Sen. Rand Paul Holds Debt Ceiling Hostage To 44 Percent Cuts In Every Government Program

Sen. Rand Paul Holds Debt Ceiling Hostage To 44 Percent Cuts In Every Government Program
Sen. Rand Paul Holds Debt Ceiling Hostage To 44 Percent Cuts In Every Government Program Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has already made it abundantly clear that he expects Republicans to demand concessions in return for raising the nation’s debt ceiling, which will have to be done sometime in the coming months. Like a slew of equally irresponsible Republicans, Paul has issued demands that he wants fulfilled in return for his vote to increase the Debt Limit, essentially holding the credit-worthi...

The Higher the Debt Ceiling, the Deeper the Hole
When some newly elected members of Congress declared their resistance to increasing the nation's Debt ceiling earlier this month, it set off a firestorm of frenzied warnings that a refusal to raise the limit on the U.S. Debt would trigger financial Armageddon. For example, Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview on ABC's This Week, "If we hit the Debt ceiling, that's essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unpreced...

Hugh Hewitt: How Boehner, House GOP can win showdown on Obamacare, EPA and spending
“Selective shutdown” is a term the Republicans need to embrace and the public needs to understand. Within a few weeks, the vast gap between President Obama’s spending objectives and the House Republicans’ agenda of fiscal restraint will become obvious. Compromise between the two will not really be possible. The president’s attachment to ObamaCare and to the EPA’s massive power grab via administrative cap-and-trade is too deep for him to give them away, while t...

Priebus to clean up convention panel
Newly minted Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is planning to clean house at the party’s beleaguered convention planning arm. Priebus told lawmakers at the House Republican Retreat in Baltimore on Saturday that he would fly to Tampa, Fla., early next week to secure the Resignations of the officials former RNC Chairman Michael Steele had running the Committee on Arrangements. The panel has been the subject of some high-profile criticism and was one of the issues that d...

Poll Says Majority of Americans Oppose Raising Debt Ceiling
Before the Arizona shooting, most of the talk amongst politicians and commentators revolved around the impending Debt crisis, whether Congress would vote to raise the Debt ceiling, and if they didn’t whether it would be “insanity.” Now the issue is slowly creeping back into the national conversation given that the U.S. hits the current Debt ceiling in March and a new Reuters/IPSOS poll reveals a surprising statistic: 71% of Americans are against raising the ceiling. Conservativ...

White House opening position on debt ceiling set
The Office of Management and Budget confirmed Friday that it is the administration’s position that Congress should not tie any other business to a bill raising the nation’s Debt ceiling. In comments first made to the Financial Times and confirmed by OMB, OMB director Jack Lew said that  “our view is a clean Debt bill is the only responsible thing to advocate - and we’re clearly going to have to engage in Congress on this.” Lew went on to say “we have no alte

[Headline] - $14,000,000,000,000
WASHINGTON – The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government Debt surged to an all-time high, more than $14 Trillion. That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal Debt Limit to give the nearly maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay within the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of Tea Party Activists and Deficit hawks. Today's Debt level represents a $45,300 tab for each and...

No More Mister Nice Blog
PONNURU: WE Republicans CAN'T GOVERN! AND IT'S ALL OBAMA'S FAULT (and the public's)! I've said for years that Republicans can't govern -- all they really know how to do is divide the country and demonize Democrats and liberals (though they are pretty effective at passing Legislation that lines the pockets of their contributors). Now Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review takes to the op-ed page of The New York Tim...

Leave Entitlements Alone?
In The New York Times today, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru urges Republicans to wait to tackle entitlement reform: Reforming [Social Security and Medicare] is vital to our nation’s long-term fiscal health — which is why Republicans should resist this advice and leave the issue alone. Reform is impossible this year or next unless President Obama takes the lead on it. What’s more, Republicans have no mandate for reform, and a failed attempt will only set back the cause. Some R

Reuters Poll: 71% Of Americans Oppose Raising The Debt Ceiling
Opposition to raising the Debt ceiling has, in the media, been cast as a fringish sort of idea espoused only by fringish elements like Rep. Michele Bachmann and Senator Jim DeMint. But it appears as though opposition to Congress clearing the way for more National Debt creation is very much mainstream among the American public, at least according to this Reuters poll: Some 71 percent of those surveyed oppose increasing the borrowing authority, the focus of a brewing political battle over federal ...

The debt ceiling and default
ALMOST everyone takes it for granted that a failure to raise the Debt ceiling will eventually force the United States to default on its Treasury debt. This notion is superficially puzzling. The question is addressed in this week’s issue of The Economist. I’ll dig into it a bit more here. A default would result from failure to pay principal or interest. The Debt ceiling doesn’t bar either. Treasury can roll over maturing issues so long as the overall stock of outstanding Debt do...

The Economist: Dudes, don't believe the scare tactics--the U.S. won't default if the debt ceiling isn't raised
At Reuters, Felix Salmon observes that The Economist has weighed in on the political football called 'raising the Debt ceiling' with a decidedly unique view. Greg Ip makes a very important point today, which I haven’t seen made anywhere else*: even if the US Debt ceiling isn’t lifted, that doesn’t mean the government will default. In any given month, the government’s income dwarfs its debt-service obligations, which means that the government could simply pay all interest ...

