alike are shouting for the defense Budget to be reduced. Adm. Mike Mullen discuss proposed cuts to the defense Budget As we begin a new year, the United States is at a major crossroads in Foreign Policy. The end of 2010 saw North Korea’s assault on the disputed Yeonpyeong Island, the revelation that Pyongyang had developed a secret, highly sophisticated Uranium Enrichment plant with 2,000 Centrifuges, and, of course, the massive Wikileaks dump that jeopardized dip...

House Republicans challenge Obama on debt limit
WASHINGTON (AP) — In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation’s $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divided government. Speaker John Boehner made the challenge as the new GOP majority voted to cut funding for House members’ own offices and committee operations by $35 million. Rank and File Republicans described that ...

House Republicans challenge Obama on debt limit (AP)
WASHINGTON – In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divided government. Speaker John Boehner made the challenge as the new GOP majority voted to cut funding for House members' own offices and committee operations by $35 million. Rank and File Republicans described that vote as a mere ...

House Republicans challenge Obama on debt limit
(01-06) 15:20 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divided government. Speaker John Boehner made the challenge as the new GOP majority voted to cut funding for House members' own offices and committee operations by $35 million. Rank and File Republicans described th...

John Boehner shows at the start that he is no Gingrich
When Newt Gingrich took the gavel as House Speaker 16 years ago, he promised to transform America. On his first day Wednesday, new House Speaker John Boehner promised the Democratic minority more opportunities to amend Legislation. This Story The Take: The Take: John Boehner shows at the start that he is no Gingrich After wrangling, Constitution is read on House floor, minus passages on Slavery Shouts about Obama interrupt Constitution reading Special Report: The first days of the 112th Congr...

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...

Baucus warns GOP against 'playing chicken' on debt limit
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is warning Republicans against "playing chicken" on increasing the statutory Debt Limit. The Finance Committee Chairman agreed with recent GOP calls to reduce the Deficit, but said such efforts should be done in a "serious, Bipartisan Fashion" that "doesn't risk the full faith and credit of our economy and our country in the process," according to a statement released by his office. "Rather than waiting until the last minute, we need to work together with our colleagu...

Geithner Urges Congress to Raise Debt Limit
(WASHINGTON) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned congressional leaders Thursday that the government could reach its borrowing limit by spring and failure to raise it could affect millions of American jobs. The government will reach the limit between March 31 and May 16, Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders. Not increasing the $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit could lead to Job Losses, he said. Inaction could drive up Interest Rates and make it more costly for U.S. companies...

Secretary Geithner warns of consequences of not raising the debt limit
Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner wrote a letter to Congress Thursday warning of the consequences if the House and Senate do not vote to raise the Debt Limit, which will be reached sometime between March and May. He said Congress will have to act before the end of the First Quarter. The consequences of not raising the Debt limit would be severe, Geithner wrote: The Treasury would be forced to default on legal obligations of the United States, causing catastrophic damage to The Economy, pote...

Hatch says it's up to Obama to pressure Senate Dems on debt limit
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) says if Democrats want to find agreement on raising the Debt ceiling, President Obama will have to pressure congressional leaders to make serious concessions on Spending Cuts.  Hatch said he expects the new Republican majority in the House to vote to slash spending considerably in the run up to the vote on raising the Debt ceiling, which will place the ball in the court of Senate Democrats.   "That means the White House will have to exert its influence over Senate D...

House GOP Challenges Obama on Debt Limit
In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation's $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit will require federal Spending Cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divide......

No Negotiations on the Debt Limit
Here’s Paul Ryan talking about the Debt ceiling: But House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan says that tactic isn’t viable. “Just refusing to vote for it, I don’t think that’s really a strategy,” he said, noting that a failure to raise the ceiling could result in the nation defaulting on its debts to investors. “Will the Debt ceiling be raised? Does it have to be raised? Yes,” he said at an event sponsored by economics21 and the Manhattan Institute ...

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’...

CBO says health care repeal would deepen deficit
Rescinding the federal law to overhaul the health-care system, the first objective of House Republicans who ascended to power this week, would ratchet up the federal Deficit by about $230 billion over the next decade and leave 32 million more Americans Uninsured, according to congressional Budget analysts. This Story CBO says Health Care Repeal would deepen deficit House takes symbolic step to Repeal health law The great health-care debate 44: Boehner: Budget office "entitled to their opinion...

Republican Sellout Watch
Grousing about the GOP’s timidity in the battle against Big Government will probably become an ongoing theme over the next few months. Two items don’t bode well for fiscal discipline. First, it appears that Republicans didn’t really mean it when they promised to cut $100 billion of so-called Discretionary Spending as part of their pledge. According to the New York Times, As they prepare to take power on Wednesday, Republican leaders are scaling back that number by as ...

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...

Bills would defund public broadcasting
Source: UPI WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., introduced Legislation that would end funding for Public Radio, saying it was a luxury the Federal Government can't afford. Lamborn said Federal Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was "unnecessary," noting funding rose 26 percent during the past decade to $430 million per year, The Hill reported Friday. He introduced two bills that would defund the CPB Thursday -- just as he did last year. "While I like much of ...