Chatty Cathies
Babble on, Babylon! We're watching you! It's that time of week, once again, and the question of the hour is: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who can spot the most blathering idiot of them all?" Once again, it COULD be you! But only if you participate by entering your nomination in the comments below. Last week's contest was won by The Big Hurt's nomination of David Ignatius: Versailles' universal answer: cut Social Security David Ignatius: The best sign that the economic engine is really re...

FELIX SALMON: The US wont default, even if the debt ceiling stays. In any given month, the go
Felix Salmon: The US won’t default, even if the Debt ceiling stays. In any given month, the government’s income dwarfs its debt-service obligations, which means that the government could simply pay all interest on Treasury Bonds out of its cashflow. Greg hasn’t run the numbers on principal maturities, but I’m pretty sure that they too could be covered out of cash receipts—an...

US debt passes $14 trillion, Congress weighs caps
The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government Debt surged to an all-time high, more than $14 Trillion. That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal Debt Limit to give the nearly maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay within the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of Tea Party Activists and Deficit hawks. Today's Debt level represents a $45,300 tab for each and everyone in the co...

US debt passes $14 trillion, Congress weighs caps
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government Debt surged to an all-time high, more than $14 Trillion. That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal Debt Limit to give the nearly maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay within the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of Tea Party Activists and Deficit hawks. Today’s Debt level represents a $45,300 tab f...

RNC puts Steele out - Prebius in: 'Defeat Barack Obama 2012' campaign starts
The Republican National Committee voted Michael Steele out, Reince Prebius in and vows that a mega money campaign to "Defeat Barack Obama 2012" has officially started. After seven ballots, the 168 members of the National  Republican Committee    replaced their much embattled national Committee Chairman, Michael Steele, with a new GOP chief,  Reince Prebius, the Chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. The one  Prebius'  post victory remark that really counts to t...

U.S. Debt Passes $14 Trillion
Like this Story? Share it: (AP) WASHINGTON - The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government Debt surged to an all-time high, more than $14 Trillion. That means Congress soon will have to lift the legal Debt Limit to give the nearly maxed-out government an even higher credit limit or dramatically cut spending to stay within the current cap. Either way, a fight is ahead on Capitol Hill, inflamed by the passions of Tea Party Activists and Deficit hawks. Today's Debt level represent...

Is Bill O'Reilly upset with Sarah Palin for not interviewing with him (Video)
Sarah Palin will do her first interview since the Arizona shootings interview next Monday on Fox News.  Palin has been engrossed in the debate about "heated political Rhetoric" in the year before Congresswoman Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others were shot.  Palin's "crosshairs map" has been cited as an example of this kind of "toxic Rhetoric", though Palin vehemently denied any connection in her recent statement released through Facebook.  Palin has chosen Sean Hannity to be her intervi...

Facing Near-Term Shortfall, RNC Raises Its Own Debt Ceiling
Whoever wins the RNC chairmanship tomorrow will inherit a committee deeply in Debt. According to Reid Wilson of The Hotline, the party faces more than $21.8 million in outstanding debt as of the end of 2010. But in an ironic twist, the RNC basically raised its own debt ceiling. The committee was scheduled to make a $5 million payment on its debt by the end of February, but has been granted a significant reprieve. At its winter meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, a hurried RNC Treasurer Rand...

Only 18% Support Raising the Debt Ceiling
This is interesting: Some 71 percent of those surveyed oppose increasing the borrowing authority, the focus of a brewing political battle over federal spending. Only 18 percent support an increase. The poll underscores the tough task ahead for U.S. lawmakers as the Debt nears its current ceiling of $14.3 Trillion. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week warned that a failure to raise the borrowing limit in the coming months could lead to “catastrophic economic consequences”. R...

Obama: Not Always a Fan of Upping Debt Ceiling
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. … Increasing America's Debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today...

Is the Debt Ceiling the Most Cynical Vote in Congress?
The Debt ceiling vote has been called a "tax on the majority." Here's why. These two graphs show how the Senate and the House have voted on stand-alone Debt Limit measures over the past decade (via Donald Marron at the TaxVox blog) -- first Senate, then House. Why do the bars look so monochrome? Because every year besides 2002 and 2007 (divided government), the party in power has had to carry the burden of raising the Debt ceiling alone. When Republicans are in power, Democrats hold out to kvet...

UNSUSTAINABLE: The problem, obviously, is the debt, not the debt limit. But the publics focus on
UNSUSTAINABLE: “The problem, obviously, is the Debt, not the Debt Limit. But the public’s focus on the debt ceiling presents both an opportunity and a hazard for Republicans-an opportunity, if they can extract substantial Spending Cuts and other relief in exchange for what I assume is an inevitable increase in the limit; and a hazard if they can’t, and if voters perceive an extension of the limit as evidence that Republicans aren’t following through on their promi...

Quote of the Day
"It's a leverage moment for Republicans. The president needs us. There are things we were elected to do. Let's accomplish those if the president needs us to clean up the old mess." -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), quoted by the Washington Post, saying Republicans will insist on their own agenda items in return for agreeing to raise the Debt ceiling. ...